A sailboat differs from most other classes of boat due to the fact they are driven entirely or partially by wind.
Sailing boats use one or more sails to help with converting the energy from the wind into the necessary force to push the vessel through the sea. A sailboat can vary quite significantly, with each of the different classes offering their own characteristics, like those relating to use, number of sails, keel type, hull configuration, and size.
Here are some of the main types of sailing boats:
Sloop
A sloop is a single-mast vessel (with one or two sails) and likely to be the most favored of the types of sailing rig. It is able to optimize upwind sailing and includes a spinnaker if sailing downwind.
Ketch
A ketch is outfitted with two masts which are rigged fore-and-aft and includes a shortened mizzen and larger mainmast. If a sailing vessel includes two masts it is referred to as a yawl or a ketch. A typical ketch is laid out with a main mast ahead of the rudder. A ketch isn’t likely to be ideal for the absolute beginner since they are often a handful to maneuver.
Yawl
Similar in design to the ketch, a yawl sailing vessel is outfitted with a fore-and-aft rigging set up with the two masts, but is equipped with a small sized jigger rather than the mizzen mast, which is located closer to the rear. A very distinctive vessel in appearance and likely to use just a mizzenmast and storm jib in gale force winds.
Schooner
A schooner is likely to have two or more masts with fore-and-aft rigged sails, with the front mast almost similar in size to the others, although a schooner can be rigged in several different ways. A yawl and ketch is both equipped with two masts, but with the smallest of the masts located at the rear, whereas with the schooner the smaller mast is more likely to be at the front.
Cutters
The cutters are built with rigs that include an extra sail referred to as a staysail which is positioned between the headsail and the mast. A cutter rigged sailing boat isn’t classed as a Bermudan sloop, but will instead get the name of a cutter-rigged sloop.
Cutters are designed with the foresail set in a position at the front on a bowsprit while the forestay is mounted aft of the foredeck or to the stem-head in place of the foresail
Gaffers
A gaffed rigged sailboat (also referred to as gaffers) is rarely witnessed on the latest yachts on the market. The mainsail on the gaffer gets its supported from a spar. The majority of the gaffed-rigged sailboats come with a topsail style of rigging which is a practical choice in lighter airs. This type of rigging setup is quite expensive, which is a reason that few of the latest sailboats include the gaff rigs.