spinnaker

Pluralspinnakers

Formsspinnakers, spinnakering, spinnakered

1. 1
   nouncountable

   A sail used in addition to the mainsail, often triangular, flown on a yacht when sailing with the wind behind it.

   Like a wide parachute opening ahead of the boat, filling with the following wind to pull it forward.

   As the breeze shifted astern, the skipper ordered the spinnaker hoisted.

   Racing yachts often carry several spinnakers for different wind conditions.

   Note

   A sailor's sail for downwind work. It is large and light, with a full, curved cut, and it is set forward of the mast. That shape sets it apart from the flatter working sails, and it is what lets it fill with a following wind. Crews hoist or fly a spinnaker, and racing boats may carry several for different conditions. Sailors also call it a spinney.

2. 2
   verbtransitive or intransitive

   To sail a yacht using a spinnaker, the supplemental sail flown when running before the wind.

   Experienced sailors spinnaker the downwind legs to pick up extra speed.

   She spinnakers toward the finish line whenever the wind sits squarely behind her.

   Note

   The name of the downwind sail put to work as a verb of motion. Boats go spinnakering away from the mark, and in Pete Goss's Close to the Wind (2010) a crew spinnakered out into the Atlantic. It sits most naturally with a word of direction, such as away, out or toward. Spelling keeps the single r in every form: spinnakers, spinnakering, spinnakered.

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