Vigo: Sailboats and rowboats

It is said that the first floating device used was a log man. Subsequently joined and formed rafts or canoes vacuum to form. Initially it was carried away by currents of water or used their own hands, long poles or oars to propel.

Thus arose the great rowing boats and galleys, in which the strength of man drove the boat under the force of the whip.

No one knows exactly how did the first sailboat but maybe this was made with palm leaves or woven reeds. There are already indications of the existence of sailboats in ancient Egypt around 1300 BC

It combined the use of sailing and rowing vessels for more efficient so we can reach more distant places. Then man learned to make candles that allowed progress upwind angles below 90 °. Appeared keel and triangular sails allowing navigation best angles to the wind.

The Chinese already knew the main rudder and compass from the first century, inventions that did not reach Europe until the eleventh century. So did several masted ships that arrive in Europe until the fifteenth century.

Columbus used sailboats Latin caravel type with only Latin-type candles. The ships could be from 2-4 masts. The galleons appeared in the mid-sixteenth century a quantum leap technologically in building sailboats.

From the eighteenth century Western sailing ships came to 7 masts in some cases. In the nineteenth century the ships measured their importance as the weapons they could carry. There were up to 60-gun frigates.

At the outbreak of World War II the sailboat had died for the steamboat that was faster and cheaper. Currently some sailboats are used as a training ship, as Juan Sebastian el Cano or Italian Palinuro.

The vessel Juan Sebastian el Cano is a brigantine iron hulled 4 suits with 20 candles. It has a length of 94 meters, beam of 13 meters and a diesel engine that can reach speeds of 10 knots. The crew is made up of 248 sailors, 15 officers, three officers and a captain.