Possibilities of a visual reference for sail configurations

[N Mart]

Greetings to all!

 

I've been under several responsibility rocks for a while and am digging my way out. Good to be looking at ships again.

 

I was reading a few sources recently and kept bumping into sail settings that I was having trouble envisioning in my mind. It occurred to me that a configurable visual reference would be incredible, which led me to wonder if anyone has tried to create an application that showed sail situations based on user input.

 

For example, you could select a brig, then select topsails, gallants, and royals, and a basic image of a brig with the appropriate sails set would generate below. Maybe even complicated enough to show what sails would look like reefed in those conditions.

 

Has anyone ever bumped into anything like that? Anyone else think that would be a neat reference to have for modeling or maritime art?

 

Be well!

[popeye2sea]

There are plenty of reference materials that will depict general rigging plans, i.e. the differences between a ship, brig, barque, barkentine, etc.  Once you try to refine the rig for wind and wave conditions, the variations are myriad. Not to mention variations in rig based on the time period the vessel belongs to. There are variations in reefing, hoisting, furling, dowsing, scandalizing, canting, bracing, and sending down.

 

It would be a very big endeavor (plus, historically, years to learn).

 

Regards,

 

Henry