The Collaborative International Dictionary
Outhaul \Out"haul`\ (out"h[add]l`), n. (Naut.) A rope used for hauling out a sail upon a spar; -- opposite of inhaul.
Wiktionary
n. (context nautical English) A rope that is used to extend a sail along a spar
Wikipedia
An outhaul is a line which is part of the running rigging of a sailboat, used to extend a sail and control the shape of the curve of the foot of the sail. It runs from the clew (the back corner of the sail) to the end of the boom. The line is pulled taut to the appropriate tension to provide the desired shape to the foot and then secured to a cleat on the boom.
The details vary, but the two most common methods are:
- A knot, usually a bowline, is tied to a grommet provided for the purpose in the clew of the sail, then fed directly to the cleat.
OR
- The line is attached to the boom, lead through the same grommet, and thence to a cleat; this system provides a factor of two mechanical advantage over the previous one.
The outhaul, besides simply holding the sail out, is an effective sail shape control. Tightening or slackening the outhaul can flatten or fill out the sail, shift the draft forward or aft, change leech and foot tension, and increase or decrease camber.
Usage examples of "outhaul".
All hands obeyed, and at once the eight or ten seamen who composed the crew, sprang to their respective stations at the spanker brails and outhaul, topsail sheets and halyards, the jib downhaul, and the topsail clewlines and buntlines.
And, boy, did they know from tack downhaul, kicking strap, mainsheet, clew outhaul, topping lift, boom, tack, reefing points, leech, spreader, foresail hanks, shrouds, inner forestay, stanchion, toe rail, and fin keel!
There was a jetty at the bottom of the village, a crook of stone quay in whose shelter a couple of dinghies shifted uneasily on outhaul moorings.
A sheet of water leaped over the bugeye, together with an impact that knocked all of them flat, and split the foresail from throat to outhaul cringle.
Either of us could outlift, outhaul, outproduce them all put together.
There was a jetty at the bottom of the village, a crook of stone quay in whose shelter a couple of dinghies shifted uneasily on outhaul moorings.
Ray, the linguist, listened to and memorized words like spinnaker, mast, bow, stern, aft, tiller, halyard winches, masthead fittings, shrouds, lifelines, stanchions, sheet winch, bow pulpit, coamings, transom, clew outhaul, genoa sheets, mainsail, jib, jibstays, jib sheets, cam cleats and boom vangs.