The Spes Mea from the outside (rigging and hull)


Rigging

the spes mea full sailThis picture shows the "Spes Mea" with nearly all sails on display. The mainsail and two jibs are the standard sails. Extra sails are the breefok (a type of small yard sail or yard jib) and the water sail. The mainsail is largely operated with winches, all others mainly "by hand". Move your cursor over the picture to see the specific names of the sails.

Featured below is an illustration of the standard rigging on a "tjalk" (this type of Dutch inland navigation ship). One of the first things of notice is that the "Spes Mea" is one of the very few "tjalks" with a yardarm. This allows for extra sails to be raised in the event of favourable winds. This is called the breefok (90 m2), a square-rigged sail. In older times, this was much more common on sea-faring "tjalks".

Besides that, there's the water sail. Over the gaff rig of the mainsail another extra sail can be hoisted (not featured in picture). Besides the standard jibs, a larger variant is carried onboard, to be used for occasions of lighter weather. All in all, a total of 390 square meters of sailing extravaganza. Move your cursor over the illustration for the names of sails and rigging.

The standard rig of tjalkApart from that you may notice the mast has been equipped with various stays (steel wires) running from the mast to the ship's hull. These serve to reinforce the mast's position in relation to the hull. One stay leads to the fore, aptly titled the forestay, and also serves to raise the jib sail by. Four more stays lead to the steering and the aft. The two stays running oblique to the aft are called the backstays. These keep the forestay pulled neat and taut. It should always be pulled taut on the windward side, while slack on the leeward side. This provides the boom with a necessary margin for turning and swinging.

Hanging by the side of the vessel are the centreboards; large wooden boards hitting the water on the leeward side. These are to keep the ship from drifting leeway, as flat-bottomed ships such as these are without a keel.

The hull

A tjalk is recognizable due to its rounded front and back. The "boeisel", the uppermost edge of the side of the ship, leans just a notch inwards. Furthermore, the bumpers surrounding the ship are most heavily equipped at the head and the tail of the ship. The tail holds the so called attached rudder stock, upon which often a tiller is riveted, though usually the steering wheel takes care of the navigation needs, as it is with most larger modern tjalks. Basically speaking, the tjalk is in effect the most ancient prototype of classic Dutch freighter vessels, which were traditionally all built out of wood. It wasn't until around 1800 that iron began to take over as the prime construction material for ships. But though the material changed, the form stayed the same; most exemplified by the collective flat bottoms. Tjalks, alongside other forms of ships, are often also called "flatbottoms" as a result. This design made for more than apt sailing through many of the Netherland's often very shallow waters.

All technical details pertaining to the Spes Mea can found at our 'technical data' section.

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spes mea zeilcharter - jan timmerstraat 4 - 8821 lt  kimswerd - netherlands -   - +31(651)550902