A fork is a round wood, to which the main sail is attached. The fork is especially applied to classic ships; On the modern yachts, a fork rarely occurs. Fork-wrecked big sail
The top of the main sail is stuck on or in the fork. At the top of the fork is the sprout, to which the peak drop is attached. On the side of the mast is the claw or fork shoe attached to the claw trap. Where the peak drop is attached to the sprout, a locking line often prevents the fork from falling down during ironing.
The claw trap and peak drop are used together to lift the sail. During hoisting the fork can remain the best horizontal. The front of the sail will be more strained than the backward of the sail; When it is initially tensioned, the fork is further purged with the aid of the peak to further tension the rearward of the sail. This procedure is mainly applied to larger ships hand lifted and the forces are larger. When this procedure is waived, the hoisting of the sail is much heavier and more difficult; The drops and blocks also experience more wear by the larger forces.
For some ship types (for example, on many bots), the fork is fed to a single trap, which is used as a threshing bar, with the bottom of the claw and the fixed part on the fork peak. Advantage is the simplicity, detrimental limitations in adjustability.
Forklift trucks in Holland are often curved in order to create more sail surface in the sail. The cross section of a fork is usually more or less egg shaped. Also see Media files
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