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Sloop
Sail boat with a single mast and a fore-and-aft rig / From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
This article is about the type of sailing boat. For the warship, see Sloop-of-war.
A sloop is a sailboat with a single mast[1] typically having only one headsail in front of the mast and one mainsail aft of (behind) the mast.[note 1] Such an arrangement is called a fore-and-aft rig, and can be rigged as a Bermuda rig with triangular sails fore and aft, or as a gaff-rig with triangular foresail(s) and a gaff rigged mainsail.
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In naval terminology, "sloop-of-war" refers to the purpose of the craft, rather than to the specific size or sail-plan, and thus a sloop should not be confused with a sloop-of-war. The term is also used loosely with other sail plans, as with the Friendship Sloop, [2]:ā48-53ā which is a cutter.[3]