Dacron - A synthetic polyester material.
daggerboard - Similar to a centerboard, except that it is raised vertically. Like a keel, daggerboards are used to prevent a sailboat being pushed sideways by the wind.
Dacron: Trademark name for a type of polyester.
Daggerboard: A centerboard that is retracted vertically rather than hinged.
Dacron: A white woven sailcloth made of polyester fiber. Brand name by DuPont.
Dead Downwind: Sailing straight with the wind.
Deck: Horizontal surface or platform of a yacht.
Dacron sailcloth that has been treated to make it especially resistant to stretch. The sail is stiff, almost like light metal.
yawl
See rig.
safety harness A harness, usually made of webbing, worn over the shoulders and around the chest equipped with a lanyard for security sag To drift off course sail A flexible vertical foil, usually made of canvas, Dacron, or Mylar, ...
The sails can be made of Dacron (a polyester material), Mylar or Kevlar (types of plastic) sewn together. The basic names for the sails are: the mainsail, which attaches to the mast and the jib, which attaches to the jibstay.
In place of the Opti's gaff-rigged Dacron mainsail, the DeWitt Dinghy sports a high-tech, high-roach, full-batten main on a tapered carbon fiber mast (Competition model only).
Running rigging on modern yachts has been made primarily of polyester/dacron fiber. Some applications, such as halyards and spinnaker guys, have been and continue to be made of flexible wire rope due to chafe and strength issues.
Canvas (from the Greek Kannabis) was made from hemp (as is cannabis) but modern sails, although still called canvas, are made from terylene, polyester, dacron, kevlar and other man made fibres.
The bottom of a sail is called the foot.
Since the last 40 years plastics like Dacron, Mylar, Kevlar, Polyester, Nylon etc. were introduced. Today experiments take place using aluminum foil and laminates consisting of different synthetics on top of another ('sandwich style').
 See also: Light, Sailing, Boat, Mast, Sail
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