Leeboard field demonstration

Описание: a very classic design for leeboards.

Leeboards existed in China from at least the eighth century on warships that "held the ships, so that even when wind and wave arise in fury, they are neither driven sideways, nor overturn". Leeboards for stabilizing junks and improving their capability to sail upwind, are documented from a book by Li Chuan. The innovation was transmitted to Portuguese and Dutch ships around 1570. "The Portuguese experimented with caulking their vessels in the Chinese manner and the Dutch probably added leeboards to their craft that were copied from Chinese models."

Leeboards have been used by relatively large inshore and coastal sailing vessels used for transport since 1570, such as Dutch barges (like this one), Thames barges, and American gundalows. For these boats, leeboards provided the advantages of shallow draught for working close inshore and an unobstructed hold for cargo. In particular, they allowed gundalows to take the hard to load and unload cargo in unimproved tidal areas, as well as readily conduct maintenance on their hulls. Leeboards were also easier to build than a large centreboard would have been.

pretty handy to be able to bring them up or put them down when needed