Posted by Ben Zartman on November 11, 2004 at 23:21:20 from 205.157.156.91 user BenjaminZ.
In Reply to: 'Bent on' posted by Peter H on November 10, 2004 at 13:34:22:
I'm afraid I must disagree with one of the previous responders: "bent on" is indeed a nautical term; it means to attach a sail to the mast, boom, stay or spar on which it will be used.
To depower the main means to turn into the wind or let the sheets go so that the sail is no longer pulling. If a sudden squall hits it's the first thing to do so that the boat doesn't get knocked down, which to say the least is dangerous and uncomfortable. Some sailors, if they have sufficiently powerful engines (at which point it becomes questionable whether they are, indeed, sailors) choose to motor straight into the wind during a squall and so save the trouble of (gasp!) lowering the sail and having to hoist it again once the coast is clear. It is another form of lazyness, like roller furlers.
A jibboom is a boom for one of the foresails, usually the staysail, which allows it to be controlled by only one sheet, led through a block midships, instead of two sheets led down either side. This setup makes it self-tending, so that when short tacking up say, a channel, you don't have to adjust the sheets with every tack.
Hope this helps.