But since then costs have rocketed.America's Cup yachts increasingly resemble sea-borne advertising hoardings: Alinghi has the logo of Switzerland's biggest bank, UBS, and that of Infonet, a communications firm, on its mainsail and hull.
A word may be played just once, which also excludes any truncation of the words: sailors eliminates sailor and sail, but still allows sailing, sails and mainsail.
On the larger types, called baggalas and booms, the mainsail is considerably bigger than the mizzensail.
The mainsail always has a boom, pivoted on the mast.
Its gaff-rigged mainsail distinguished it from the completely square-rigged brig, though the two terms came to be used interchangeably.
Sloop, single-masted sailing vessel with fore-and-aft rigging, including mainsail, jib, and sometimes one or more headsails.
For example, brigantines with square topsails above the gaffed mainsail were called true brigantines, whereas those with no square sails at all on the mainmast were called hermaphrodite brigs or brig-schooners.
Yawl, two-masted sailboat, usually rigged with one or more jibsails, a mainsail, and a mizzen.
But the boisterous ride down the south side of the island cost Origin both a lost spinnaker and a ripped mainsail, plus a two and a half minute deficit on handicap behind another 52-footer, Bob, highlighted last year when sailed by part-owner former BP boss Tony Hayward.
It was the final day, though, because the challenge faltered with a ripped mainsail.
On the last night coming in I reefed the mainsail three times and we rounded the Cape of Good Hope in five-metres high breaking waves.
