Knockabout Sloop

A sloop rigged without a bowsprit, so the headsail tacks to the stemhead rather than to an overhanging spar. The knockabout type emerged in turn-of-the-century New England yachting as a safer, simpler day-racer; pulling the jib inboard removed the dangerous bowsprit foredeck work. The name covers a family of small gaff and later marconi sloops rather than a single one-design. The defining feature is the inboard headstay and absent bowsprit, which distinguishes it from contemporaneous sloops that carried a sprit.