Set the Mains'l Wide

I was inspired to paint this Friendship Sloop after watching them sail the Friendship Sloop Race in Rockland. They are graceful floating clouds. This is one of the baldhead sloops sailing toward the windward mark in the Friendship Sloop Society Rendezvous Race in Rockland, Maine. The boats were once fishing and lobster boats and designed such that setting the main wide and easy balanced the boat and they would sail themselves, staying on course and freeing the sailors to tend to the fishing. The Friendship Sloops are one of a few American classics sailing vessels still sailing.