Spar (sailing)

A spar is a pole of wood, metal or lightweight materials such as carbon fibre used in the rigging of a sailing vessel to carry or support its sail. These include booms and masts, which serve both to deploy sail and resist compressive and bending forces, as well as the bowsprit and spinnaker pole.

In the Age of sail large ships often carried many extra spars of all types for repairs underway, giving rise to the spar deck of a frigate where they were stored.

Spar

Spar or Spars may refer to:

Common meanings

In business

Vessels

SPAR or SPARS

Other uses

Spar (retailer)

Spar (Dutch pronunciation: [spɑr]), trademarked as SPAR, is a Dutch multinational retail chain and franchise with approximately 12,500 stores in 35 countries worldwide. It was founded in the Netherlands in 1932 by retailer Adriaan van Well. Through its affiliate organisations, Spar operates through most European countries, parts of Africa, Asia and Oceania. Its headquarters are in Amsterdam.

Etymology

The name was originally DE SPAR, an acronym of the Dutch phrase Door Eendrachtig Samenwerken Profiteren Allen Regelmatig (English: through united co-operation everyone regularly profits). De Spar is Dutch for "The spruce", hence Spar's logo. As the organisation expanded across Europe, the name was abbreviated by dropping "DE".

Spar is also the root of the verb which means "to save [money]" in some Germanic (among them German) and Scandinavian languages.

There are some international naming variants:

Breath of Fire II

Breath of Fire II (Japanese: ブレス オブ ファイアII 使命の子, Hepburn: Buresu obu Faia Tsū: Shimei no Ko, Breath of Fire II: The Destined Child) is a role-playing video game developed and published by Capcom. First released in 1994, the game was licensed to Laguna for European release in 1996. It is the second entry in the Breath of Fire series. It was later ported to Game Boy Advance and re-released worldwide. The game has been rated by the ESRB for release on Wii's Virtual Console and was released in North America on August 27, 2007. Nintendo of Europe's website mistakenly announced it for release on July 27, 2007, but it was in fact released two weeks later, on August 10, 2007.

Unlike later installments in the series, Breath of Fire II is a direct sequel to Breath of Fire. Set 500 years after the original game, the story centers on an orphan named Ryu Bateson, whose family vanished mysteriously long ago. After his friend is falsely accused of a crime, Ryu embarks on a journey to clear his name.

Sailing

Sailing comprises wind propulsion of a craft by means of sails and steering it over water, ice or land, depending on the type of craft. A sailor manages the force of the wind on the sails by adjusting their angle with respect to the moving sailing craft and sometimes by adjusting the sail area. The force transmitted from the sails is resisted by forces from the hull, keel, and rudder of a sailing craft, by forces from skate runners for an iceboat, and by forces from wheels for a land sailing craft to allow steering a course on a point of sail with respect to the true wind.

While there are still some places in the world where sail-powered passenger, fishing and trading vessels are used, these craft have become rarer as internal combustion engines have become economically viable in even the poorest and most remote areas. In most countries sailing is enjoyed as a recreational activity or as a sport. Recreational sailing or yachting can be divided into racing and cruising. Cruising can include extended offshore and ocean-crossing trips, coastal sailing within sight of land, and daysailing.

Sailing (sport)

Sailing refers to using sailboats for sporting purposes. It can be recreational or competitive.

Sailing is the main variety of yachting, and competitive sailing the main variety of yacht racing. A sailing competition is known as a regatta, usually consists of multiple individual races, where the boat that performs best in each race is the overall winner. There is a broad variety of kinds of races and sailboats used for racing from large yacht to dinghy racing. Much racing is done around buoys or similar marks in protected waters, while some longer offshore races cross open water. All kinds of boats are used for racing, including small dinghies, catamarans, boats designed primarily for cruising, and purpose-built raceboats. The Racing Rules of Sailing govern the conduct of yacht racing, windsurfing, kitesurfing, model boat racing, dinghy racing and virtually any other form of racing around a course with more than one vessel while powered by the wind.

Membership

International federation

List of Birds of a Feather episodes

The following is a list of episodes for the British sitcom Birds of a Feather, that aired on BBC One from 16 October 1989 to 24 December 1994 and again from 26 May 1997 to 24 December 1998. The series returned over 15 years later, with its tenth series which aired on 2 January 2014 to 6 March 2014. on ITV. A Christmas special aired on 26 December 2014 whilst series eleven aired from 1 January to 12 February 2015. A total of 122 episodes have aired. A twelfth series was announced in March 2015

Broadcast

The first series, of six episodes, aired from 16 October to 20 November 1989 on Mondays at 8.30pm. A Christmas special aired on 26 December 1989 at 9.00pm. The second series aired for fifteen episodes from 6 September to 13 December 1990 on Thursdays at 8.30pm, followed by a Christmas Special on Boxing Day at 8.20pm.

The twelve-episode third series aired from 31 August to 16 November 1991 on Saturdays at 8.00pm, followed by a Christmas special on Christmas Day at 8.00pm. The fourth series, of thirteen episodes, aired from 6 September to 29 November 1992 on Sundays at 8.40pm, with a Christmas Day special at 8.00pm. Series five for thirteen episodes on Sundays at 8.20pm from 5 September to 28 November 1993, with a Christmas Special on 25 December 1993 at 8.00pm.