"Jewel" wrote:
Anyone tell me how a vessel equipped with lanteen sails goes about
without dropping its sail and resetting it on the other side.

"Frogwatch" wrote:
You tack just as you would in any other sailboat. Both spars
of the sail (boom and gaff) are one side of the mast on either tack.

I can only add, there can be a slight difference in the way the boat
sails (starboard vs port tack) due to the lump (or lack thereof)
caused by the mast against (or not) the sail. The difference on a
Sunfish, for example, is hardly noticable and of no concern unless
you're seriously into racing.

The original Lateen rigs, of a couple thousand years ago, DID drop
their sails to tack. Thence came the origination of the term "Chinese
firedrill" ;-)

(except I think it was Arab pirates that invented it)

Rick