A Spritsail is a four sided sail usually laced on to the mast along its luff. It can range from almost square to having a pronounced peak. It may or may not have a boom, but it will always have a sprit. A sprit is a spar which supports the peak of the sail
Spritsail outperforms Bermudan Rigs??!!
Spritsail comparison conducted by Gifford Technology of Southampton . PDF file is largish, comes from bateaubois.com. Also compared was the Gaff sail, lateen and Bermuda rig. The Spritsail came up as best rig much to everyone's surprise (except me of course.) This is confirmed by another set of tests reported by Palmer in a 1990 Wooden Boat article on hull and rig efficiency. Go Spritsail!!
The Parts of a Spritsail
The four corners are called Peak at the top, Clew at the far end of th Boom, Tack at the bottom near the Mast and Throat at the top of the mast. The four sides are the Head, Leech, Foot, and Luff. The Sprit runs from the Peak and attaches to the mast. The tension on the Sprit is adjusted by the Snotter!
Not all spritsails have booms, some are loose footed. The term loose footed is also sometimes used for a sail that has a boom but is not laced, only attached at the mast and at the end of the boom.
Sprit Sails have a long history.
Its many qualities made it a favourite rig of working boats and sprit sails were a common sight in the 1700-1800
They are often represented in art of the period as in this "Duch Ferry Boat before a Breeze, by Simon de Vlieger
Their most well known use in England was on the Thames barges.
Square riggers had a type of spritsail placed bolow the bow sprit. It was a true square sail with sheets running from each of the corners. These ungainly spritsails were discontinued because of the difficulty in handling a sail that dangled so close to the water. The sailmaker needed to make drain holes to allow water out when the sail got caught in a wave.
Thames Barge has large loose footed Spritsail
Using the Windlass at the front the boat, the mast, which was set up in a tabernacle and could be bent back, could be lowered to pass under bridges, then quickly re-set.
Thames Barge
Wikipedia has a good description of the Barges in their Spritsail article. The large spritsail is clearly visible with the sprit running diagonally from the mast to the far corner of the sail. Since it is loose footed the billowing spritsail can easily be tucked in when going through narrow channels and passing other boats.
Advantages of Spritsails for Dinghy Sailors
The spritsail is a marvelously simple sail..
A spritsail allows a large area of sail to be set on a short mast. This means that the can be set on an unstayed mast. This by-passes all the difficulties and expenses associated with shrouds and stays.
This simplicity also translates in less hardware required (=less expense).
If the video has an error, click on the youtube logo, it will take you to youtube and you can watch it. This happens on some browsers.
Because the mast is short it is easier to put up and often is made to fit inside the boat. The sprit is usually about the same length as the mast and also fits neatly in the boat.
The spritsail is usually laced on the mast. There is no halyard and very little to fuss with, once the sail is set.
There is one sheet to tend, either from the boom, or from the clew corner of the sail if there is no boom.
Because the center of effort is low there is less tendency for the boat to heel in high wind.
It is well behaved and simple to use.
It is easy to put away. The sprit is removed and the sail can be rolled around the mast. Often the whole mast is lifted and stored inside the boat with the sail still on. It makes riggin the boat quick when ready to go sailing the next time.
Here is my Skerry in a test drive of the jib I'm experimenting with. The jib improves the airflow around the spritsail quite alot. It complicates the lines and I'm now experimenting with a self tending sprit that's a bit smaller.
The spritsail was a favourite in working boats because the lack of a boom allowed for a clear deck with easy access to the hold.
The loose footed spritsail also allowed boats to pass through narrow channels by taking in the sail at the bottom.
The sprit sail compares favourably with more modern rigs in all points of sail except when pointing upwind. It matches speed while going downwind.
There are some disadvantages to the Spritsail
It is not simple to reef while underway. There are many ways of reducing sail. Scandalizing the sail (removing the sprit altogether or repositioning it to a lower position) and folding down the peak towards the tack effectively reduces sail area. It is also possible to brail in the sail by running a line on the far edge and pulling in the sail.
I run a line from the end of the boom to the top of the mast and cleated down near the adjustment line for the sprit. If I want to fold up the sail, its easy to just pull on the line and the boom folds up to the mast. Its best to loosen the sprit. This allows me to get the boom out of the way if I want to row for a short while, or get the sail out of the way.
Another disadvantage is that if the spritsail is not set properly or if the sail is not cut well the sail peak can twist.
There is a good tack and a bad tack. On one tack the sprit interferes with the airflow. This is much less than expected on my boat, and on certain headings the so called bad tack is better than the good side. I don't understand why but it happens.
Like the other square sails such as the lug sails, it does not point upwind as well as the high ratio triangular marconi rig. Adding a jib to the sprit sail rig improves the sail when heading upwind.
The boom can lift in a gust of wind. I've grown used to how it feels and can control it but when it first happens it is a surprise. I've experimented with running a line from the middle of the boom to the mast to act as a cunningham to control the lift. It works but it's just a nuisance so I just learn how to deal with it with my sheet.
Lovely video of a Pin Mill Barge.
Barge Cambria being sailed and narrated by Bob Roberts. At 25:44 he sculls his tender to shore to go to his daughter's wedding, complete with morris dancers. Before that there are images of the barge being sailed. A documentary of a way of life that is gone.
I try to be accurate and check my information, but mistakes happen.
Small Print
This information is for general knowledge.
Sprit Sails
Sprit sails formerly were in high favour, but during the last twenty years they have gradually fallen into disuse. It is still a favourite rig, however, among watermen, and they probably adhere to it because the sprit stretches the sail so flat. The old Ryde wherries, celebrated for their fine weatherly qualities, were sprit-rigged, but of late years they have generally adopted the gaff instead of the sprit. The advantages of the sprit over a gaff for setting a sail in a small boat cannot be denied, as by crossing the sail diagonally it takes up all the slack canvas in the middle of the sail, even if it be an old sail. On the other hand, a sprit is an awkward spar to handle, and it need be much longer and heavier than a gaff to set similar sails.
In small boats the luff of the sail is usually laced to the mast through eyelet holes about 2ft. apart; the throat is secured to an iron traveller, or sometimes to a grommet strop. In large sails galvanised iron rings or mast hoops are used. The tack is lashed to a small eyebolt screwed into the mast. The sail is hoisted by a single halyard and belayed to the gunwale to serve as a shroud. The foresail is also belayed by a single halyard, and belayed to the opposite gunwale. The sprit is supported on the mast by a
strop called a snotter; this strop is a piece of rope with an eye spliced in each end; it is put round the mast, and one end rove through an eye; the heel of the sprit is put in the other eye. After the sail is hauled up on the mast the upper end of the sprit is put into the eye or loop on the peak of the sail, and then shoved up and the heel slipped into the snotter. The sail is then peaked by pushing the snotter and heel of sprit as high as required; the sail is then sheeted. If the sail is large and the sprit heavy, a traveller and whip purchase are used: (See Fig. 74.)
A pendant with a running eye in it is fitted over the masthead; at the lower end of this pendant is a block, through which the hauling part is rove, one end being fast to the thwart. Sometimes a gun-tackle purchase is used instead of the whip purchase. Either is to be preferred to the snotter alone, as without any other support the snotter will be continually slipping
down. If there should be much wind when the snotter slipped down the mast the heel of the sprit might go through the bottom of the boat; and this accident has very often happened. The waterman's remedy for this is wetting the mast, but the single whip purchase is to be infinitely preferred, as it not only keeps the sprit from slipping down, but enables the sail to be set better.
An improved form of the sprit sail rig is in use in America, an illustration of which has been made by Mr. R. B. Forbes, as shown (see Fig. 75). The sprit comes down to the gooseneck of the boom and is inserted in a pocket a, stitched diagonally across the sail: b b are brails on both sides of the sail, but leading through one purchase block p; p, of course, is a double block. The standing part of the purchase is fast to the stem at then leads up through the block p9 down through a block on the stem 8, and the fall /, to a cleat inside the waterways, c is a reef point, one on each side of the mast, round which they are tied when the sail is reefed. When reefing the mast is allowed to rake aft, either by having a long slotted step for the mast, or by pivoting it in a tabernacle. (See the French rig, p. 275.) The process of reefing is very simple : lufE into the wind, slack up sheets, haul on the brails; make everything fast, rake the mast, and fill away again. Fig. 76 shows the sails reefed with the upper part of the luff of the sail brailed up. To make a neater "brail up" another pair of brails might be attached to the head of the sail at k, and lead to a, then to the mast head down to the block p. This forms a very easily reefed sail.
Fig. 77 represents another American rig (drawn by Mr. Forbes), and has the advantage of the sails being in three pieces. The main and mizen are fitted on the lateen plan, but are shoulder of mutton in shape, a is the halyard made fast to the yard, and leading over a sheave in the mast head to the deck. B is another halyard leading through a bull's eye at the mast head and belayed to a cleat on the heel of the yard at /. The yard or reefing boom d is jointed to a traveller c. The reefing tackle is shown by e. r r are reef points. The foresail is hanked to a wire stay. A short club yard, g, is laced to the foot of the foresail; the fore sheet block is fast to this yard, and works on a traveller across the deck.
To reef the sails luff up head to wind and cast off the halyard a, and the sail will lower until the traveller c rests on the boom at o, b of course
coming down to the bull's eye on the mast head. Haul on the reefing tackle e, and tiejthe points atjleisure (see Fig. 78). Next let the foresail
run down, and stow it on the bowsprit. To further shorten sail stow the mainsail. The small jib is set flying.
u run down, and stow it on the bowsprit. To further shorten sail stow the mainsail. The small jib is set flying.
Continue reading here: The Sliding Gunter
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Readers' Questions
What kind of wood do you want to use to build a sprit rig?
When building a sprit rig, you would ideally want to use a lightweight and flexible wood that is strong enough to withstand the wind and pressure on the sails. Here are a few types of wood commonly used for building sprit rigs: Douglas Fir: This is a popular choice due to its combination of strength and flexibility. It is relatively lightweight and has good resistance to rot and decay. Sitka Spruce: Known for its excellent strength-to-weight ratio, Sitka spruce is a favorite among boat builders. It is lightweight, stiff, and easy to shape, making it suitable for sprit rigs. Western Red Cedar: Although it may not be as strong as some other woods, Western Red Cedar is lightweight and possesses natural oils that help protect against rot and decay. It is relatively easy to work with and offers good flexibility. Philippine Mahogany: Also known as Lauan or Meranti, Philippine Mahogany is a popular wood choice for boat construction. It is strong, durable, and has good flexibility, making it suitable for sprit rigs. These are just a few examples, and the choice of wood may also depend on personal preference, availability, and regional factors. It is important to select a wood that is suitable for marine applications and can withstand the demands of sailing. Additionally, proper treatment, sealing, and maintenance of the wood are necessary to ensure longevity and performance.
How to unfurl spritsail?
To unfurl a spritsail, follow these steps: Start by locating the halyard, which is the rope used to hoist or lower the sail. It is typically attached to the peak (top) of the spritsail. Make sure the halyard is properly secured and not tangled. If necessary, untangle any knots or twists in the line. Begin by pulling down on the halyard to release tension on the sail. This will allow the spritsail to unfurl more easily. As you lower the halyard, the spritsail will start to unfurl. Keep pulling down steadily to let the sail unfurl completely. Pay attention to the spritsail as it unfurls to ensure it doesn't get caught on any rigging or obstacles. If you notice any snags or tangles, stop pulling and address the issue before continuing. Once the spritsail is fully unfurled, secure the halyard by tying it off or using any designated fixing points on the boat. Check the tension and alignment of the spritsail to ensure it is properly set. Adjust as needed to achieve the desired performance. Remember, the specific steps and techniques may vary depending on the type of vessel and rigging setup. It's always a good idea to consult a professional or reference the manufacturer's guidelines for your specific boat and spritsail.
How to reef a sprit sail?
Hoist the sail to the desired height. Get ready to tie a reef knot at the desired point on the sail's luff, typically roughly a third of the way up. Take the end of the sail (the long end) and thread it through the luff tape at the desired point. Pull the sail back on itself, creating the first loop of the knot. Thread the sail through the first loop, creating a second loop. Tighten the knot by pulling each end of the sail in opposite directions. Secure the reef-knot with a bowline. Secure the reef-points with reefing pennants. Tie off the reefing pennants onto a securely fastened cleat, clew or cringle near the head of the sail.
How to sail a sprit mainsail?
Rigging the Spritsail: Start by running the spritsail boom through the sail’s luff, then attach the boom to the mast with boltropes or other rigging. Make sure the boom is parallel to the centerline of the boat. Setting the Spritsail: Slacken off the topping lift and sheet, then push the boom to the leeward side of the boat. This will open the sail out and let it catch the wind. Adjusting the Sheet and Topping Lift: Once the sail is set, adjust the sheet and topping lift to get the sail position just right. Heeling the Boat: As the wind increases, you’ll need to bear away from the wind to heel the boat. This will help to increase speed. Reefing the Spritsail: When the wind picks up, you may want to reef the sail to reduce its power and ensure the boat remains safe. To do this, simply pull down on the clew and foot of the sail until you reach the desired reefing point. Tacking the Boat: To change direction, put the tiller to leeward, bear away from the wind, and sheet in the sail. This will let the boat turn into the wind and tack onto the other side. Gybing the Boat: When gybing, bear away from the wind and bring the boom across to leeward. This may require you to move the boom around the mast or use a topping lift to hold the boom up. Once the boom is in place, sheet in the sail and the boat should gybe onto the other side. Dousing the Spritsail: To lower the sail, simply release the topping lift and sheet and let the sail luff. Once the sail is down, make sure to secure the boom and sail properly before heading out.
Practical Boat Owner
Digital edition
Sail boat rigs: the pros and cons of each popular design
Peter Poland
July 24, 2023
Peter Poland looks at the history of popular rig designs and how the different types affect boat performance
Annie Hill’s FanShi can be easily reefed, a real benefit of the junk rig when sailing solo. Credit: Annie Hill Credit: Annie Hill
Having once asked yacht designer Andrew Wolstenholme if we could meet to discuss the evolution of modern sail boat rigs – and the continuing popularity of some older designs – we talked about boats in general and gaff rigs in particular, many of which he designs.
“The gaff still has much to recommend it. With stiffer, yet lighter carbon fibre spars , it can offer bigger benefits than it ever did in the past,” said Andrew.
His recent gaff-rigged designs like the new Cornish Crabber 24 MkV and smaller Kite 21 prove this point.
The 45ft barge yacht Juno was designed by Andrew Wolstenholme, built by Charlie Ward and launched in 2000. If you fancy a taste of history she can be chartered through www.sailingbargejuno.com . Credit: Neil Foster
It’s generally accepted that the gaff evolved from the spritsail rig , which in turn evolved from earlier lugsail and – before then – square sail rigs .
The lugsail attaches to a spar that is hoisted at an angle. So part of the spar and sail protrude ahead of the mast, and this leading edge enables a boat to sail upwind.
The evolution of the lugsail started when someone discovered that by setting a square sail at an angle – with one end of the yard pointing down towards the deck – the sail could set closer to the wind.
Upwind advantage
Some say the Chinese junk rig is also descended from square sails as used on Chinese ships before the 12th century.
The junk rig , also known as the Chinese lugsail or sampan rig, evolved with full length battens extending the sail forward of the mast, providing a leading edge to help sail upwind.
The ever-inventive Blondie Hasler designed and built a modern version of the junk rig for his modified Nordic Folkboat, Jester .
He then entered the first single-handed transatlantic race in 1960, helping to initiate the OSTAR and boosting the appeal of long-distance solo sailing in general, and the junk rig in particular.
Blondie Hasler’s Jester helped cement the appeal of the modern junk rig. Credit: Ewen Southby-Tailyour
David Tyler, Annie Hill and Roger Taylor are three leading lights of the Hasler-inspired move to modern junk rigs, and have sailed many thousands of miles between them.
A Sadler 25 was the first of five junk rig boats that David Tyler owned. He and Annie Hill were also founder members of the ever-informative Junk Rig Association .
David told me he “could not contemplate sailing under anything else than a junk rig”, and has a long history of experimenting with and making variations of the junk rig.
David Thomas designed a ply/epoxy 35ft shoal draught junk rig ocean cruiser for David Tyler.
Tystie with an earlier single mast sail plan. She later converted to a ketch rig . Credit: Darren Bos
Hedley Bewes built Tystie beside the Hamble to a completed and painted woodwork stage; then Tyler fitted her out with junk rig, engine , electrics , and deck hardware in just three months.
She was launched in August 2000 and ended up in New Zealand, where she was sold – 16 years later – having sailed 85,000 miles.
“I could not possibly have done this under any other rig,” said David.
He then designed a modern cambered junk rig for his Hunter Duette 23, admitting that this “still does not compete with a big genoa to windward but is superior in all other ways – especially if you define efficiency as ‘miles sailed per unit of input of crew effort’. She had a junk rig of my own design first, then a junk rig-based wingsail.”
David concluded that a modern cambered junk rig “can encompass many features: including various sailmaking ways of building 3D camber into each panel with straight battens; or a flat sail with hinged battens; or a flat fanned sail with twist (a fiendishly cunning method found in Hong Kong junks). My favourite sail has slightly cambered panels with hinged battens. This is easier to set without diagonal creases than deeply cambered panels; and has a smoother curved foil shape than a flat sail with hinges.”
Sail boat rigs proven offshore
Annie Hill is another junk rig enthusiast who has sailed many thousands of miles and written books about her voyages.
She’s now based in New Zealand, having built the David Tyler-designed FanShi “from scratch with a small amount of amateur assistance from friends.”
“The best aspect of a junk rig for single-handed sailing is the speed and ease with which you can reef ,” explained Annie. “The sail tacks automatically which helps in close quarters sailing, as does having exactly the right amount of sail for the situation. I find another great advantage is that when I’m sailing off the anchor or a mooring , I can raise three or four panels, so the boat doesn’t go charging off as I walk back to the cockpit. I can then raise the rest of the sail while leaving the anchorage. And of course, I only raise just what I need.”
Annie Hill christens her self-built FanShi on launch day in New Zealand. Credit: Annie Hill
Annie Hill mentions several junk rig benefits: “The junk rig is much easier to handle downwind. It’s reluctant to gybe until you are sailing well by the lee. The sail is fully squared out so that it is working efficiently. And it’s easy to change from running to reaching to beating, without having to handle guys, poles or vangs.
“In short, the junk rig is much easier to sail. The junk sail is intrinsically self-tacking, which makes beating to windward, especially in close quarters, infinitely less work. Ease of reefing – and making sail again – also means you always sail under the correct amount of canvas. This makes for faster passages and ensures the boat is properly underway in the aftermath of a gale.”
And the disadvantages? Most agree that the junk rig is less efficient when s ailing to windward in light airs .
Easy handling
Roger Taylor came upon the junk rig when buying his first Mingming ; one of around 25 factory-built junk rig Corribees.
“The conversion work was to make her more suitable for serious offshore work – unsinkable, watertight bulkheads, reduced cockpit, proper watertight hatch and so on. I bought her specifically to sail in the first Jester Challenge , and so nothing was more appropriate than a junk rig! I had, in any case, been fascinated by Jester herself for many decades.”
Mingming II came next – a standard triple keel Achilles 24 – so Roger replaced her Bermuda rig with a new junk rig.
Roger Taylor has covered many solo miles in his modified Achilles 24, Mingming II and says the junk sail is easy to repair at sea. Credit: Bertie Milne
“The main differences to the Hasler sail on Mingming were higher aspect ratio for speed in the light airs you get in the high Arctic latitudes in summer – so seven panels instead of six. And cambered panels instead of flat-cut, for better windward performance.
“The lower four panels were built separately as I didn’t have enough room in my London flat to sew the sail in one piece. It’s attached to the carbon-fibre battens with a hinge system. I named the sail the HHT – Hybrid Hinged Turbo! The unstayed mast was a cut down municipal lamp post, 8in diameter at the base, tapering to about 3in at the masthead; solid as a rock in all weathers.”
Roger added “I can reef instantaneously from the hatch and do all other sail handling from the safety and shelter of the main hatch. So I am never exposed on deck and am therefore warmer, drier, less stressed, and therefore more likely to make better decisions.”
As well as ease of handling, Roger says it is “a wonderfully relaxed and supple rig, with none of the extreme tensions of its Bermuda cousin.”
“The sensation at sea is quite different; you feel more in harmony with the elements, rather than their adversary. Few junk rig sailors I know would ever revert once they have experienced this. The rig is easy to repair at sea. If a sail panel tears you can take it out of service by lashing two battens together. If a batten breaks you can lash it to its neighbour (I did almost a whole voyage to Iceland and back like this, after breaking a batten in a Force 9 off the Dogger Bank) or fix it with a splint. With a fully battened rig, the sail is evenly supported at all points.”
A classic sail boat rig
Moving on to modern luggers , there are some recent interpretations of this classic rig.
British designer Nigel Irens is famous for his multihulls but also has an eye for the unusual, and in 1994 he came up with a couple of beautiful luggers.
His first was the Roxane , a 29ft yawl-rigged lugger loosely inspired by an old Shetland Island fishing boat.
Fitted with a carbon fibre main mast and yard, she has plenty of modern technology on board.
As an active racing class boat that doubles up as a tender and potterer, the 11ft 4in lug sail scow has many fans. Credit: Will Perritt/Alamy
He followed this with the smaller 22ft Romilly , another yawl-rigged lugger for trailer sailing . Both models were later produced by CoCoBe in Holland.
The songwriter and broadcaster Sir Richard Stilgoe was “immediately beguiled” by the Roxane after sailing her in 1995, and has his own called Ruby II .
“The lightness of the carbon spars undoubtedly makes a difference to stability. The rig works and sails really nicely. But I admit that I and another owner are working with Nigel to investigate a conversion to two Bermuda masts – still unstayed – with fathead sails. I don’t expect to go faster, but I do hope to be able to raise and lower the sails more quickly and easily,” said Sir Richard.
If you fancy trying a very small lugsail boat, the famous 11ft 4in scow has much to offer.
It’s widely sailed in the UK and the best-known example is the Lymington Scow. Fleets can be found along the South Coast.
Originally built in clinker, scows are now moulded in GRP.
Rooted in the past
The spritsail is another rig evolution. It appeared on small Greek craft in the Aegean Sea many centuries ago. The Romans followed suit with spritsail-rigged merchant ships.
The rig became increasingly sophisticated until the luff of the sail sat behind the mast, while the sprit went from the base of the mast to the peak of the sail.
The luff became long and straight and the boat could sail closer to the wind, especially with leeboards to reduce sideways drift and a foresail to increase sail area: both said to be Dutch innovations.
The most famous spritsail rigged workhorses were the large, flat-bottomed leeboard Thames barges, which could lower their masts to ‘shoot’ bridges before unloading their cargo.
The Optimist was designed as low cost started boats to children. Credit: Getty
There aren’t many new spritsail-rigged craft around these days, apart from thousands of Optimist dinghies sailed by children as starter-boats.
The Optimist was designed in 1947 by American Clark Mills to offer low-cost sailing for young people.
He drew a simple pram that could be built from three sheets of plywood, then the design was slightly modified and introduced in Europe by Axel Damsgaard.
There are now more than 160,000 Optimists sailed in around 120 countries.
At the 2020 Olympics, at least 75% of medallist skippers were former Optimist champions: the spritsail remains a cornerstone of sailing.
Working boat designs
The gaff rig – extensively used on workboats of all sorts – was a logical progression.
The sprit was replaced by a gaff that slid up the mast so two sides of the mainsail were attached to solid spars.
The later addition of a boom improved performance, but made lowering and raising the rig trickier when shooting bridges.
Some builders solved this problem by attaching the boom gooseneck to the top of a tall tabernacle in which the mast hinged, so the lowered mast, gaff and sail could still stack on top of the boom.
Continues below…
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The gaff rig improved the versatility of workboats; the ability to sail to windward diluted sailors’ dread of a lee shore.
The gaff rig held sway on small to medium sized working craft and on growing numbers of leisure yachts until the Bermuda rig arrived.
Originally developed in Bermuda for smaller vessels then adapted to the larger ocean-going Bermuda sloop, this rig features a triangular mainsail hoisted to the top of the mast. Marconi’s invention of wire rigging to hold up tall radio masts soon spread to sailboats.
Performance-oriented designers borrowed Marconi’s idea and hoisted large three-sided mainsails on tall and well-supported masts.
As a result, the mainsail had a long, straight leading edge which optimised windward performance.
Crafted for speed
Predictably, yacht racing encouraged the proliferation of these ‘Marconi’ Bermuda rigs.
Metre boat and ocean racer designers were quick to forsake gaffs and go for large mainsails and smallish headsails set on tall masts.
When the Royal Ocean Racing Club (RORC)’s rules started influencing the post-war racing scene, masthead Bermuda rigs with smaller mainsails and larger overlapping genoas received favourable racing handicaps and therefore became the norm; masthead rigs with 150% overlapping genoas dominated the scene.
Fortuitously, self-tailing winches were invented (1974 patent) and fitted on race boats. And GRP production family cruisers followed suit.
The Westerly Centaur with a masthead rig and overlapping genoa
From top-selling Beneteaus like the First 30 (1977) to cruising twin keelers like the Westerly Centaur (1969), masthead rigs and overlapping genoas became the norm.
At the same time, the shorter mast, smaller main and standard working jib saved the builder money – and a large genoa went onto the ‘extras’ list!
The Hunter 19 was an example of how the RORC rule encouraged small mains and big genoas.
The National Squib keelboat’s identical hull and keel sports a well-balanced fractional rig with a small jib and a big mainsail.
But when the Squib grew a cabin and coachroof to become a handicap race boat, the rig height and mainsail shrunk while the headsail became a 150% genoa.
And early Hunter 19s won handicap races galore.
Meanwhile, classic 1960s and 70s cruiser-racers such as the Nicholson 32 , Contessa 26 and 32, Twister, Stella, Beneteaus and Jeanneaus et al clung to masthead rigs with small mainsails, working jibs and large genoas; the latter still lurking on the extras list.
The same applied to most of the British bilge- and twin-keel family cruisers .
Fractional sail boat rigs
Impressed by David Thomas’s quarter ton design, Quarto , Hunter was one of the first British builders to beat a path back to fractional rigged cruiser-racers .
Unlike most other quarter tonners at that time, Quarto featured a fractional rig.
In 1975, Hunter asked Thomas to design a GRP cruiser-racer with a similar rig. This became the Sonata, and Hunter never again built a masthead-rigged yacht.
At around the same time, the new International Offshore Rule (IOR) handicap rule – followed later by the Channel Handicap System (CHS) and International Rating Certificate (IRC) rules – treated fractional sail boat rigs more fairly.
Hunter twin keelers, like the Hunter Channel 31, have fractional rigs. Photo: Sven Petersen/Hunter Association
Hunter’s twin keel cruisers also had easily handled fractional rigs, later including self-tacking jibs as standard.
As most sailors moved over to Bermuda rigs, working boats such as fishing smacks and pilot cutters stuck to their four-sided mainsails held aloft on gaffs.
As did several leisure yachts. Why? What are the advantages of these ‘four sided’ mainsails?
While gaff-rig aficionados concede that it’s less close-winded than a Bermuda rig, they reckon it scores off the wind.
Although a gaffer’s mast is shorter, ample sail can be set because the gaff puts more area at the top of a mainsail than you get beneath the diminutive headboard on a Bermuda rig mainsail.
On a reach or a run, gaff rigs provide power aplenty.
Design expert CA Marchaj also said a low aspect ratio mainsail is more efficient than a high aspect ratio equivalent when sailing off the wind.; if you want to pile on more horsepower in light airs, the space above the gaff can also be filled with a topsail.
Ideal for novices
In the 21st century, modern gaffers are still popular, and thousands of novices enjoy sailing in a ubiquitous and simple little gaffer: the Mirror dinghy .
The Mirror’s gunter-rigged gaff slides up parallel to its short mast and offers many benefits.
Sail boat rigs: The Mirror Dinghy originally had a gunter-rigged gaff rig; later the Mirror Class introduced a Bermuda rig option. Credit: Getty
The mast and gaff are much shorter than a one-piece Bermuda rig mast, so are easy to handle and transport when the boat is trailed.
Yet windward performance is good, thanks to the straight luff that continues from the tack of the mainsail to its head on the ‘gunter’ gaff.
The Mirror Class later introduced a Bermuda rig option.
Modern gaffers
Designer Andrew Wolstenholme attributes much of the credit for the popularity of the gaff rig in cruising yachts to Cornish Crabbers.
These boats have sold in large numbers since Roger Dongray designed the original Cornish Crabber.
Her smaller sister, the 19ft Cornish Shrimper, sports a nicely balanced gaff rig with a sizable roller genoa tacked to a bowsprit.
Over 1,000 have been sold and she’s still in production. Wolstenholme has recently designed a new Cornish Crabber 24 MkV with a lightweight carbon mast which also simplifies trailer-sailing.
Sail boat rigs: The gaff-rigged Cornish Crabber 24, with a lightweight carbon mast. Credit: David Harding
Wolstenholme’s Kite 21 is another modern gaffer to take advantage of new materials.
“My aim is to keep her light and simple… the sail plan is generous and set on lightweight carbon spars. I want her to sail well in light and moderate winds – not just in a blow. I want to tow her behind a normal 1.8 litre saloon – not some gas guzzling 4×4.”
The Old Gaffers Association aims to encourage interest in the traditional gaff rig, but also welcomes the development of the rig.
One of these exotic ‘new’ gaffers is the Simon Rogers-designed Alice III. Chris Spencer-Chapman, whose company McKillop Classic Sails was involved in the rig and sail plan, says the “combination of the light carbon spars and hydraulic lifting deep fin and bulb keel allows an enormous sail area which would not be possible with a conventional hull and spars. She is exciting in light conditions but the windage can be an issue to windward in heavy conditions. “Off the wind she is always very fast… for easy cruising, the Bermuda rig will win, but there will always be the aficionado who likes the features of traditional rigs. Unless you are a real purist, why not take advantage of modern materials?”
Sail boat rigs: The Kite 21 is a modern gaffer designed to sail well in light and moderate winds. Credit: Peter Chesworth
Stephen Akester, who co-owns Alice III , told me she “is light displacement at 7.5 tonnes. In light airs and no sea she outperforms Bermuda rigs but to windward in a blow she loses out due to windage and not being as close winded. [She has] much less weight aloft and a very different motion to a classic gaff-rigged heavy displacement vessel. We opted for a gaff rig for the fun of it. Further refinements using modern materials mean we can set the rig up for single-handed sailing with headsails and topsail on rollers and boom bags to catch main and mizzen.”
The Nigel Irens-designed 63ft Maggie B was another dramatic ‘modern gaffer’.
Builder Covey Island Boatworks called her a ‘fusion’ yacht because she fused modern materials with traditional ideas.
Her schooner rig featured short, high peaked carbon gaffs on Irens’s slippery and almost plumb stemmed shoal draught hull design.
The carbon spars are held up by Vectran fibre shrouds tensioned by special deadeyes.
Reducing weight
Vectran costs more than wire, but the weight reduction is huge – as is the cost saving on fabrications to attach wires to the mast and on rigging screws to tension them.
The weight saving aloft meant that 600kg worth of ballast was saved down below, improving performance and righting moments.
Maggie B was succeeded by Farfarer – another Irens masterpiece featuring an unstayed rig with ‘fathead’ mainsails, with a stiff top batten doing the job of a mini gaff.
Matt Newlands of Swallow Boats also brought gaffs into the modern age; then went further.
“The gunter rig was what we offered, and still do, to customers who prefer having shorter spars making trailer-sailing easier for two reasons – less length to trail and easier to raise the mast. But in my opinion, it has been made almost obsolete by two developments. One is carbon fibre masts, and the other is fathead mainsails.
The mast on the BayRaider 20 is only 1m longer than the boat; the ‘fathead’ mainsail improves the lift and drag ratio and maintains sail area. Credit: David Harding
“Carbon masts on trailer-sailer sized boats are so light that it’s easy to raise a full-length mast if the base is hinged. The mast length problem is cured by using a ‘fathead’ mainsail, reducing mast length (on our boats by as much as 1m) while maintaining the same sail area and improving lift/drag ratio.
“On our popular BayRaider 20 this results in a mast that is only 1m longer than the boat. This new rig has many advantages over the gunter, chief among them being ease of reefing. I love quirky rigs, but it’s hard to beat the Bermuda mainsail setup especially with a fathead main on a carbon mast.”
All of which brings us to the Bermuda rigs on today’s production cruisers.
Many have moved on from the old RORC-inspired masthead sail plan. I asked rigging expert Nigel Theadon whether he preferred masthead or fractional sail boat rigs.
“Modern swept-back spreaders provide a ‘safer’ rig without the need for babystay or forward lowers to stabilise the mast’s middle sections… forestays are now higher up the mast than in years gone by, so the modern fractional rig is closer to a masthead than it once was,” he says.
“Fractional rigs are more attractive to look at and do not need expensive and powerful backstay adjusters. When buying a new boat, consider what you want from the rig. When buying a used boat, get a rigger to carry out a mast inspection: because hull surveyors rarely look above eye height.”
Whether you opt for a gaff- or Bermuda-rigged boat, this is sound advice.
Nigel was class champion of the X332; its well-balanced ultra-modern fractional rig works as well for a small cruising crew as it does for keen racers.
But don’t let this put you off a modern gaffer if you enjoy its quirks and character.
Our coastline would be a boring place if we all sailed the same sorts of boats.
Pros and cons of popular sail boat rig designs
Chinese junk rig.
Sail boat rigs: Chinese junk rig. Credit: Darren Bos
Pros: Easy to raise and reef. Easy to tack, gybe and sail single-handed. Easy to control in strong winds.
Cons: Not as close-winded as other rigs. Can be expensive and complicated to build/fit.
Sail boat rigs: Gaff rig. Credit: Neil Foster
Pros: Shorter spars make trailing easier. Modern carbon spars are light and easier to raise/lower. Efficient on a reach or run. Easy on the eye.
Cons: Not as close-winded as modern Bermuda rigs.
Masthead Bermuda rig
Sail boat rigs: Masthead Bermuda rig. Credit: Graham Snook
Pros: Close-winded. Large genoas can be reefed with modern roller furling gear. Modern self-tailing winches make short-tacking easier. Small mainsails easier to control.
Cons: Large genoas can be hard work for cruising.
Fractional Bermuda rig
Sail boat rigs: Fractional Bermuda rig. Credit: Graham Snook/Yachting Monthly
Pros: Very close-winded with tight sheeting angles. Smaller jib is easier to tack, set and trim when shorthanded A large mainsail adds extra off-wind power
Cons: Swept spreaders can chafe mainsails when dead-running.
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by David Nichols
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About the Centerboard
Climbing on the Lift
Downwind Sail Trim
The spritsail, spars and rigging that accompany Crawford Boat Building's MELONSEED SKIFF are an example of simplicity and efficiency. It is unlikely that any rig is the equal of the sprit rig in providing performance with a minimum of hardware and fuss.
The following is a illustration followed by a description of the component parts, their assembly and function:
click on the boom or mast for more...
Masthead Rigging
Feed the 1/8” braided Dacron line through the grommet as shown.
Put the two ends through the hole in the top of the mast.
Put your thumb between the two lines, and take the line on the left side of your thumb and pass it through the left side of the grommet. Do the same with the right side line and put it through the right side of the grommet.
Keeping the lines neat “right to left” make more passes through the hole with the lines as seen next.
IMPORTANT: You will tie off the excess with a square knot, but before you do, be sure that the sail is NOT pinched up tight against the mast, and that the luff runs STRAIGHT up the mast. The luff should be stretched fairly tight but not overly tight. Each lace line should allow the luff to be spaced evenly away from the mast.
Cut off the excess line with a heat gun, or if you don’t have one, trim it with a scissors and then VERY carefully burn the ends of the line to seize them and keep them from fraying. I also melt the line (tricky!) in one side of the knot just a tiny bit so that it won’t become undone.
Technically a SPRIT BOOM ... This has a slot in the end that goes forward and a hole with a snap attached to it in the aft end. To get optimum performance on all points of sail the boom will be set on the opposite side of the sail from the sprit - (It doesn't matter which side you put either spar on.) This causes the least average overall interference to the shape of the sail. You may set both spars on one side of the sail if you wish although you will get a better shape sail on one tack than the other. (This can only be useful if you are going to be on mostly one tack over a sustained distance.) Attach the boom to the sail by clipping the snap on the end of the boom to the grommet on the CLEW of the sail. The clew is the corner of the sail that is on the bottom of the sail closest to the transom.
The forward end of the boom is attached to the mast with another small line called a Boom SNOTTER. This short line should be permanently on the mast for sake of convenience. It has either a knot or a loop in one end, and goes down through the eye strap to the jamb cleat. Put the knot or loop into the SLOTTED of the boom, and tension the boom snotter according to the wind strength.
The item from which the rig gets it's name. This is a 10' stick with a spike in the upper end and a line (called a snotter) attached through a hole in its bottom end. Setting this into the rig is extremely simple, but adjusting the upward tension against the sail top (PEAK) is the single most important adjustment you will make. It goes like this: Grab the sail peak and insert the spike into the rope loop that is sewn into the sail. Push the sprit upward. Tie off the snotter to the cleat located on the mast nearby. Now this is where you can get the most out of the rig's performance potential. The more the wind, the stronger the sprit tension! If you ever see sag lines in the sail because the sprit is not tensioned enough, then you are not getting maximum performance. Remember, soft wind, soft sail .... stiff wind, stiff sail. There are some very technical reasons for this, but that's a two beer conversation. A simple rule of thumb is to always OVERTENSION the sprit a bit anyway because the snotter seems to slip a bit naturally. When sailing to windward, you should never see sag lines in the sail in any direction.
A quadrilateral (square) sail of dacron weighing approx. 4-5 oz. per yard. It has numerous holes called grommets set into it, to which line (rigging) is attached. The edge that is set against the mast is called the LUFF. Using the light 15" light lines provided, tie the luff to the mast so that sail stands evenly about "' away from the back edge of the mast. Tie each of these LACE LINES tight with a good firm square knot. Tie the top most grommet to the hole in the top of the mast using a longer (24") lace line, and go through the hole at least twice and tie off very well. At no point should the sail luff appear crimped!
The corner of the sail that is at the bottom of the luff is called the TACK. Hanging down from the tack is a line attached to the sail called the DOWNHAUL. Now refer back to the mast hardware descriptions and this will start to come together. Tie the downhaul line to lowest cleat on the mast, the one just above deck level, the downhaul cleat. Be sure to tension the luff fairly tight. Good luff tension is very important. The sail is on the mast now so let's continue to rig it up.
A 10' length of solid wood which sets into the boat and is held in place by the mast step at its bottom (heel), and the mast partner at deck level. It has four pieces of hardware fastened to it. Starting from bottom to top they are:
1. A small 3" cleat that the sail downhaul is tied to. On the opposite side of the mast are the other three pieces.
2. A second cleat to tie off the boom snotter.
3. An eye strap to turn this snotter.
4. Further up the mast, a cleat for the sprit snotter.
Don't be confused by the unfamiliar nautical terminology at this point. Just notice the four pieces of hardware. The rigging will be described later.
A 25' length of dacron line with a snap on one end. Snap the sheet onto either the grommet in the clew (along with the boom end snap) or to the snap itself. Newer boats have a RING attached to the bottom of the boom. Snap the sheet to this ring. Run the other end of the sheet through the block on the rudder head and IMMEDIATELY tie a figure eight-knot in the end.
One of the wonderous features of the Melonseed Skiff is that with just a little practice, this rigging drill can be accomplished in
ONLY A MINUTE OR TWO!!!
Now that you have accomplished all this, take fifteen knots of wind and two hours of spare time. Mix well. Apply as often as necessary! Caution; continuous use of this rig and boat can lead to addictive sailing behavior.
Operating and understanding the Melonseed Centerboard:
The centerboard is a plate of 1/2" PVC plastic that is held in place in the centerboard trunk by a bolt, rubber washers, metal washers and a lock nut on its forward lower end. Actually, the board does not ride on the bolt as you might imagine from a visual inspection, but there is a piece of PVC plastic tube that acts as a ‘bushing” around the bolt. There is Sika-flex 291 adhesive sealant between the rubber washer and the fiberglass centerboard trunk. It is a very strong and watertight system that should endure well as time goes on because the friction is really minimized by the water lubricated PVC on PVC system.
The board will rise by itself if you run aground or strike an underwater object.
The string that raises and lowers the board is called a centerboard “pennant”. The pennant is attached to the top aft end of the board by a very simple system of holes and a knot. Once a year or so, check the condition of the pennant where it connects with the board to be sure there is no wear on the pennant.
There are two (permanent ??) magic marker marks on the pennant to indicate the depth settings of the centerboard. With the board pulled up all the way there should be one mark on the pennant at 12” back from the cleat, and another one at 22” back.
If you lower the board and cleat the pennant off at the first mark you will have a “half depth board” with a draft of about 16" – 18". If you lower the board down even lower and cleat it at the second mark you will have a “full board” or about 28” of draft.
NEVER let the board down more than the second mark for a full board setting , as it will likely chatter or wobble in the trunk, and it is also not the best angle for the board in terms of performance. Occasionally though the board will still “chatter”. Lots of centerboards do. Usually it is a sign you are going quite fast, which is good, but if the noise or vibration is annoying, just pull the board up a tiny bit and the chatter will usually go away.
So long as you are within the limits of the recommended maximum depth setting, you can sail the Melonseed with the board set at any depth you like or feel necessary based on the depth of water you are sailing in. Note that the boat will not go to windward as quite as well with a half board or less as it will with the full board (set at the 22” mark) down. You need very little board down when running down wind, so if you want to fine tune the performance you can pull the board mostly or even all the way up. Be sure to lower it again before you tack or gybe, because it is very difficult to perform either maneuver without some board down. It you are going down wind in a very strong breeze you should absolutely have some or all of your board down for increased control.
If you set the boat down on a beach with course sand or clamshells you should ALWAYS check to see that something hasn’t become stuck up in the trunk and jammed the centerboard so that it will not fall down. Just before you set sail, give the pennant a little up and down pull to reassure yourself that the board is free to drop.
If you sail in a tidal salt marsh and there is a lot of marsh grass floating around in the water, or there is lots of floating seaweed, your pennant may collect bits of this flotsam and jamb it up inside the trunk. This is unlikely to happen suddenly, but rather over the course of a long period of time. If this happens and the board becomes jammed or does not go all the way back up into the trunk, then you will have to lower it down and dig the grass out with a stick. You will be amazed at how much eel grass can be compacted up there.
Centerboard Installation:
When you remove the bolt that holds the c/b in the boat you will find
that there is really a piece of PVC pipe that is holding the board in
place. It is like a bushing around the bolt so that the threads of the
bolt don’t wear on the c/b and there is a tight watertight seal.
Installation:
Note the orientation of the bushing when you remove it, and when you
install it back in trunk with the new board put it back the same exact
Clean off the old sealer (3m #5200 or Sikaflex #291) from the old
washers and trunk. Lay down a big patch of masking tape over hole in
trunk. Punch hole in the tape big enough to dry fit the pin and
washers, and trace around the rubber washer to locate area that sealer
make contact with the trunk. With a razor knife, cut out circle or tape
that is under washer and sealer, leaving area around it all masked off
so the goop doesn’t GO EVERYWHERE! Apply modest amount of sealer on
trunk and rubber washer.
Tighten up bolt and nut just a little more than “hand tight”, not too
tight. Wipe off excess sealer and clean up bolt and then remove the
tape and things will be really neat.
Small Puffs of Wind Yield Large Gains.
When a boat has a properly balanced helm (called "weather helm"), she will naturally head up closer into the wind as it's strength increases. This behavior is particularly noticeable when a puff of wind hits your Melonseed. It's a safety feature that automatically points you up into the wind, luffing and letting the force of the wind slip by the sail.
Although already very close winded in her behavior, here's a technique you can use to sail your Melonseed even closer, quicker and faster to your upwind destination.
As you sense the wind increase, it's power filling the sail and heeling the boat over (this is called "getting a lift), keep the sheet tight or haul it in even more as you gradually point the boat more upwind. You must be aware of just how far you can turn upwind before you start to luff and stall the boat, but you'll be surprised at your new (temporary) heading. Most puffs of wind only last a few seconds though, after which the wind will lessen and often shift back. As soon as you feel the wind start to decrease, immediately turn the boat back off the wind a bit or you might stall losing momentum and speed. Done in a smooth "carving" motion both up into and back off the wind, it's a pleasant and efficient maneuver.
In spite of the fact that only a few seconds later you are back on the old heading again, you'll find that you have "side stepped" significantly more upwind. All good racers employ this trick. Doing this repeatedly on an upwind course will make a huge difference in time to your destination.
In general and when sailing downwind in most boats (usually they are Marconi rigged) the skipper’s eye is focused on the boom and keeping it far enough out downwind to prevent a gybe. Actually of course it’s not the boom, but the leech of the sail that gets caught by the wind, back winded, and thus causing an unwanted gybe. Folks tend to watch the boom though. Often there’s standing rigging (stays) that prevent the boom from going as far forward as one might like and that adds to the drama.
Things are different though with a sail rig featuring a quadrilateral sail. Sprit rigs, gaff rigs, lug rigs and many others are in this category. You must first understand that when sailing downwind in a sprit rig in strong winds that no matter where the boom is set, the peak of the sail will be much further ahead. There is a lot of wind force up there on the peak of the sail, and so long as THAT part of the sail is not at serious risk of gibing, then what’s going with the boom and the lower part of the sail is of less concern than you might imagine. There is often so much “twist” in the shape of the sail that when going downwind in a strong breeze the peak of the sail can be 18” – 24” ahead of the clew back at the end of the boom! So here’s the deal…it’s neither the peak nor the clew that needs to be at the optimum angle to the centerline of the boat (about 90 degrees), but HALF WAY UP THE LEECH OF THE SAIL. Therefore if you keep your boom BACK about 9 – 12” from perpendicular to the C/L it will set the sail just right. There is a lot of force on the peak which is a foot or so ahead of perpendicular, and that will keep the sail from gybing.
WHAT NOT TO DO: OK, so you are going like hell downwind in a heavy breeze in the Melonseed and it starts to feel a little scary, so you instinctively let the boom and sail out thinking that letting air slip off the sail it will ease things up a bit. Perhaps you are also worried about the “killer gybe” scenario as well so you see this as a preventative measure. The result of this is that you may now you may have the boom perpendicular to, or perhaps even worse, well ahead of the mast.
When the boom is out ahead of the mast the sheet no longer has the ability to “vang” (hold or pull) the boom down and the boom may start to lift upwards. This can turn into a pretty awkward situation in any cat rigged boat, not just the Melonseed. The boom might suddenly rise WAY up in the air and this will turn the sail into a weird crab-clawed shaped spinnaker with the center of effort of the sail now located much higher and further ahead of the mathematical location it needs to be for the boat to behave right. The boat may start to roll side to side and get very strange to handle. Well, if a boat ever does this and it has a free standing swiveling mast like the Melonseed then just simply let the sheet go and the drama will cease. Better yet, if you see that this is starting to happen, then just turn the boat a bit from a dead run to a broad reach (not by gybing of course, but an “upwind” turn) and keep the sail trim the same or even ease it a bit. Your might even go a bit faster trimmed like this, but you will certainly have a lot more control of the boat.
CENTERBOARD ADVICE:
We all know that raising the centerboard on a boat when going downwind will allow the boat to go faster due to having created less “wetted surface” and less drag. That’s fine in most wind conditions, but I feel strongly that in the Melonseed it’s important to have at least some centerboard down when the wind gets strong. It’s OK to have a normal full board down as well. You will have better control of the boat. And too, if you working harder than normal to keep all things going right with the tiller and sheet and you suddenly have to tack or gybe, you will need to have the board down. Lowering the board in a moment of crisis is not what you want to be doing. Plan ahead, be in control and leave yourself more options.
Home » Achieve best Cost/Performance with Traditional Sailing Rigs – Balance, standing lugs and sprit rig sails
Achieve best Cost/Performance with Traditional Sailing Rigs – Balance, standing lugs and sprit rig sails
Working toward efficient and well tuned lugsails spritsails and rigs..
Any reasonable level sailor can look at the pics above and below and see that this rig is doing most of the right things.
The twist is controlled, the sheeting angles are relatively narrow (though never sheet the front sail of a boat in tighter than 10 degrees from the centreline) and the boat is moving along nicely in a light wind and a leftover chop.
This is what I mean when I say that properly set up traditional rigs can be effective …
… a yawl or a ketch * that can sail round a racing course about equal with a Laser.
See our lug rig setup articles listed on one page .
To be picky and see what we can learn, there are some wrinkles in the head of the mainsail (the “head” in a 4 sided sail is the edge tied along the upper spar – the top corner is the “peak”) and they are a sign of me being lazy – but a few are OK when the wind is light and you are trying to power up the boat.
The other defect is the mizzen is too full. Mizzens usually end up too full because sailmakers underestimate just how stiff such short yards, booms and gaffs are if they are designed to be strong enough.
The pictures above are of me sailing my first design – the BETH sailing canoe on Lake Burley Griffin in Canberra many years ago. BETH is the boat that helped me work out how to set up these types of sails properly – I already knew from my racing background what the aims were, but there are some specific things applicable to traditional rigs.
See a video of a Lug Rigged GIS in a full race against Fireballs and Laser dinghies .
Which of the traditional rigs has good performance
The balance lug rig shown here is certainly one of the best candidates for a traditional rig that is capable of very good performance. Any of the rigs that restrict sail twist as the sheet is eased are OK.
The OzGoose below is becoming a popular boat for club racing in the Philippines, where we can build 10 boats for the price of importing one Laser. It provides level racing on a low budget and plenty of downwind thrills with top speeds around the 13 knot mark. Trainer for family sailing or fun little racing boat one up.
I have used the balance lug on Beth as well as the Goat Island Skiff and the Drop-in canoe rig . A close relative of the balance lug is the lateen (or vice versa) – which the balance lug becomes when it is fully reefed.
Another is the sprit rig – which we used on the OzGoose originally and OzRacers . Though we have swapped mostly to a slightly larger balance lug rig as above.
The OzRacer – the yellow boat right – is sailing is a good strong breeze. Note how the twist is restricted and the mast is bending to depower the sail. Because of the cut of the foot the sail looks like it is sheeted closer than it actually is – the tip of the boom is just outside the transom corner.
The pictures are all :old hat” for racing sailors but the mast on this boat cost $50 and the sail is made of polytarp and cost us $45. When the boat is turned downwind as in the following picture the sail has little twist and is projected well to catch the wind. This day I broke the sailing peak speed record for the class – raising it from 6.5mph to 9.2mph.
Another efficient rig is the lateen – which is a very close relative of the balance lug. I’ve used the lateen for a number of canoes that have been fitted with my “drop in” outriggers.
Balance lug and sprit rigs will sail rings around a gaff rig unless the gaff rig has been set up with a modern boom vang.
Can Boomless Mainsails be “highly efficient”?
First – there are some good reasons to consider boomless sails, but if you want the boat to sail really well in all conditions then boomless is bad.
Performance of such rigs can be OK and there is the argument of simplicity – for example a boomless sail on a rowing tender makes a lot of sense – fewer bits to set up for a boat that is not normally propelled by sails. Cost can also be a good reason
But this section is to deal with those who say “boomless rigs are highly efficient”.
Boomless lugs and boomless “leg of mutton” sails are inefficient crosswind and downwind because of excessive sail twist. Any designer who says that they are “efficient” doesn’t have enough sailing experience to make the call or is getting carried away with the promotional spirit of things.
The only exception to “boomless sucks” is in some fast multihulls which have a curved traveller track that keeps the sheet at the right angle all the time. A multi with a straight traveller and no boom is pretty inefficient as well because the sheeting angle becomes silly as the sheet is eased and the sail twists excessively and the bottom of the sail becomes excessively flat until the limit of the traveller travel is reached then becomes excessively full as the sail is eased for a broad reach or run.
A boomless rig has its place, but it is very hard to argue a performance advantage.
The reason that the boomed traditional rigs that I use have a lower performance than modern rigs is also because of this type of twist. BUT:-
the difference between them and modern rigs is not huge because the twist is controlled.
they are so much cheaper than a modern rigged boat that it is justifiable.
Why not talk about tuning modern rigs and their huge range of adjustability?
The modern bermudan rig generally relies on a boom vang to have the same effect – and that can cost quite a bit of money. The traditional rigs on the other hand sacrifice something in fine adjustability and make up for it in simplicity and low cost.
Instead of all the bits required to make a sloop rig work, the traditional rigs for the racing Geese use three non ball bearing blocks for the mainsheet, rudder fittings and a ring for the top of the mast for the halyard to turnaround. Everything is attached with Spectra loops, mostly attached to the boat by putting them through a hole and tying figure 8 knots in the end.
See our Oz Goose rigging guide to see how we reduce rigging cost dramatically.
Modern race boats go completely overboard with adjustable bits – between a quarter and a third of the $25,000 cost of a 505 (racing dinghy for 2 people) or a Lightweight Sharpie (racing dinghy for three people) is in fittings, ropes and wires – Ronstan, Harken and the rest. This would be fine if it increased the performance by 25% but the reality is more like 5%. But that is enough to win races.
Assuming you know how to use them. And half of sailors don’t know, another quarter don’t dare touch them much and just under another quarter overdo it. :)
Traditional rigs generally have a very low part of the cost involved in these parts – maybe about 5% of the all up cost – and the boat is already much cheaper anyhow.
In fact we built two OZ PDRacers for less than the cost of a shroud tension system on a 505 or Australian Sharpie in 2006. $350 each.
Or in the Philippines we build and rig complete Oz Goose sailboats complete for around the price of a set of spars for a racing Optimist Dinghy.
And the tuning of modern rigs is well covered in other places. I strongly recommend that traditional rig owners have a look at that information too – it covers the basics very well.
Back to traditional rigs
So you can get on the water cheaply and the boat can still go well – If both you and the designer have both done their jobs.
A large part of getting these rigs to work efficiently is down to the designer – he/she has to get the sail area right for the boat and position it correctly and also design the spars for the correct bending response as the wind strength fluctuates.
There are few designers that actually do a good job of this part. Iain Oughtred is one of the few who invariably gets it right with almost everything well positioned and specified.
If the designer understands this properly they can put much more sail area on the boat and still have it easy to sail in stronger winds. Before we put together our OZ PDRacers with the flexible masts and matching sails the largest sensible sails in the fleet were around 45 to 65 square feet. The OZ PDRs had 86sq ft when we first launched them and they were docile to handle and very quick. The lugs are 89 square feet and here is Rick Landreville winning his second PDRacer championship. The rigs are also docile in strong winds when set up properly.
Another area the designer is helpful is in setting up and choosing the rigging for the boat. There is a big difference in the cost of blocks (pulleys) from Ronstan’s basic range vs their deluxe. In general if the right rope and the right fitting have been chosen by the designer and the correct placement and attachment specified there is no need to pay Ronstan or Harken the extra for ball bearing blocks.
The sailmaker is important too – a sailmaker who is interested in these types of sails makes a big difference too (though with the PDRacer we have included the plan to make sails for yourself at a fraction of the cost).
If the designer gets the rig right, the sailmaker was interested in the project and you get the details right then the boat will sail REALLY WELL – and perhaps more importantly – just be trouble free.
As far as the owner’s responsibility – getting these rigs to work well is more a question of detail – just getting little things right – get them all right and the boat will GO!
Setting up and tuning lug rigs and lug sails – also Lateen sails and rigs
Here is a page for setting up most types of lug rigs and lugsails on small and medium sized boats. Most of the advice for balance lugs will also work for Lateen sails.
See our major resources that cover these situations from low cost to adjustable methods
RELATED LINK – All our Lug Rig Articles – over 20 directly useful articles on setting up and thinking about lug rigs.
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Optimist Resources
Understanding Club, Silver & BlackGold spars.
How to set up the standard Opti rig.
Detailed photos of rigged Optis.
The Optimist sailboat is the designed for youth sailors and is the choice for introductory sailing experiences. West Coast Sailing has all the resources you need to rig, find replacement parts, and enjoy sailing your Opti.
Opti Line Lengths:
Upper Sprit Halyard
4 ft
4mm
Halyard
1
Lower Sprit Halyard
4 ft
4mm
Halyard
1
Mainsheet
24 ft
7mm
Sheet
1
/
Outhaul
5 ft
4mm
Control Line
1
Vang
3 ft
5mm
Control Line
1
Boom Jaw Retainer
2 ft
3mm
Misc.
1
Bow Loop
1 ft
3mm
Misc.
1
Daggerboard Retainer
6 ft
3mm
Misc.
1
Daggerboard Retainer Bungee
5 ft
5mm
Misc.
1
Hiking Strap Tie
3 ft
5mm
Misc.
2
Hiking Strap Lift
2 ft
5mm
Misc.
1
Mast Tie-in
2 ft
3mm
Misc.
1
Main Sheet Bridle
5 ft
3mm
Misc.
1
Main Sheet Bridle Safety
2 ft
3mm
Misc.
1
Bow Line
30 ft
6mm
Misc.
1
Sail Ties
2 ft
3mm
Misc.
12
Sail Ties - Corner
2 ft
3mm
Misc.
12
About the Optimist:
The Optimist sailboat, affectionately known as the Opti, is a popular and iconic single-handed dinghy designed specifically for young sailors. Renowned for its simplicity, stability, and ease of use, the Optimist has become a staple in youth sailing programs worldwide. With a distinctive pram-like hull and a single, sprit-rigged sail, this small boat provides an excellent platform for beginners to learn the fundamentals of sailing. Its widespread use in sailing schools and junior regattas highlights its effectiveness in nurturing sailing skills and instilling confidence in young sailors, contributing to its status as one of the most widely sailed and recognizable boats in youth sailing.
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Ross Lillistone Wooden Boats
Tuesday, December 31, 2013
Sprit rig virtues and details.
showing-off her sprit rig and flying jib
tacking away from a in a battle to get up-wind
2 comments:
Hi Ross - I just bought your plans for the Pheonix 3 and I do think I am gonna do the Sprit rig with small jib. Its a classy setup from what I can tell. -Matt H.
Very thoughtfuul blog
Topsails for Sprit Rigs
A classy addition to a classic rig
From Issue December 2016
I have always liked sailing in light air. Ghosting along close to shore on a quiet evening feels like magic, especially in a small boat. But light-air sailing, though relaxing, is surprisingly challenging. In moderate winds, any boat competently handled can attain hull speed, but light wind requires sharp skills and careful attention to detail to get the most out of what’s available. Sail shape and trim make a big difference, and having a little extra canvas adds a sharp arrow to the quiver.
The placement of a melonseed skiff’s mast so far forward rules out setting the topsail while afloat. Boats that have the mast set farther aft offer the sailer better footing and stability and may not have to be rigged while ashore.
My two melonseed skiffs, like most of their type, have small, simple rigs. The single 62-sq-ft spritsail is easy to set and moves the boat along nicely in most conditions. It takes very little to make a melonseed go, but to make things more interesting in faint wind, I tweaked the rig to accommodate a topsail. This complicates the setup, but that’s sort of the point–it offers something fun to tinker with when conditions are calm and less demanding.
When my boats were still under construction, I contacted Stuart Hopkins of Dabbler Sails with the idea of a topsail and he found the proposal intriguing. He agreed to help with design challenges and to make the sails. His suggestions were instrumental in coming up with a solution that works well.
The sails themselves are small and, according to Stuart, relatively easy to make because they require very little draft.* The difficulty is in establishing final dimensions to enable the sail to set well. The topsail needs to overlap the top of the mainsail near the mast to maintain clean airflow but requires a gap at the aft end, near the tip of the sprit, to allow room for sheeting adjustments. My original drawings did not account for either of these details. In fact, when assessing the photos of our first attempt when it was installed on the boat, Stuart decided it did not meet his exacting standards, so we made further adjustments and tried again. The second try nailed it. The topsail is permanently laced to a long, 1-1/2”-thick yard of Douglas fir, so it flies like a flag on a thin pole. On a small boat such as a melonseed, with the mast far forward, there’s no easy way to raise or douse sail while afloat, so rigging is done at the ramp before launch and the topsail is only used when conditions are mild and predictable.
The sail and yard are raised together as a unit. The halyard is lashed to the yard above its midpoint, runs through a bee hole at the top of the mast, then down to a cleat near the deck. The point on the yard where the halyard attaches can be adjusted until proper set is achieved. The foot of the yard is then lashed to the mast, which keeps the whole assembly upright.
For sheeting the topsail, a lightweight line runs from a grommet at the topsail clew, through a bee hole at the tip of the sprit, then down the length of the sprit to the mast. I tension the sheet until the sail looks right, then just tie it off to the sprit. A small cleat here would be handy.
A topsail for a sprit-rigged main requires a sheet led through a beehole in the sprit (upper left inset), a halyard for the yard (upper right), and a lashing to hold the foot of the yard to the mast (lower right). The topsail sheet is tied off around the lower end of the sprit (lower right).
Getting a good set of the sail required a lot of trial and error. All the component parts of the assembly—mainsail, topsail, spars, and lines—are surprisingly interdependent. Small adjustments anywhere in the rig affect the other parts. For example, I found that tightening the snotter of the mainsail’s sprit boom is important when using the topsail, as this adds tension along the whole leech, from the top of the sprit to the mainsail’s clew. This detail helps reduce twist, which will first appear at the top of the rig. If you don’t tension the boom, the top of the sail will still flutter and luff while the bottom is sheeted in too far, which simply makes the boat heel and reduces efficiency.
The topsail only increases the sail area by about 25 percent, but it does so high on the rig where it counts most. It also extends the length of the luff, where the most power is derived when going upwind.
* The Sailmaker’Apprentice recommends that a topsail be “quite flat” with only a slight curve in the luff, a slight hollow centered in the foot—about 1″ per 6′ of length—and a straight leech. For a look at another topsail, check out this month’s From the Editor —Ed.
Barry Long is a writer, photographer and media arts professional from the Chesapeake Bay region, where he sails his two of Melonseed skiffs. He keeps a blog at eyeinhand.com
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Comments (12)
Great article and beautiful boats. I had the pleasure of sailing with Barry last year on the James River in almost dead-calm conditions. The flotilla of boats there that day lost steerage and were circling in the current due to lack of wind. Barry, with his topsail set, pulled away from the fleet and made his way up the Chickahominy River.
Beautiful sails, and beautiful boats!
First time I saw this was Barry Thomas’s son, David, who had added a topsail to his Seaford skiff (and a jib on a bowsprit). Andrew Kitchens has added one to the light home-designed flat bottom skiff he brings to the Small Reach Regatta. Another way, possibly simpler, to rig this is the way that the Carolina spritsail skiffs do it. Their topsail is laced to a long “topmast” that has an eye on it that hooks over a bit of rod set or nailed into the mast head. The pole is long enough for you to reach up and hook it without a halyard. A downhaul keeps it vertical. There is also light boom for the bottom and a separate sheet so it can get set independently of the main. Really a mini version of a jackyard topsail.
To add to Ben’s comment: Albermarle sound shadboats had a topsail also. It didn’t necessarily increase speed. They are very helpful when you sail close to a windward shore which blocks the wind. The topsail catches the higher-up wind. Shadboats often had to sail close to shore to tend their pound nets. The setup was a little different then the spritsail skiffs. The topsail mast went up by a conventional halyard. A long line was attached at the butt of the topsail mast and it had a separate sheet or, sometimes, two. So, hoist the halyard. The sail part stayed down. Then pull in on the line and cantilever up the sail. Then make fast the topsail mast to the main mast. This sounds silly but the oldtimers knew what they were doing. When the wind picked up fast they’d just take a hatchet to the halyard and makefast line. Dump the rig over the side, watch where it was drifting to and go pick it up later. When you are out fishing in the middle of winter, do what you need to do to get home.
Hi Charlie, beautiful photos. My topsails work exactly as you describe. The halyard through the masthead cantilevers up the whole rig. And the primary value, too, but catching a little breeze up high through the trees on a windward shore. I made a trip to the Mariner’s Museum in Newport News specifically to see their shad boat.
I was in Edenton a couple of times last year, but without a way to get on the water was stuck watching from shore. I really need to get down that way with a boat. Would love to see yours sometime.
Hey Ben, it may not surprise you, but the Carolina spritsail skiffs were my initial inspiration for these topsails. I never got to study one up close, though. If I had, I would have liked the simple hook over the top attachment for the mast head you describe, and probably would have done something like that. It would be easy to change these, so I might try it. I found, however, that as downhaul at the foot of the yard was not sufficient to keep the yard upright and stiff enough to keep a good set on the sail reliably. As the line stretched under a load the yard wobbled about too much. On bigger boats you have crew who can swig it up to retighten it, as they do on gaffers and log canoes and such, I notice they all use downhauls as you describe. I couldn’t do that under way on these little boats sailing alone, though. I saw that some of the Carolina skiffs just lashed the foot of the long yard to the mast, so I followed their lead and problem solved. Also, Harris and Kevin are being quite generous with their praise. The truth is I consistently have better views of their transoms than they have of mine.
For those interested, more photos can be found on my blog, here and here , showing the boats under sail.
I know this article has inspired me and had given me a lot of ideas on how I can spread some more canvas on my Coquina with its gaff rig. And just when I was wondering what to do with the upcoming months.
On my sprit-rigged faering, I made mast and sprit so they would both lie on the floorboards. There is a locker fore and aft, so 12′ was my maximum spar length. So my masthead is below the level of the peak. I have been toying with this sprit topsail idea and was glad to see this article come up. I think, however, I will have to go to a mizzen with boomkin rig. It will have to be removable. When I get if figured out, I will photo it in use and post an article or comment. I love these “how I did it’ articles,” for they are invaluable, not just in terms of the particular article but also in terms of idea germination.
For Michael Colfer: Try slapping together some wood laying around, cut out a poly-tarp sail, make a down-and-dirty topsail and see how it works. You can always make fancy later. As kids, we always wanted to put a jib on our old Seaford Skiff. We “borrowed” a lightning class jib. The only problem was the skiff’s mast was so short and the jib so long that we needed a 15′ bowsprit on a 13′ Seaford Skiff. It looked absolutely silly but we didn’t do too badly on a close reach. We retired the rig the next day, but we had imagination.
I use a jib-sheet track fixed halfway on the mast with a slide at the foot of my 12+feet topsail spar on my 16′ spritsail Scandinavian double ender. You lift the topsail spar with the halyard in one hand and fit the freely turning slide at the foot of the spar into the track, tension the halyard, topsail luff and sheet, and that’s it. Works wonderfully fast up and especially down, fixing the foot of the topsail spar tightly to the mast, no wobbling. The 2.2 square meter (23 sq ft) topsail really gets her going with her high peaked 9+ square meter (97+ sq ft) spritsail rig. I copied the track idea from a much bigger British gaffer.
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COMMENTS
The amazing Spritsail, a forgotten jewel.
A sprit is a spar which supports the peak of the sail. Spritsail outperforms Bermudan Rigs??!! Spritsail comparison conducted by Gifford Technology of Southampton. PDF file is largish, comes from bateaubois.com. Also compared was the Gaff sail, lateen and Bermuda rig. The Spritsail came up as best rig much to everyone's surprise (except me of ...
Living with Sprit Sails
My sprit rigs live in long, loose, and slippery bags of light fabric. To unpack a bag, I untie it, flick the rig vertical, and pull the bag down; I'm ready to step the mast with everything attached to it. To put the rig away, I lift up the foot and pull the bag on over it, then work it along the bundled sail and spars. Ben Fuller
Spritsail
Spritsail: Edges: Luff Head Leech Foot Corners: Tack Throat Peak Clew Diagram of a four-cornered spritsail. The spritsail is a four-sided, fore-and-aft sail that is supported at its highest points by the mast and a diagonally running spar known as the sprit. The foot of the sail can be stretched by a boom or held loose-footed just by its sheets. A spritsail has four corners: the throat, peak ...
Sprit Sails
An improved form of the sprit sail rig is in use in America, an illustration of which has been made by Mr. R. B. Forbes, as shown (see Fig. 75). The sprit comes down to the gooseneck of the boom and is inserted in a pocket a, stitched diagonally across the sail: b b are brails on both sides of the sail, but leading through one purchase block p ...
Sail boat rigs: the pros and cons of each popular design
Working boat designs. The gaff rig - extensively used on workboats of all sorts - was a logical progression. The sprit was replaced by a gaff that slid up the mast so two sides of the mainsail were attached to solid spars. The later addition of a boom improved performance, but made lowering and raising the rig trickier when shooting bridges.
My favorite sail, the Leg-o-Mutton Sprit
My favorite sail, the Leg-o-Mutton Sprit (aka: 3 sided sprit) by David 'Shorty' Routh. Phil Bolger designed a lot of small boats that use what is commonly called the "Bolger 59", which is a 59 sqft leg-o-mutton sprit sail. ... Can do either with this rig. Some of the problems of this sail: Needs a tall mast - The only hardware store mast I know ...
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Building the Sprit Rigged Model Sailboat "Emma" - from scratch.
PDF Sprit Rig
The sprit rig is a very simple and efficient rig for small boats. No stand-ing rigging is required, and this rotating rig has a low center of effort. When not in use, the short mast and sprit usually fit in the hull. It is economical and versatile. the sprit rig carries a larger sail for its mast height than a Marconi rig.
Woods Hole Spritsail Boat
The Woods Hole spritsail boat was designed to be easily singlehanded and to sail well in fairly heavy weather without the need to reef. The boat is fun to sail, especially with a bit of a breeze. Interestingly, as a rental boat, DEWEY's boomless sprit rig is sometimes passed over for the more familiar, marconi-rigged vessels.
Sprit sail Archives
The boat is fun to sail, especially with a bit of a breeze. Interestingly, as a rental boat, DEWEY's boomless sprit rig is sometimes passed over for the more familiar, marconi-rigged vessels. However, when provided with a bit of instruction, many of CWB's livery customers find that sailing the Woods Hole spritsail boat is a pleasure. SBM
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Sailing comparison Balance Lug vs Sprit sails
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Rigging and Sailing Tips
It goes like this: Grab the sail peak and insert the spike into the rope loop that is sewn into the sail. Push the sprit upward. Tie off the snotter to the cleat located on the mast nearby. Now this is where you can get the most out of the rig's performance potential. The more the wind, the stronger the sprit tension!
Sprit-boom and snotter details
Sprit-boom and snotter details. 03-07-2006, 12:50 AM. I seem to have as many plans as I have books that cover sprits, snotters and related rigging. Some sprits have a slot on the fore end, others have holes or even tackle. Some snotters are doubled line, most single line. Some run down to a cleat at the base of the mast or inside the cockpit ...
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Achieve best Cost/Performance with Traditional Sailing Rigs
Another is the sprit rig - which we used on the OzGoose originally and OzRacers. Though we have swapped mostly to a slightly larger balance lug rig as above. The OzRacer - the yellow boat right - is sailing is a good strong breeze. Note how the twist is restricted and the mast is bending to depower the sail.
Optimist Sailboat Resources
The Optimist sailboat, affectionately known as the Opti, is a popular and iconic single-handed dinghy designed specifically for young sailors. Renowned for its simplicity, stability, and ease of use, the Optimist has become a staple in youth sailing programs worldwide. With a distinctive pram-like hull and a single, sprit-rigged sail, this ...
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A big boat with this rig would need something by way of a backstay to get the most drive out of the close-hauled jib. In the 15-footer cartooned, with a 13 1/2-foot mast and sprit, and a jib of 18 square feet, the backstay isn't crucial. The rig is auxiliary to the oars, and since it is a spritsail, the spars can not only be stowed in the boat ...
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I assume yours is a small boat. I have a pram rigged very much like the Optomist, except that the sail is not laced to the boom, just attached at tack and clew. It works fine. If you get into a big boat, the sail is without a boom, the sprit is standing, and the sprit swing is contolled by vangs running from each quarter to the upper end of the ...
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Topsails for Sprit Rigs
A topsail for a sprit-rigged main requires a sheet led through a beehole in the sprit (upper left inset), a halyard for the yard (upper right), and a lashing to hold the foot of the yard to the mast (lower right). The topsail sheet is tied off around the lower end of the sprit (lower right). Getting a good set of the sail required a lot of ...
IMAGES
VIDEO
COMMENTS
A sprit is a spar which supports the peak of the sail. Spritsail outperforms Bermudan Rigs??!! Spritsail comparison conducted by Gifford Technology of Southampton. PDF file is largish, comes from bateaubois.com. Also compared was the Gaff sail, lateen and Bermuda rig. The Spritsail came up as best rig much to everyone's surprise (except me of ...
My sprit rigs live in long, loose, and slippery bags of light fabric. To unpack a bag, I untie it, flick the rig vertical, and pull the bag down; I'm ready to step the mast with everything attached to it. To put the rig away, I lift up the foot and pull the bag on over it, then work it along the bundled sail and spars. Ben Fuller
Spritsail: Edges: Luff Head Leech Foot Corners: Tack Throat Peak Clew Diagram of a four-cornered spritsail. The spritsail is a four-sided, fore-and-aft sail that is supported at its highest points by the mast and a diagonally running spar known as the sprit. The foot of the sail can be stretched by a boom or held loose-footed just by its sheets. A spritsail has four corners: the throat, peak ...
An improved form of the sprit sail rig is in use in America, an illustration of which has been made by Mr. R. B. Forbes, as shown (see Fig. 75). The sprit comes down to the gooseneck of the boom and is inserted in a pocket a, stitched diagonally across the sail: b b are brails on both sides of the sail, but leading through one purchase block p ...
Working boat designs. The gaff rig - extensively used on workboats of all sorts - was a logical progression. The sprit was replaced by a gaff that slid up the mast so two sides of the mainsail were attached to solid spars. The later addition of a boom improved performance, but made lowering and raising the rig trickier when shooting bridges.
My favorite sail, the Leg-o-Mutton Sprit (aka: 3 sided sprit) by David 'Shorty' Routh. Phil Bolger designed a lot of small boats that use what is commonly called the "Bolger 59", which is a 59 sqft leg-o-mutton sprit sail. ... Can do either with this rig. Some of the problems of this sail: Needs a tall mast - The only hardware store mast I know ...
Building the Sprit Rigged Model Sailboat "Emma" - from scratch.
The sprit rig is a very simple and efficient rig for small boats. No stand-ing rigging is required, and this rotating rig has a low center of effort. When not in use, the short mast and sprit usually fit in the hull. It is economical and versatile. the sprit rig carries a larger sail for its mast height than a Marconi rig.
The Woods Hole spritsail boat was designed to be easily singlehanded and to sail well in fairly heavy weather without the need to reef. The boat is fun to sail, especially with a bit of a breeze. Interestingly, as a rental boat, DEWEY's boomless sprit rig is sometimes passed over for the more familiar, marconi-rigged vessels.
The boat is fun to sail, especially with a bit of a breeze. Interestingly, as a rental boat, DEWEY's boomless sprit rig is sometimes passed over for the more familiar, marconi-rigged vessels. However, when provided with a bit of instruction, many of CWB's livery customers find that sailing the Woods Hole spritsail boat is a pleasure. SBM
We've come to offering a moderate-sized sprit rig, for ultimate simplicity and minimal-length spars. Another Skiff, lacking rowing competition, wants a more serious sail; a balanced lug of maybe 90 or 100 sq ft. (Trying to combine sailing within the rowing races was not feasible).
A sprit boom can be added after the fact to a loose-footed sail, but it's better to decide the way the sail will be rigged before it's ordered or made. A sail for a sprit boom can have a little more camber because the control the sprit offers and the foot will need to be cut flat or with very little round.
The event was the Goolwa Wooden Boat Festival. Both a triangular sail with sprit boom and a balance lug version are available. The Sprit sail design and making method is in the plan for the OzRacer (a whole $20 for 90 pages - really a course on modern boatbuilding) and the lug rig is a free option for purchasers of the plan.
It goes like this: Grab the sail peak and insert the spike into the rope loop that is sewn into the sail. Push the sprit upward. Tie off the snotter to the cleat located on the mast nearby. Now this is where you can get the most out of the rig's performance potential. The more the wind, the stronger the sprit tension!
Sprit-boom and snotter details. 03-07-2006, 12:50 AM. I seem to have as many plans as I have books that cover sprits, snotters and related rigging. Some sprits have a slot on the fore end, others have holes or even tackle. Some snotters are doubled line, most single line. Some run down to a cleat at the base of the mast or inside the cockpit ...
A replica of the Batavia flying a spritsail (lower right) and a sprit-topsail. On large sailing ships a spritsail is a square-rigged sail carried on a yard below the bowsprit. [1] [2] One of the earliest depictions of a spritsail is carved on Borobudur ship carving in Borobudur temple, Indonesia.In some languages (such as German) it is known as a "blind" (German, (eine) Blinde) because it ...
Another is the sprit rig - which we used on the OzGoose originally and OzRacers. Though we have swapped mostly to a slightly larger balance lug rig as above. The OzRacer - the yellow boat right - is sailing is a good strong breeze. Note how the twist is restricted and the mast is bending to depower the sail.
The Optimist sailboat, affectionately known as the Opti, is a popular and iconic single-handed dinghy designed specifically for young sailors. Renowned for its simplicity, stability, and ease of use, the Optimist has become a staple in youth sailing programs worldwide. With a distinctive pram-like hull and a single, sprit-rigged sail, this ...
A big boat with this rig would need something by way of a backstay to get the most drive out of the close-hauled jib. In the 15-footer cartooned, with a 13 1/2-foot mast and sprit, and a jib of 18 square feet, the backstay isn't crucial. The rig is auxiliary to the oars, and since it is a spritsail, the spars can not only be stowed in the boat ...
I assume yours is a small boat. I have a pram rigged very much like the Optomist, except that the sail is not laced to the boom, just attached at tack and clew. It works fine. If you get into a big boat, the sail is without a boom, the sprit is standing, and the sprit swing is contolled by vangs running from each quarter to the upper end of the ...
1984 Sea Sprite 34' for sale. Built in Rhode Island by C.E. Ryder. 5ft. Draft. Fractional sloop rig, Full keel, Airex cored hull, keel stepped mast, roller furling headsail, keel hung rudder, good running Universal diesel engine, wheel steering, and lots of bronze. The boat is sailed weekly, in good condition, and ready to motor or sail away ...
A topsail for a sprit-rigged main requires a sheet led through a beehole in the sprit (upper left inset), a halyard for the yard (upper right), and a lashing to hold the foot of the yard to the mast (lower right). The topsail sheet is tied off around the lower end of the sprit (lower right). Getting a good set of the sail required a lot of ...