Sailboat Rigs 1

1 – Sailboat Rigs 1 Section 1 Sailboat Rigs Abaft. Behind, aft of. Hank. A fitting, usually made of stainless steel, bronze or nylon, fastened to the luff of a staysail, used to attach the staysail to a Amidships. In or near the middle of the boat. forestay. Bowsprit. A spar that extends forward from the bow. Sails and Headsail. Any sail flown forward of the mast. rigging are attached to the bowsprit. Spar. Any shaft or pole for the attachment of a sail, such as the Clew. After lower corner of a triangular sail. On a mast, boom, yard, or sprit. spinnaker, the lower corner attached to the sheet. Tack. The lower forward corner of a mainsail or jib or the corner Foot. The lower edge of a sail. of a spinnaker that is near the spinnaker pole. Also, with starboard or port, describes the side opposite to that on which the mainsail Gaff. Spar that supports the upper side of a fore-and-aft four-sided is carried. Also, to change course by turning bow through the eye sail. of the wind. Halyard. Line for hoisting sails or flags. SAILBOAT RIGS – 1 1 Down through the ages, sailboat rigs of many diverse types have appeared on the waters of the world. In this YARD section, you will become familiar with some of the more popular rigs used by sailors today. MAST 2 The major factors used to identify sailboat rigs are 1) the number, relative height, and placement of masts and 2) the shape and distribution of sails. Lateen TACK 3 The simplest rig in common use today is the lateen rig, Figure 1–1. This is the rig seen on small dinghies and some board (car top) boats such as the Sunfish®. The BOOM single triangular sail is lashed to a yard and to the boom. The yard is suspended from its midpoint by a halyard supported from a relatively short mast. The yard and the boom meet at the tack (forward corner of the sail). The simplicity of the rig makes hoisting and trimming sails Figure 1–1 Lateen Rig LATEEN RIG and maneuvering easy. Sail 2 1 – Sailboat Rigs GAFF MAST MAST SAIL BOOM SAIL BOOM TILLER RUDDER Figure 1–2 Gaff-rigged Catboat Figure 1–3 Marconi-rigged Catboat Catboat 4 A common single-sail rig is the catboat. The 5 The traditional cat rig is most often found on boats with traditionally beamy catboat hull has a single mast a length of 25 feet / 7.6 meters or less. located (stepped) forward at the bow. The long boom spreads the large mainsail far aft. Some catboats have 6 Catboats have the advantage of being easy to handle. gaff-headed mainsails, that is, the sails are quadrilateral There are few lines to tend since there are no headsails, (four-sided) in shape, Figure 1–2. This is accomplished and maneuvering is a simple matter. When sailing by attaching the upper edge of the sail to a third spar, the downwind, the large mainsail readily drives the hull. gaff, which is hauled aloft by halyards. Other catboats The lack of a headsail results in limited performance in have more modern, triangular-shaped sails, Figure 1–3. A sailing to windward, which is the catboat’s significant photograph of a catboat suitable for daysailing is shown disadvantage. in Figure 1–4. 7 The advent of unstayed carbon filament epoxy spars and wishbone booms has enhanced the attractiveness of the catboat rig. Wishbone booms allow better sail shape by replacing the long straight boom with two curved boom-like spars that permit the foot of the sail to conform to an airfoil shape. A net may be suspended below the wishbone to catch the sail as it is lowered. The wishbone rig (Figure 1–5) has good performance and handling characteristics. Figure 1–6 shows a cruising catboat with a wishbone rig. Figure 1–4 Catboat Sail 1 – Sailboat Rigs 3 Sloop 8 In the sloop rig, Figures 1–7 and 1–8, the mast is stepped farther aft than in the catboat rig. This provides room for sails to be flown forward of the mast. Any of various sized jibs can be attached to the headstay leading from the bow of the boat to the forward side of the mast at or near the top. The sloop has more sail controls than either the catboat or lateen rigs since there is an additional sail, the jib. In return for the extra effort required to sail the sloop, the sailor gains greater versatility in sail selection and optimum windward performance. With the advent of quick and easy furling and reefing systems, it is easy to reduce the sail area of sloop-rigged boats quickly when WISHBONE the wind becomes too strong. These factors combine to BOOM make the sloop rig very popular. The sloop rig is found on a variety of boats from small daysailers to large ocean racers and America’s Cup boats. By having jibs of differ- ent sizes and mainsails which can be reefed, the larger of these boats can carry sails in winds ranging from a gentle breeze to a gale. HEADSTAY FASTENED NEAR TOP OF MAST Figure 1–5 Wishbone-rigged Catboat MAINSAIL JIB Figure 1–7 Masthead-rigged Sloop Figure 1–6 Wishbone-rigged Cruising Catboat Figure 1–8 Masthead-rigged Sloop Sail 4 1 – Sailboat Rigs Headstay 10 With the development of modern furling and reefing systems for use with sloop rigs, the advantages of the cutter rig are no longer as significant as they once were. 11 The cutter’s disadvantages include: Forestay (a) the effects of inconvenient central location of the Backstay mast on the cabin accommodations (b) the increased cost of the extra sails and hardware required (c) the possible addition of a bowsprit (d) reduced windward performance in light winds Jib (e) the forestay may interfere with a genoa sail when Mainsail tacking Staysail Yawl Bowsprit 12 A yawl is a two-masted sailboat in which the mizzen- Bobstay mast—the aftermost mast—is quite short in comparison Figure 1–9 Cutter with the mainmast and is stepped abaft (behind) the rudder post, Figure 1–10. Cutter 13 The mizzen sail is too small to permit using it instead of 9 The cutter rig is similar to that of the sloop in that it has one mast. But, the mast on the cutter is stepped further aft the mainsail under most conditions. However, it can be than on a sloop, more nearly at the center of the overall used effectively to balance the boat going to windward. length of the boat measured from the bow. This permits The mizzenmast is behind the helmsman, out of the carrying two headsails: a jib attached to the headstay way, running from either the bow stemhead or forward end of a bowsprit, and a second sail called a staysail. The stay- Mainmast sail is attached to another stay (forestay) that runs from a point on the foredeck to approximately three-quarters of the way to the masthead. The cutter rig breaks the sail area of a single-masted boat into three parts, main, jib, and staysail, Figure 1–9. On larger cruising cutters, the staysail’s foot is often attached to a short boom attached Mizzenmast to a deck fitting that permits it to swivel from side to side. The length of the staysail’s boom is such that its end, opposite the deck fitting, clears the mast when it swings between port or starboard sides of the mast. With this kind of rig, exercise extreme care when working on the foredeck; this boom is dangerous if it sweeps the deck. The cutter has two advantages: Mainsail Jib • None of the sails is as large as the corresponding sail Mizzen on a sloop, making sail handling easier. Sail • As the wind increases, the jib can easily be lowered to reduce sail area. This leaves the boat with a balanced sail plan of main and staysail. Rudderpost Figure 1–10 Yawl Sail 1 – Sailboat Rigs 5 14 The yawl rig is not as popular as it once was, perhaps because rating rules for racing do not favor it as much today as in the past. On boats smaller than 35 feet / 10 meters, the area of the mizzen seldom is large enough to offset the added wind resistance created by the mizzenmast and rigging. Ketch 15 A popular sail rig for large cruising sailboats is the ketch rig, Figure 1–11. 16 On a ketch the mainmast is usually shorter than the mainmast on a yawl, but the mizzenmast is much taller and stepped forward of the rudder post. The sail area of the mizzen is often much larger than that of a yawl. One variant, the cat ketch design, has a mizzen and main of the same size and has no jib, Figure 1–12. 17 The ketch does not go to windward as well as boats with some of the other rigs, but it has many advantages that make it popular with cruising sailors. The large mizzen makes for a well-balanced boat when sailing Figure 1–12 Cat-Ketch without a jib under mizzen and jib alone. When reaching, the large sail area drives the boat well, with good balance easily 18 The rig has several disadvantages. One of these is the attainable. presence of the mizzenmast in the middle of the cockpit on an aft-cockpit boat. This puts it just in front of the helmsman with the mizzen boom sweeping over the Mainmast entire cockpit.

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