Home / Logs / 2006 / April 8, 2006
Spars & Rigging
April 8, 2006
Old Hoisting Shanty
Shantyman/Sailors
A long, long time, and a long time ago
To me way hay O-hi-o
A long, long time, and a long time ago
A long time ago
A smart Yankee packet lay out in the bay
To me way hay O-hi-o
A smart Yankee packet lay out in the bay
A long time ago
A-waiting for a fair wind to get under way
To me way hay O-hi-o
A-waiting for a fair wind to get under way
A long time ago
With all her poor sailors all sick and all sore
To me way hay O-hi-o
With all her poor sailors all sick and all sore
A long time ago
For they'd drunk all their whisky, and could get no more
A long time ago
Not surprisingly sailboats need sails. Less obvious is how many, what configuration and how to actually hold them up and transfer the forces of the wind to the vessel itself. While you can learn to sail without understanding the force dynamics (stay with me), aerodynamic hydrodynamic physics for purists, of your boat it can help improve your technique if you have some understanding of how it all works. On Makara, we have no problem with the technical part, the sailing master (me!) is a trained physicist. I have, however, been encouraged more than once to focus on sail trim and not the physics while underway. Oh well, guess I’ll have to reserve that for late night watches where I can have a good conversation with myself. Besides, this article is supposed to be a practical one on the rigging for Makara. So, class, let’s begin…
When we were looking for “the boat” we decided that one mast was enough for us. Ketches, yawls, even schooners are interesting vessels, each with their own positive and negative characteristics, but we had settled on the KISS solution for our needs. That left three basic types of single mast rigs to consider: sloop, cutter and cat-boat. Not many boats are cat rigged. We never got around to looking at one, although some newer, interesting variants are around - Wylie's for example. We did however look at a number of sloop and cutter rigged boats all of which had Marconi rigs (triangular main sails). No gaff rigs entered our search. Was this pure chance, coincidence or cunning insight? The correct answer is a mix of all three. Our preference from many years experience was for Marconi rigged sloops or cutters. Coincidentally, all vessels that we considered had these types of rigs. From a handling and economy of effort standpoint these types of rigs met our criteria. But this was the easy part. The cutter versus sloop argument is a never ending point of conversation among cruisers and arm-chair sailors alike. Add the further complication of exactly how to configure headsails and your head starts to ache. First the cutter versus sloop issue.
When you choose a vessel the decision is an amalgam of many factors, the rig included. Whether you build or buy, the question of the type of rig needs to be addressed. We examined at least four cutter rigged boat designs and many more sloop rigged boats. In the end the design we choose for Makara, a Passport 470, can be categorized primarily as a sloop rig. Her mast is more forward than a traditional cutter in a station more typical of a sloop rig. The main is on the largish side compared to a cutter rig of similar size. There is no bowsprit, or facsimile there of, the forestay is firmly attached to the hull. I rather like that. I have seen way too many boats lose a bobstay or whisker stay with the natural consequence of taking down the rig prematurely relative to the next haul-out and rig inspection. Rather easy to find the cracks when the mast is in one or more pieces.
Makara does have a staysail stay. But didn’t I said it was a sloop? Often a sloop will have a staysail stay or a baby stay installed. A baby stay is as much about supporting the mast properly as for bending a sail on. Perigail had one but it as not even big enough to hold our pennant! Makara has a staysail stay, specifically designed to handle a fair sized staysail or if needed a spitfire/storm jib. The rig on Makara is not intended to fly both headsails at the same time. Hence it is really a sloop, just a fancy one with a few “gear changes” built in. I have heard these rigs called slutters (oh please!), among other things good and bad. They key thing is how the boat balances, which involves mast placement, hull shape, weight distribution, keel form…wait I am getting into the physics now. The bottom line given the design, and we have verified this sailing on one, is that the boat is balanced well as a sloop using the foresail and when reefed with the staysail. Works for us, but always go with what works for you. The powerful main and configuration is good to windward (we are not gentle-ladies and do not mind beating into the wind, although we would prefer to beat conch) in either headsail setup with excellent helm balance. A removable staysail stay allow us to tack the genoa easily in lighter air. You can bet once at sea or when the wind picks up the staysail stay is put in place ready for a gear change.
Now that the basic number of masts and headsail stays is settled lets talk furling. The foresail, that is where we stick the genny, has rolling furling. We have chosen Selden Furlex (more on that later). The staysail stay does not have furling. This makes the stowing the stay out of the way easier but that is not the only reason. The high wind sail, the staysail and storm jibs are hanked on. These can’t jam and I can pretty much always get it down (really down). Yes, we could have placed a furler on it and made it non-removable. But then to shift from a full staysail to the storm jib we would have had to fully extended it to get it down. Not fun in higher winds. So, we have a mix of new and traditional setups. It would be nice to do everything from the cockpit, but frankly no matter how well you rig it, sooner or later and probably a lot sooner than you would like, you will need to move forward. Best build that into the plan. The main is standard slab reef, nothing overly fancy. Again KISS applies here. We did not want any form of roller boom or mast furling on this boat. Way too risky given our goals. Again, when I want the main down I want it down.
What is more interesting is that we have chosen a two line reefing solution, one line at the luff and one along the leech. Single line systems have a lot of friction and are difficult to use when off the wind. With some finesse we can reef off the wind. Call us crazy but we have also chosen to set up the reefing at the mast. Same as before, sooner or later you will need to go forward when reefing. Might as well make it a standard, practiced procedure. Also simplifies the clutter of a bazillion odd lines going to the cockpit. Makara will have three reef points total on the main with full battens. Special hardware will be used to ease the movement and stresses associates with full battens.
For those technical minded individuals, the rig is a double spreader, discontinuous shroud rig manufactured by Selden (with fancy Gucci spreaders - it's a girl thing). The mast is equipped with the MDS car system for full batten sails. The spreaders are slightly swept allowing for better pre-bend tensioning. The Selden Fulex furler for the headsail was chosen for two reasons. One, they are very sturdily build (we did not skimp on the size of the unit) and have a very good track record in nasty places and two, Selden is very good about service. Every rig is given an ID number and many parts have there own part number. Selden keeps a record of every rig they supply with all those numbers. If something goes “snap, crackle or pop” in the night you find your rig and or part number, call them and they know exactly what you need and send it. Not for free, but then again you need the part…right? This applies to the furler as well. Ease of maintenance, parts replacement and service were the other factors of our furler choice. We’ll let you know if it was a good one after we try that system out.
At this point the basics are covered. There are a few finer point to touch on. The Makara rig includes running backs. These are useful to reduce pumping loads at the staysail stay attachment point. As we used to say on Perigail, use them or lose it (the mast). The Makara rig is not quite that brittle but it will help reduce stress loading on the mast, especially in heavy chop. Another side benefit of religiously using at least one running back on every point of sail is that if the backstay ever does part, the runner, as they are sometimes called, may buy you enough time to save the rig. This is especially important off the wind. Many large racing boats, read really BIG mains and roaches, only have runners! We also have a track and fittings setup for a trysail. The trysail can be setup and ready to go on deck in heavy weather rather than fumbling in heavy weather to put it up, which by then is a bit too late. All halyards have a backup, including the main. The traveler (yes that is a part of the rig…holds the boom, hence the foot of the sail down for you landlubbers reading this) is about mid-boom. Maybe even a bit further aft. Not my first choice but it is hard to find a boat such as ours that isn’t rigged this way. Low friction block are specified for Makara, especially in the area of main sheet control. A high purchase system is also in order. Lastly we have chosen to forego a hydraulic backstay adjuster - the Selden rig is stiff, doesn't really need it, and again this is part of the KISS principal.
No exposé on rigs and sails would be complete without talking about the REALLY BIG ONES! No, we don’t plan to run a full spinnaker thank you. We had enough of that on our beloved Pergail. Also the Nancy, the ships master (do I dare say mistress?), has had enough hang glider work on out of control spinnakers to last a lifetime (and permanently damaged tendons to prove it) . We are planning to use one or more Gennakers on Makara. These large sails, for the uninitiated, are tacked to the boat much like a conventional jib, but are not attached to a stay and have shapes and sizes similar to full size spinnakers. They do not (normally) require a pole. They are safer and easier to use. We are cruising, not racing, and they will do just fine thank you.
As with all boats, as you use them and/or abuse them, the rig and sail plans will evolve. Makara has a well thought out, workable rig and sail plan. Will it remain constant? No more so than the wind. Stay tuned for periodic updates on what we learn works or doesn’t work, as well as the solutions, clever or not, that we devise to overcome problems we encounter.
Postscript: If you would like to see a very technical article on the physics of sailing please drop us a note and the good Doctor might be encouraged to do so - of course emails begging her not to will be honored as well.