Posted by Mike Field on October 30, 2000 at 14:51:58 from 203.18.21.200:
In Reply to: Re: SY Swallow and SY Amazon - rig. posted by Terence McManus on October 30, 2000 at 07:56:15:
There are five different types of lugsail that I'm aware of, the sail extending forward of the mast on three of them. Swallow's rig (as drawn by Stuart) is a standing lug, having jaws on the mast and a freely-suspended gaff. The gunter lug has jaws on both the mast and the gaff, the latter standing nearly vertically. (This rig in some ways was a precursor to the modern Bermuda rig -- although this "modern" rig, in fact, was in use well over 100 years ago.) Then the three rigs where the foot of the sail projects forward of the mast are, firstly, the boomless dipping lug that Andrew refers to, with which the yard is set to leeward and "dipped" around the mast at every tack; the balance lug (the one I use on my kayak,) with a boom that projects past the mast, being held in place by a tack line; and the boomed Chinese lug, which has a fully battened sail on a freely-suspended gaff, each batten having its own parrel on the mast.
I hope this helps clear things up a bit. Good heady stuff, isn't it? If anyone's really interested, I could probably post a few sketches.