Posted by Lionel Hill on October 31, 2000 at 03:49:54 from 202.7.15.132:
In Reply to: Re: SY Swallow and SY Amazon - rig. posted by Mike Field on October 30, 2000 at 14:51:58:
John Leather's book Spritsails and Lugsails explains the variations on lugsails and the fine detail of rigging them with the aid of excellent drawings. I think he would call Swallow's rig an unbalanced standing lugsail. Mike's kayak rig in this terminology is a balanced standing lugsail. They both stand in the sense that they are not dipped when going about. The one that projects forward of the mast at both yard and boom is more balanced than the other making it a very light sail to sheet. I rigged my 12 foot version of Swallow with a sail of the same proportions as illustrated on Ransome's Swallow photographed in Rio Bay. It is a low peaked unbalanced standing lug sail. The racy lugsails had the yard peaked very high. As Mike says, lugsails are wonderful sails with little running rigging, no standing rigging and they keep the heeling forces low. The supposed inefficiency of having the sail aback on the mast on one tack with a standing lug may not exist. I have never noticed any difference between tacks and sometimes wonder whether the thick mast (typical for a lugsaul rig without standing rigging) is less a source of turbulence when it is to leeward rather than windward.