The
original sailing rigs on both Serendipity
and Puffin are Hugh Horton's
sophisticated version of the old, but efficient sliding gunter rig (Figure 1). Hugh had put a lot of thought into sailing rigs for
canoes and had chosen the gunter because it best fit several needs that he
considered mandatory for a cruising canoe.
First
and foremost for safety reasons, any rig for a sailing canoe has to be quickly
removable and easily stowed inside the hull while at sea. This means that no
part of the rig can be longer than 7'. The rig also has to be very light and
reefable because of the limited righting moment available. This is a
gentlemen’s boat, where we stay comfortably positioned in the cockpit on a
cushy adjustable seat, rather than hike out over the side as one does with
normal dinghies. We do “ooch” our adjustable chair up to the high side and
lean over to weather, which gives us enough righting moment to be surprisingly
effective, but with the sailing canoe, weather work must be done with finesse
rather than brute force.
Knowing
that I had done a lot of playing with sailing rigs over the years in both
multihulls and iceboats, Hugh challenged me to come up with a better rig than
the gunter while he was building Serendipity.
I declined, being just smart enough to know that without some time in the
cockpit, it was highly unlikely that I was going to improve on the overall
effectiveness of his beautiful, lightweight (8lb all up) cedar/carbon gunter
rig.
After
taking delivery of Serendipity, I
sailed her continuously for over a month before my mind really began to turn on
new possibilities for rig configurations. First, it appeared that the gunter rig
had several areas that could be improved upon. It was apparent that the gunter
rig was somewhat under-canvassed at 34 sq ft of sail; in winds up to 10 to 12
mph, more sail area could be carried to make her an even more spectacular light
air performer. Second, while not bad aerodynamically, the gunter is not in the
same league as modern batten supported high roach rigs, such as we see in
catamarans and windsurfers. And third, the gunter had only one reef point which
effectively reduced the sail area in half. This, together with the time and
difficulty of putting in the single reef, meant that I was spending a lot of the
time with either too much sail up or not enough when reefed. The obvious
solution was more sail area with numerous reef points providing more choices of
sail area. This could contribute to both the overall efficiency and safety of
the sailing canoe.
How
to do this without unnecessarily complicating the rig was the challenge.
Fortunately, I didn't have to face this challenge alone. As the evolution of the
new rig progressed, I slowly gathered together a team that was very helpful in
its development. The first breakthrough centered around a novel idea from
Stewart Hopkins, of Dabbler Sails (our gunter rig sailmaker), who suggested the
use of a snap on equivalent of the old mast hoop approach. Using a 35¢, 1½"
I.D. PVC pipe coupler, we cut away about 40° of its diameter so that it will
"snap on" over a 1½" diameter mast with a little push. Once in
place, it resists all sail forces and the PVC coupler easily slides up and down
the mast for easy hoisting and lowering. Most important, the sail, which is
attached to these couplers, is easily and quickly removable from the mast with a
firm pull at each coupler (Figure 2).
This was the key to having a method of quickly dismantling the rig so that it could be stowed away. A secondary benefit was that the couplers allowed the sail to sag off to the leeward side of the round mast, providing a good aerodynamic entry on the power producing leeward side of the sail, which we further augmented by allowing the mast to rotate from tack to tack, as does the gunter.
The
next problem was the 12' mast that needed to be broken down into smaller lengths
for storage in the hull. The weight of the mast is critical, as is its windage
if left standing when the sail is fully reefed. Hugh Horton felt strongly that
we needed a three-piece mast where we could leave out a center section so it
could be reduced from 12' to 8' in length, such as happens with the gunter
reefed mast. The problem with joints is that no matter how well done, they
increase weight and degrade stiffness and strength potential. Enter Paul Beiker,
boat designer and engineer, with extensive experience with the use of carbon
fiber in masts, poles, and booms for International 14 dinghies. We gave him the
challenge of developing a three-piece mast that would meet our needs (Figure 3). Within a month, he delivered parts for the perfect mast,
plenty stiff, strong and weighing only 4.5 lb (2.8 lb when reefed).
We
now only needed to perfect the sail itself and develop a quick reefing system
with the goal of being able to reef and unreef at sea, which was difficult to do
with the gunter. I have always been impressed with wishbone supported rigs,
which function similarly to the sprit on a gunter, but allow the sail to be
effective on both tacks. In addition, attaching the forward end of the wishbone
to one of the couplers allowed the wishbone structure to become the key
ingredient in what has become a marvelously simple and efficient reefing system (Figure 4).
The
luff of the sail is designed with what we call “tack” grommets beginning
with the traditional “tack” position at the bottom, with others positioned
every 6" all the way up to the top batten. Using a fastpin in a fixed tack
position on the mast, you can lower the sail to a variety of potential reef
positions and reinsert the tack pin. The two-part Technora™ (read low stretch)
halyard is then tightened to provide adequate luff tension and avoid the
complexity of a downhaul (Figure 5).
The
clew end of the wishbone is designed so that three separate color-coded lines
are rigged, each with a separate function (Figure
6). The first goes through the clew and allows for adjustment of the draft
of the sail. The next two are rove through the first and second reef points. To
reef, one only need to release the clew line from a jam cleat, then grab one of
the reef lines, pull it tight, and place it in the same jam cleat. To unreef is
the same process in reverse.
With
this basic reefing strategy in place, we began to develop the sail size, shape,
and number of reef positions. Over 6 months, we built three different sails with
modifications in-between. Each step forward was taken only after a long
consideration to prove or disprove various ideas and theories. In this process,
Hugh Horton and our sailmaker Stewart Hopkins were valuable allies. Stewart’s
long experience in this field saved us from going down blind alleys or
reinventing the wheel. This, together with sea trials against Hugh in Puffin to measure progress, allowed us to accomplish in 6 months, at
a fraction of the cost, what has taken years to accomplish with our multihull
and iceboat rigs in the past.
The
final rig in this progression has some significant advantages (Figure
7). First, we have developed a simple and efficient reefing system that
provides 5 sail plans ranging from 40.4 sq ft to 14.1 sq ft. The “maxi reef”
allows for sailing this small boat in winds up to 30 mph. Second, with the use
of a large headboard, full battens and rotating mast, the rig is dramatically
efficient. This is seen in all wind conditions and on all points of sail, but
the great joy of this new rig occurs when going to weather in lighter winds and
tacking within 80° at speeds up to 4.5 knots.
So,
is this the ultimate rig for one of these boats? Not on your life. The evolution
continues with Hugh Horton presently developing a super gunter rig with Stewart
Hopkins that will combine the best from both the past and the future. Then, of
course, I already have another idea that I would like to try out soon.
Epoxyworks
16 / Fall 2000
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