Clive’s boats
When regularly towing and stepping a tall Bermudan-rigged mast proved challenging, Clive explored simpler traditional rigs
Clive Marsh discovered small boats while working for Canadian Pacific Steamships and is a past Commodore of the Merchant Navy Association Boat Club. In this series he shares tales from his 50 years of boat ownership.
Sailboat ownership for me began with small Bermudan rigged yachts kept on moorings. These rigs were highly efficient to windward and I had no desire to change them to a more traditional rig.
However, there came a time when I wanted to go trailer-sailing and I found that regularly towing and stepping a tall Bermudan rigged mast was a lot of hassle. So I started my journey into trying various traditional rigs simply for the benefit of easy trailing and rigging.
Traditional rigs tend to have shorter masts that can be stowed inside the boat and some require no shrouds or forestay, the mast being held in a strengthened thwart. But soon I was to learn the significant additional benefits of traditional rigs when on the water.
Gunter sail
My traditional rig journey started with the gunter sail on my Drascombe Lugger. The Lugger, being a fairly long boat (18ft 9in), could manage without a boom and still get her main sheeting angle right. Amajor benefit was the ease with which I could depower downwind when coming into tight spaces. I also had a gunter rig on my 12ft Tideway but this boat needed a boom and more rigging with both peak and throat halyards.
Next, I moved onto gaff sails starting with the little 12ft Cornish Cormorant. The gaff sail looked just right on this catboat and she sailed beautifully. She had a lot of string as gaffers do and it took me a while at each launch to set things up properly. For me, the less string the better so I decided to stick with boats with simple lug sails.
Alug sail must be one of the best things a man has ever invented. It may have originated on the Basque coast and spread
up the Channel to Brittany, Normandy and the UK. Larger fishing boats used a powerful dipping lug sail which required a crew to dip the yard around the mast on each tack, no problem for a boat with a crew. But smaller boats, especially those being sailed single-handed, needed something more convenient and this is why we use standing or balanced lug sails today for small leisure craft.
Standing lugsail
The standing lugsail has the tack just aft of the mast. The sail can be set either with or without a boom and this will depend on the length of the boat and where th
