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Spritsail Rig

Started by Old Forum, April 07, 2014, 02:35:05 PM

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Old Forum


Martin_cartwright
Username: Martin_cartwright

Registered: 04-2008
   
Posted on Thursday, September 20, 2012 - 08:57 am:      
The only aspect of the Winklebrig which still frustrates me as a single hander is the mainsail and topsail arrangement.Shortening sail in a hurry is difficult, reefing lines and topping lift and topsail paraphernalia frequently get tangled, and detaching boom and all the lacing for lowering the mast is cumbersome.

Looking once again at the Thames sailing barges (designed for short handed sailing), it seems to me that they have solved all the above issues by having a spritsail see:-

(http://www.christinedemerchant.com/sail_sprit_sail.html)

As my mainsail is now in need of replacement and gaff spa has seen better days it might be a good moment for a radical change. A spritsail would certainly suit the Winklebrig's design heritage!

Anyone any views?

Old Forum


David Cawston
Username: David_cawston

Registered: 03-2007
   
Posted on Thursday, September 20, 2012 - 12:17 pm:      
I was always amazed at how quickly Roger could raise and lower mainsail and topsail on Partan single handed, with his system of having the topsail rigged to the gaff.

Old Forum


Roger Parish
Username: Roger_parish

Registered: 03-2007
   
Posted on Thursday, September 20, 2012 - 08:27 pm:      
I use to have a spritsail dinghy. Very pretty rig but never found it easy to manage. The sprit pole is longer than the mast. Without a boom being able to quickly brail the sail was useful but never found it sailed well downwind.
I would go for a gunter rig with full length top batten to increase the roach. The gunter has advantage of Bermudan sail and the increased roach would give you a larger sail area and maintain a traditional appearance . This sail would set better. With the gaff and topsail it is difficult to keep a good sail shape because the gaff arm falls away.You will notice this looking up along the leech. Some new Broads boats use the built in batten to replace the gaff arm and I think they do a similar arrangement on Drascombes. You could always experiment with a 505 sail or Merlin Rocket sail which have top battens. perhaps bit short in the foot.

Old Forum


Martin_cartwright
Username: Martin_cartwright

Registered: 04-2008
   
Posted on Saturday, September 29, 2012 - 06:58 pm:      
Thanks for these. I have spoken to Jeckells (sailmakers in Norfolk)and I am going to see James Lawrence (Essex) next week. Jeckell's advice was to stick with the gaff rig and when they saw my mainsail they said they could transform my sailing performance with a new sail cut flatter and horizontally rather than vertically (as the standard Winklebrig mainsail is). Apparently they did the same for the early Cornish Shrimpers and this made a huge difference to their performance. Does anyone have any experience of this?

Old Forum

Martin_cartwright
Username: Martin_cartwright

Registered: 04-2008
   
Posted on Wednesday, October 03, 2012 - 09:56 am:      
I have now spoken to James Lawrence, who seem to specialise in this sort of thing and they agree with you Roger that a spritsail is not the best answer, but that a balanced lug sail might be the best compromise between simplicity and efficiency. The huge advantage of this is that it moves the centre of effort forward which is no bad thing with a Winklebrig (which does suffer from weather helm)and is especially the case with Winkle where I have made matters worse in this respect by adding the mizzen.

Old Forum

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Roger Parish
Username: Roger_parish

Registered: 03-2007
   
Posted on Wednesday, October 03, 2012 - 07:15 pm:      
The spritsails for my boat were made by James Lawrence and the finish and detail was first class.
With the balanced lug sail is there a chance that the yard will foul the foresails when tacking. I like the simplicity of lug sails on small boats without a jib, you can undo one halyard and everything falls in the bottom of the boat! Are you planning to increase the area of the main to compensate for the loss of the topsail?

Old Forum

Martin_cartwright
Username: Martin_cartwright

Registered: 04-2008
   
Posted on Thursday, October 04, 2012 - 08:14 am:      
Thanks Roger for all your helpful comments. Yes, Jmes Lawrence did mention the fouling of the foresail. I am taking the boat over to them in a couple of weeks to see what will work.
I am not convinced that my topsail ever added much to my performance so I might settle for the smaller mainsail area. I can always add a topsail later!
http://70point8percent.blogspot.co.uk/search?q=topsail
(Maybe not!).