ON RIGS

In discussing rigs suitable for cruising we may at once dismiss from

consideration several that are in common use, but which are not adapted

for service in our waters, or are distinctly inferior by reason of

being difficult to handle with small and unskillful crews. We will,

also, dismiss the true cutter rig from our considerations, as it has

almost passed out of use, its place being taken by the modern type of

single-sticker, which is part cutter and part sloop. This combination

rig is not in its full sparring suitable for boats under forty feet,

but when stripped of the topmast it is in some ways an excellent type.

We can also drop the cat, and what is called the cat-yawl, from our

list. The four rigs to which I shall call your attention are the

pole-mast sloop, yawl, ketch and schooner.

The pole-mast sloop, of which the knockabout is the commoner specimen,

is an excellent rig for use on a cruiser. The difference between

the sloop proper and the knockabout is in the method of spreading

the canvas; in the sloop the canvas is spread fore-and-aft, a large

percentage being forward of the mast; in the knockabout the much

greater part of the spread is in the mainsail, and the hoist is higher.

The tall, narrow-peaked mainsail of the latter is its characteristic

feature. The jib is small and tacked down to the stem head.

The disadvantage of this rig is that sufficient canvas to drive

a heavy, full-bodied boat cannot be spread; consequently, a true

knockabout is a comparatively roomless craft.

The false knockabout, a bastard craft that is becoming very common, is

one in which the sail area is increased by extending the headsail on a

bowsprit, and running the boom outboard.

The pole-mast sloop has many warm advocates, and is without question

a far better rig than the old sloop, hampered with topmast and lofty

gear, but it shares with all single-masted vessels the faults that are

common to the type. The most serious of these is, that you cannot

shorten sail except by reefing. This can be done with the yawl, ketch

and schooner rigs.

I have heard many men, and men of experience, decry the yawl rig,

giving as their opinion that it is inferior in every way to the

short-rigged sloop. But I have generally found that these men have

formed their judgment from the actions of one boat, and that failing to

confirm preconceived opinions they have condemned the type, root, bole

and branch.

In an article upon the yawl rig, written some time back, I explained

one of the reasons why this rig came into favor, and why it has lost

favor with many who at first highly valued it. I cannot do better than

reprint these remarks:

It has been said that the worst enemy a man can have is his best

friend. Howsoever this may be in the world of men, it is most certainly

so in the world of things, and nowhere has unmeasured eulogy of the

best friend wrought greater havoc than in the case of the yawl rig.

Unfortunately for the yawl rig, it has been repeatedly chosen to drive

the craft of the writing lonesome sailor, and consequently it has

figured to a marked degree in yachting literature, and as these writers

have lavished upon it page upon page of unqualified praise, the

effect has been to lift the rig into a singular and prominent position,

and to surround it with a glamour not the less charming because a

sparkle of truth concentrates and enhances its delusive glitter.

[Illustration: YAWL RIGS]

There is no question but what narratives like those penned by the

famous single-hand sailor McMillan were the cause of the yawl's sudden

elevation to favor in American waters, and there is no question but

what some books are responsible for much of the fabulous that envelopes

the rig. There are few of us who would be ready to swallow all that a

lover might say in praise of his mistress, and yet a man is just as

likely to magnify the points and virtues of his vessel as he is those

of his Dulcinea; therefore we cannot be too careful in accepting the

evidence of the infatuated yachtsman or in adopting his finding as

infallible precedents. For, often carried away by the good behavior

of his craft, he jumps at a conclusion, attributing to one quantity

that which should be adjudged to the fabric as a whole. This is often

the case; and again, too frequently is the rig of the vessel blamed

for results which are the sum of defects altogether foreign to a

peculiar sparring and canvasing.

[Illustration: YAWL RIGS]

The unqualified praise which has been lavished on the yawl rig has,

as is usual, awakened a no less unqualified storm of dispraise. While

the yawlman has, with that noble effrontery which distinguishes the

true crank, claimed for his favorite rig everything in sight, the

recalcitrant unbeliever has as broadly denied it, even those common

virtues which one supposed to be possessed by even the meanest and most

primitive craft.

I have no hesitancy in saying that so far as the driving value of the

mizzen is concerned it is an unimportant quantity. This is especially

so when on the wind. On most of the yawls I have handled there has

been good cause for this. In the first place, the boomkins were too

short, and the other spars too light. You cannot expect a sail to sit

properly and hold its draught on buckling spars. The lead of the sheet

is such that the boom cannot be kept rigid, and just as soon as it

blows its end turns up like a pugdog's tail, throwing the canvas all

out of shape. Then the back-wind from the mainsail makes it impossible

to keep the mizzen full unless it is sheeted very flat. On yawls with

gaff-headed mizzens the mast is frequently too short; consequently

the head of the sail cannot be kept in place. With jib-headed mizzens

the same spar is too light; in consequence when the sheet is brought

down hard the mast buckles aft, throwing the head of the sail into a

bag. How frequently you see a yawl on the wind with her mizzen all

a-shiver. If you make the boomkin longer, the boom stouter, and give

the mast a good head, you will get a better sitting and more efficient

sail.

[Illustration: YAWL RIGS]

Now let us, in order to test the qualities of short-rigged sloop and

yawl, place them in such situations as they are liable to get into

when cruising. First they are caught in a heavy, sudden blow with a

lee shore close aboard. It is necessary to shorten sail at once. The

yawl simply lowers her mainsail and, holding way under mizzen and jib,

forereaches along, while the crew, having secured the boom, proceed to

tie in the reefs. The sloop is in such a situation that she cannot run

off; she must either anchor, lower everything and drift, or else jolly

along with head sheets flowed and the peak of the mainsail up. Having a

part of the mainsail drawing increases the difficulty of reefing, and

if there is any sea the lowering of the sail will cause her to roll,

making it bad work securing the clew. The yawl's clew is inboard,

where it can be readily handled, and owing to her jib and mizzen sheets

being aft she is comparatively steady.

[Illustration: SHARPIE]

[Illustration: KNOCKABOUT]

[Illustration: SHARPIE]

[Illustration: RACEABOUT]

Again, we will suppose that both these boats have come to anchor,

sails stowed and awnings up. It comes on to blow, and it is necessary

to shift berth to a more secure anchorage. The yawl hoists her jib

and mizzen--a very easy matter--and beats up to a better anchorage.

The sloop has to take in her awning, clear decks and perhaps reef the

mainsail before hoisting it to follow. How many times has the cruising

man remained in an uncomfortable berth because of the labor of making

sail on his sloop after all has been snugged down?

Now let us suppose these two boats are running off large, with a steep

sea and heavy wind. The yawl takes in her mizzen and lets her boom

broad off, its short length preventing the danger of tripping. The

sloop has no mizzen to take in, but it has a long boom which must be

watched carefully or else topped-up. And with a strong beam wind the

yawl with jib and mizzen stowed will ratch along under reefed mainsail;

very few sloops will do that.

One time when coming down along shore with a yawl we had an unsteady

northwest wind, blowing a good whole-sail breeze, with now and again

tremendous heavy puffs, acting as wind off land frequently does. We

made company with a sloop of about our own size, but a much faster

boat. In the puffs it was necessary for both of us to let up, but the

rest of the time we could carry our canvas without worrying. I put

two hands on the main sheet with orders to spill the sail when a puff

struck, and, keeping on my course, shivered her through. The sloop man

first tried luffing out, but, losing distance by this, he resorted to

starting sheet and bearing off; consequently he was all over the shop.

Once or twice he had to drop his peak in order to keep control. Neither

of us wanted to get offshore, as we had to haul up at the next point,

so were hugging the beach rather close. At last he gave in, anchored

and started to reef. We followed suit, but kept on our course under

jib and mizzen, getting a two-mile lead and first home. He came aboard

that evening and asked me what kind of yawl his sloop would make. As

he flicked the oakum out of us the next day in a beat to windward I am

afraid he didn't stay converted, but relapsed into the sloop heresy.

[Illustration: CLIPPER DORY]

[Illustration: CAT SLOOP]

[Illustration: FISHING DORY]

[Illustration: CAT]

The ketch rig, which is very like the yawl, has all the latter's

virtues and defects and a few of its own. The difference between the

ketch and the yawl is this: in the yawl the mizzen-mast is stepped

abaft the rudder post, and in the ketch forward of it. In the ketch

this brings the mast just where it is most in the way, right at the

forward end of the cockpit, generally obliging the putting of the

companion on one side, or else taking the hatch well forward to the

middle of the cabin. The ketch mainsail is narrow-footed, and longer

on the hoist than that of the yawl. It is a very light and easy rig

to handle, and for large boats is better than the yawl; and for small

ones it is better than the schooner. In this country it is mostly used

on shallow, flat-bottomed hulls, such as are employed in navigating

Southern waters. In the British Isles it is a favorite rig for

coasters, and I have heard it highly commended by coastwise skippers.

Most of the sloops formerly used in that trade have been in late years

converted into ketches. The most marked advantage it has over the yawl

is that, if the largest sail be taken in, there is left in the head

sails and mizzen a good spread of canvas; whereas, if the mainsail be

taken off a yawl she is under too short sail to do satisfactory work.

The advantage the ketch has over the schooner is in getting rid of the

long main boom.

Like the catboat, if the weather were a constant quantity, the schooner

would be a rig without peer. In smooth water and when she can carry her

sail, especially to windward, there is no rig to equal the schooner.

She has the speed and weatherliness of the sloop, with lighter and

easier sails to handle. She can be shortened down without reefing, and

can spread plenty of light canvas in soft winds. Her defect is the

defect of all fore-and-afters, although in her case it is aggravated by

having the mainmast stepped further aft--she is a bad runner in heavy

water.

I have made a passage of twelve days in a schooner, during which time

we never had the stops off the mainsail; during part of the time having

no after-sail, and the rest of the time a trysail set. To have set the

mainsail and squared off the boom would surely have brought about a

disaster.

[Illustration: JIB AND MAINSAIL]

[Illustration: SLOOP RIG]

Let me here repeat some former remarks on the subject: It is often

a matter of wonder to landsmen why sailors continue to use square

sails, when to all intents the fore-and-aft canvas is so much easier

to handle. So it is in smooth water and under average conditions; so

long as one of our typical fore-and-aft schooners can carry all sail

and make progress in a windward direction there is no abler vessel

afloat. But when obliged to shorten down or make a run for it, they

are the worst craft in the world. So long as you can keep sail on them

they will do all that a ship can be asked to do, but once they are

stripped in a gale, good-bye to safety. Take a good look at an ordinary

two-masted coaster, and you will comprehend at once why this is. These

vessels have enormously long lower masts, and the spread of the rigging

is in consequence small; their booms are long and heavy, and all the

weight above deck is centered in a line over the keel. The pressure

of canvas, except when the sails are winged, is all on one side,

and is exerted so as to bring a twisting strain upon the supporting

spars. There is not, as in the square-rigger, a balancing of weights

and strains. The freer these vessels are sailing the more pronounced

is this strain. The only relief the spar can find is to impart this

strain to the hull, which in consequence forces the bow in the opposite

direction and brings a pressure upon the helm. To prevent this action a

reducing of the after canvas is necessary.

[Illustration: POLE MAST SLOOP]

[Illustration: CUTTER RIG]

[Illustration: KETCH]

[Illustration: SMALL SCHOONER]

A close study of the fore-and-aft rigs used along our coast will show

what devices have been resorted to in order to remedy this defect. In

the first place, there was the subdividing of the mainsail--making a

three-master; then a gradual reduction of the spanker, until on many of

our three-masted schooners it is to-day the smallest of the three lower

sails. At the same time the lower masts have been shortened and the

hoists of the topsails increased. On the great lakes the fresh-water

man has reduced his spanker to almost the proportions of a ketch's

mizzen, the necessity of more constant jibing having forced him to this

change. But alter as you please, the fore-and-after is still a bad

runner when winds blow strong and seas run high.

Our modern racing schooners are a particularly bad type. They are

really large sloops with a fake foresail, this latter bit of canvas

being more ornamental than useful. A good specimen of the rig proper

are some of our large cruising schooners, with wide-footed foresails

and short main booms. The pilot-boat and fisherman rigs are also

excellent types.

[Illustration: KETCH]

[Illustration: FULL SCHOONER RIG]

In a proper schooner the foresail should be in such a position as to

allow the vessel to be handled under it alone, as it is the last sail

to take off in heavy weather. It should be broad-footed in order to

trim properly; you cannot trim a narrow-footed foresail so as to draw

when going to windward unless it has a lug; this lug is a nuisance, as

it obliges the tending of the sheet when tacking. The main boom should

not go over the taffrail beyond easy reach. A forty-foot pole-mast

schooner makes a very handy boat for two men to work. Her heaviest sail

is lighter than the heaviest sail of a yawl or ketch of the same size.

This is something you must always take into consideration when choosing

a rig for cruising. The average yachtsman is a man who does not do

manual labor for a living, and is consequently soft-muscled. Handling

sails, unless you are constantly at it, is hard labor, and if a boat is

short-handed is sometimes a heavy tax on the strength of the crew. Any

one who has hoisted a heavy mainsail by himself will understand this.

Many a time after making sail or reefing when alone I have lain down

completely exhausted.

A man who intends to employ a crew can afford to ignore this question,

as he can suit his crew to his boat; but when you depend upon amateurs

for help you cannot do so. One day you may have a double watch, and

the next day nobody. So it is best to select a rig of such weight

as you can handle yourself if necessary. This makes you to a certain

extent independent of your friends.

_ON SAIL AS AN AUXILIARY_

"_When blows the breeze we spread our sail

And save the gasoline,

But when the gentle zephyrs fail

We start the old machine;

And with a clank of shaft and crank

Go rattling into port--

And this is what, to be quite frank,

Some folks consider sport._"