A hundred years ago, the winner of the America’s Cup was a Herreshoff designed 106ft gaffer weighing in at around 100 tons. Both the British challenger and the American defender – state of the art racers in their day – were powered by gaff rigs. The next America’s Cup is to be contested in 2021 in New Zealand aboard keel-less 75ft monohulls with deck-hugging sails, flying on huge hydrofoils that can hit 50 knots! Which left me wondering why so many popular modern smaller cruisers have ignored progress, preferring gaff rigs to the Bermudan rigs that succeeded them.
“The gaff still has a lot going for it,” says Andrew Wolstenholme, a leading designer of modern gaffers.
“And with exotic new materials now available, it can be even better and offer even more advantages to modern sailors than it ever did in the past.”
The origins of the gaff rig stretch back over many centuries. It evolved from the ubiquitous spritsail rig, which in turn traces its roots back to lugsail and squaresail rigs before it.
The lugsail attaches to a spar that is hoisted up the mast at an angle, with some of the spar and sail protruding ahead of the mast. As a result, it has a defined ‘soft leading-edge’ that helps the boat sail upwind. The lugsail rig became commonplace on coastal fishing and cargo boats that had to be manoeuvrable and able to sail to windward.
Denne historien er fra February 2021-utgaven av Practical Boat Owner.
Start din 7-dagers gratis prøveperiode på Magzter GOLD for å få tilgang til tusenvis av utvalgte premiumhistorier og 9000+ magasiner og aviser.
Allerede abonnent ? Logg på
Denne historien er fra February 2021-utgaven av Practical Boat Owner.
Start din 7-dagers gratis prøveperiode på Magzter GOLD for å få tilgang til tusenvis av utvalgte premiumhistorier og 9000+ magasiner og aviser.
Allerede abonnent? Logg på
Orca sink yacht in Strait of Gibraltar
Spain's maritime rescue service, Salvamento Maritimo, has reported that a 15m (49ft) yacht sank in Moroccan waters in the Strait of Gibraltar following interaction with a pod of orca.
No kill cord or lifejackets were worn during fatal powerboat crash
A kill cord and lifejacket are useless unless worn-that's the warning from the Marine Accident Investigation Branch (MAIB), following its investigation into a powerboat crash that killed a 32-year-old woman and five-year-old girl on 2 October 2022.
Multihull sail work
Brush up on multihull sailing skills before heading off on charter with Gavin Le Sueur's guide to spinnaker handling, tacking and gybing
Five top causes of engine failure and how to prevent them
Jake Kavanagh talks to Sea Start marine engineer Nick Eales about how to avoid the five major causes of an engine breakdown at sea
Sail the Atlantic with strangers
Would you sail across the Atlantic with someone you've just met? Ali Wood meets the cruising crews who've done just that
IZIBoat: simple sailing
Rupert Holmes sails an innovative catamaran design intended to widen participation in sailing among those with little time to get on the water in more conventional craft
30 WAYS TO GET AFLOAT
From tall ships to small dinghies, you needn't own a boat to sail. Ali Wood looks at the options, and how skippers can also find crew
Boats for restoring under £20,000
Duncan Kent picks the best sub-35ft sail and power boats to look for when aiming to undertake a restoration on a budget
Seaworthy dinghies for less than £500
For low cost traditionally-styled GRP trailer-sailers, consider the Foreland and the Otter available at bargain basement prices
Playing with coloured sails
Maintaining an hourglass-shaped balloon and ratcheting up the log numbers
