Capt. Rob wrote:
I was looking through some old sailing books last night and started
reading about the Gaff rigged schooners and sloops. Looking at the
drawings I thought....

Doesn't the gaff allow for more roach with better control aloft? Is the
penalty just the spar, which could be made ultralight these days?

They're called full length battens nowadays.

Wouldn't still add more sail area and superior shape on a modern ketch?

That's why so many modern high performance boats like mine use them.
How about yours?

Well, it's a pretty rig in any case.

yup.

Doesn't the gaff allow for more roach with better control aloft? Is the
penalty just the spar, which could be made ultralight these days?

They're called full length battens nowadays.


But, Jeff...think about this: The gaff rig lets you raise part of your
sail without reefing and sacrificing sail shape. You can hoist without
the topsail.


RB
35s5
NY

Nutsy.

I'm old enough to remember those Gaff Rigs. Learned to sail on a Gaff
Rigged Cat work Boat. Drooled about owning a "Friendship Sloop!"
BUT;----Nutsy that Gaff Boom; still lives in my mind as a thing of
terror. It is necessary to raise a gaff ( No batten will do the job).
Nothing, I mean nothing can match the pain of a Jam Jaws on a Gaff Boom.
Also; nothing can match the Heart Pumping of a Gybe of a Gaff Rig, not
to even mention an "Accidental Jibe" Nutsy, you've never experienced
"Weather Helm" until you've sailed a Gaffer off the wind. It was the
Gaff Rig that invented the Barn Door, transom hung rudder.

All that be said; My heart skips a beat at the thought of a "Friendship
on a reach". One of your nickname came from that boat; "Bowsprit" was
what they put on the New England Catboat to carry a head sail to reduce
that damn weather helm. Tamed it enough to be a "Friend"

Are memories;--- but that was long ago;
Ole Thom



http://community.webtv.net/tassail/ThomPage