Members' photo gallery - hover mouse over image to pause slideshow
The final version of the Junk Rig Glossary is now available and can be found under the Junk Information menu, or directly here. This Glossary lists all the terms related to the junk rig, its implementation and use.
We were formed in the UK, and although our 'office' address and banking remains in the UK we are run by an increasingly international Committee via the Internet. A number of posts become vacant every year, at the AGM, so if you choose to join you could also put your name forward to help run the 'club'. It doesn't run itself. Our membership is now more than 50% outside the UK. Click the chart for detail.
August 2018 - JB
I bought a 34ft, Allied Seabreeze for her attractive cruising characteristics. A bronze centreboard gives moderate draught of just over a metre; she has legs for drying out; an encapsulated lead keel, long for directional stability – she will sail herself on all points of sail; and she has good light-weather performance, because the short water line lengthens out as wave making immerses her ends, giving her a good top speed when the wind really picks up. My tracking shows her sailing consistently at 7.3 knots in breezes of 15 knots (F4) and over. JB is, in fact, a fibreglass copy of the famous three-times Bermuda Race winner, Finisterre, designed by Sparkman & Stephens.
Famous for comfort at sea as well as windward performance,she was what I needed to sail back to New Zealand from Europe on my own. JB has proven to be an excellent, tough ocean cruiser and I absolutely love her! On the voyage, she sometimes made over 160 M a day, with a best run was 114 nm in 14 hrs – an average of 8.1 knots – all done when the wind was over 18 knots (F5). From Tonga to NZ, we were close-hauled – a good test – and we sailed onto the Customs wharf in NZ without a motor.
JB was a pointy sloop when we started the voyage, but arthritis in my neck, back and elbows made it too painful for me to continue, so I returned to the UK to convert her to junk. The masts, sails, etc were professionally made and I organised for everything to be there, when I arrived in Falmouth to make the conversion to junk schooner. Twelve days later, I sailed off across the Bay of Biscay for a grand learning curve: a shake-up is not recommended for a shake-down! 
I chose flat sails and two masts for reliability. The masts are positioned to suit her internal arrangements, which dictated the sail area: a compromise. Virtually no maintenance was necessary during the three years it took to sail to NZ – mainly because I rigged her with Dyneema, which cost as much as the sails. On the voyage out, the 280 sq ft foresail sail was used without reefing, for most of the time in trade winds of 25 knots plus (F6). The large main is used in light winds downwind, but the centreboard is necessary for balance as the winds increase, until Ican reef the main as the foresail takes over. (In the Russell Boating Club’s Tall Ships Race, I had lost the centreboard because the stainless shackle had broken, so I had to ease and then reef the main, thus losing drive.) Interestingly, I use self-stowing winches with 1/4 inch Dyneema for frictionless hoisting of sails and find it easier than the block and tackle I started with. Hoisting a sail can be done sitting in cockpit. The motor was hardly used, only 5 gallons being consumed between Spain and NZ. In fact the 2001 motor still only has 400 hours on it. I reckon that sailing with junk rig will keep the figure low.
A Hebridean vane gear proved faultless and sensitive, even in light conditions. I recently swapped a 3:1 gear box for a 2:1 and now cruise happily under motor at 5.5 knots – who needs sails!
I did once curse changing to a flat junk rig, as we tacked for days from Panama to Galapagos in light doldrum airs, heat and lightning. Three M in 3 days! At the time, my gearbox then was not up to the task to rescue that situation by using power. A pointy thing might have saved me days! Oops I didn’t mean that!
Our Boat of the Month Archive is here.
