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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.

October 2017 - Linda Crew-Gee's Francis H

Francis H was built to a Francis Herreshoff Buzzards Bay 14 design (with the addition of a cabin) by shipwright Collin Reid at Kerikeri and was launched in 1974. Solidly built of carvel planked kauri, copper fastened to tanakaha ribs, kauri frames and floors. The external ballast keel is of lead. Linda fell in love with her beautiful lines from a picture and bought her there and then. When she floated, for the first time in many years, she was as dry as a bone, except during the first night when Linda visited her every 3 hours to take out a bucketful of water from her bilges.

Linda decided, with the help of Pete Hill, to convert her to aero junk. After looking at the hull structure and checking various measurements and calculations Pete concluded that the mast could stay where it was, and Linda was thrilled to learn that the boat could have the same rig as Oryx, which she found simple and efficient, and Pete volunteered to design the rig.

After few months of relentless hard work, aided by JRA members in New Zealand Francis H was ready for its junk rig launch. The mast was stepped and the sails raised on 21 May 2017. Pete put much of hard work in the last 3 months designing her rig, building the top mast, aero junk rigging and just about everything that goes with it. The moment she took off (literally) from the pontoon they both felt like two kids taken for a first dinghy ride, enjoying sailing in company with Freebie and Gipsy Girl at Stillwater. They had only one sunny afternoon to sail her before packing her off for the winter and sailing off to Polynesia, but will be back to sail her extensively next season.

Pete said:

“The winds were light but sufficient to see how the rig worked. You would expect a Francis Herreshoff design to sail well and Francis with her new rig performed even better than expected. The rig was almost perfectly balanced with just a touch of weather helm and steering was fingertip light. She seemed fast in the light winds, pointed high and tacked on a sixpence. There were a lot of big smiles all round on that day. Much more testing will need to be done in varying conditions to evaluate the rig properly.”

Our Boat of the Month Archive is here.