Thank you all for your kind support and interest in this project. The full story behind the LeFang 23.8 one-design class racing junkboat is quite extensive, and I'll be publishing a detailed article in the JRA magazine for our members. For non-members who are curious about this unique vessel, allow me to share a brief introduction.
My journey with junkboat design began a decade ago when I observed several distinctive features of traditional junks being successfully incorporated into modern sailboat designs. These included the evolution from triangular sails to trapezoidal square-top sails, full batten sail configurations, the replacement of protruding keels with centerboards in adventure sailboats, and length-to-beam ratios decreasing below 3. Notably, experienced ocean voyagers were increasingly favoring junk-rig designs for short handed long-distance trips.
These observations inspired me to delve deeper into the ancient design principles of Chinese junks that once dominated the oceans for centuries in pre-colonial times. My research led me to a particularly fascinating subject - a Song dynasty wreck discovered in 1974 at Quanzhou (the ancient Zayton Port). Unlike modern fishing junks, this vessel featured a distinctive "wine-glass" hull section similar to Viking drakkar (they shouldn't have met). The archaeological discovery of frankincense in the wreck provided concrete evidence that this ship had completed the Maritime Silk Route journey from Arabia.
Using computer modeling to analyze the hull lines, I discovered that this ancient design offered superior stability and low resistance characteristics compared to modern fishing junks. To test these findings, I constructed a 10-meter FRP prototype in 2019 - the LeFang 33.8. As predicted, the vessel performed exceptionally well in most conditions, though we did encounter some challenges with tacking maneuvers. The stiff hull provided by the wide beam benefits to the stability and sail power.
(To be continued...)