hi maxime

Maxime Camirand wrote:

…some cruisers prefer to anchor from the quarter rather than the bow, as this reportedly gives kinder motion and a better windage profile.

Is this nonsense?

in my opinion it really is nonsens – i would never do this in free waters.

the boat catches more wind than it would with the bow to the wind. so there's much more load at the anchor.

the only adventage could be to have more fresh air going through the hatch. (but more rain as well…)

utnik

^{@Slieve thank you for your input and all of your hard work with the further development of balanced rigs. OK, so 35is a bit extreme. Either way, 30% - 35% balance would work very well with my boat as mast placement goes. I think 32% might be a safer placement. Obviously you are very much an advocate of the split rig, but do you think good cruising performance can be obtained with out the split doing round and broad seam for the camber shape? I am not concerned about racing performance, I just want a safe, stable easy to handle rig, that performs at least  as well as my stretched out and worn 43 year old stock sails. Ideally, if I can get a system well tuned and reliable, I would like to gut my cock pit, build an enclosure with a dome bubble hatch in a position where I can run the rudder, keep watch and control the lines while under way. The main benefit of this would be better usage of the loads of empty space in the area, storage, and a little work bench to work on making new rope stropped blocks, sewing sail panels, ect. It would be great to have all my tools organized and a nice place to work on things when anchored. Also, I really like cold climates, so it would be nice to be able to sail and keep warm and dry through a storm. Thank you for all of your input. The goal of this boat is mainly for coastal cruising with maybe some small passages from Canada to Alaska for now. After I conquer that, I am sure I will need to make adjustments to my boat.}

^{JJust curios is there any form of DIY DSS available? What would it be called? A sliding dagger board? Any who, I still have at least a few more months to plan everything before the weather will cooperate enough to get any work done.}

Slieve McGalliard wrote

Michael, regarding a boat the kites around at anchor, I fully agree that it's not pleasant. I have always felt that if planning to go long time cruising I would fit a double goal post as far aft as possible to 1) support the aft end of an awning/ cockpit tent, 2) support solar panels, 3) support the vane part of a wind vane system, 4) mount emergency aerials, radar, etc, and 5) make a mounting for lashed on 'blinkers' between the double uprights on each side to act as tail feathers to hopefully help stabilise the boat at anchor. I'm surprised there has not been discussion on this latter point.

Slieve, The best mono for anchoring was my 32ft Gaff Cutter. The mast windage was further forward, but she had a deep forefoot (not cut away) and a long strait keel. Not sure about all that stuff on the stern that you propose! This boat had hank-on jibs Annie. Michael

James wrote, “I have found a lot of information on many of the different variations, but have not seen any input from folks with a Van loan rig or a cambered Van loan rig. Anyone out there in web-land sailing around with the van loan set up?”

I feel that the van Loan rig is not discussed often even though it is a beautifully simple and practical rig. As Arne says it's a low yard angle rig which will let you increase the balance, depending on how you adjust the batten parrels. Put a drawing of a Split Rig beside the van Loan rig and play 'spot the difference'. Both rigs are a variation on the same theme and both result in simple controls and low stresses. Both will allow for maximum balance and the mast further aft than other Western junk rigs. Although the design was not approached from this end, the split rig could be thought of as a van Loan rig with camber and the sail split in way of the mast.

James, you are talking about placing the mast at 35% chord, but a word of warning might be in order. With his vast experience of the Balanced Rig on model boats, Roger Stollery reckons the limit for a safe rig is to have no more than one third of the combined sail area in front of the mast. I drew Amiina's first rig at 35%, reckoning the increased area aft in the top panel would keep the rig stable. It did, but I feel you should be aware you are playing right at the limit here and any slight deviation might start to show instability. Amiina has been sailed in some 'interesting' wind conditions, and as the rig has been reefed the ratio of area fore and aft has moved towards a more stable figure, due to the shape of the top panel. I was not overly happy when it was raced without the top panel. Looking at a new rig rig for Amiina I am wondering about setting the balance at 33% rather than 35%. It's not much difference, but we'll see.

Michael, regarding a boat the kites around at anchor, I fully agree that it's not pleasant. I have always felt that if planning to go long time cruising I would fit a double goal post as far aft as possible to 1) support the aft end of an awning/ cockpit tent, 2) support solar panels, 3) support the vane part of a wind vane system, 4) mount emergency aerials, radar, etc, and 5) make a mounting for lashed on 'blinkers' between the double uprights on each side to act as tail feathers to hopefully help stabilise the boat at anchor. I'm surprised there has not been discussion on this latter point.

Iain, Sesi's rig is based on Poppy's, and even the hull is from the same mold but with bilge keels. I believe the 'unusual' controls are simply the standard spanned combined batten parrels/ downhauls which are regularly used with the split rig. Van Loan suggests spanned downhauls and individual batten parrels, but I've combined them so that they are just slack when hoisting but only require a light tug to tension (which I often forget to do). I feel it is difficult to get a simpler set up which has all the necessary safety features.

I hope you all have a healthy and happy New Year. 

Cheers, Slieve.

Michael Moore wrote:

I cannot conceive of a cruising boat that was not docile at anchor. (bridles help a bit on a mono, work well on a multi though) So, at the risk of bringing down the wrath of those very experienced JR sailors on my head, I’d say a sloop rig is ok for a day-sailer where as as a Ketch or a Schooner are the only cruising rigs. Await incoming!

Michael: the two-masted junks are the more likely to walk around their anchors, just like a sloop or cutter with roller-furling headsails respond to the windage in their bows.  As much will depend on the windage and shape of the hull and the underwater body of the boat as the rig.

Since I sailed up to North Island (NZ), I have nearly always lived at anchor on Fantail.  In spite of her fin and spade underbody, I've been astonished how docile my 26ft 'sloop' rigged junk is at anchor and I've experienced more than a few days of F9+.