The vertical furl

Culler has a lot to say about the sprit rig (and I dare say would probably deplore this conversation). Anyway, some of his wisdom could be transferred to our tiny junk.

Here’s an 18’ skiff with a brailed up bundle left standing. Lifting such a rig in and out is practical for a (wooden) mast length of up to 16’ (5m) according to Culler.

Arne may be onto it here, with his “vertical furl” (brail to the mast) concept. With just three spars to brail up (small, light ones at that) this could be the breakthrough for dealing with a tiny fanned junk rig.

The simplicity, and potential reduction in the number of running parts, of Arne's little fanned rig, is also an eye-opener.

Well done Arne, now comes the testing.

I've just gone back to have another look, and read it more carefully.

I think you've done it Arne!

Rowing.

Isn’t it always the case? You unship the oars and a few seconds later along comes a puff of wind. You ship the oars, and before you know it you’re drifting again! You try to row with the sail standing, and get smacked around the ears.

Running lifts and reefing upwards: the old scowmen used to call it a “log reef” as kauri logs were a common deck cargo. Evidently the Chinese did it too. (As an aside, I've wondered if this is the reason Chinese junks often seem to have a narrow bottom panel). This would seem to be the answer to rowing/sailing in fickle conditions. 

I guess any type of junk rig can be made to do this.

Furling and stowing

The real issues are furling, stowing - and don't forget, hassle-free re-deploying from a previous stow.

If that can be done quickly while out on the water, then the ultimate goal – the 1-minute tiny junk, will have been reached.

There are two reasons for furling and stowing while out on the water in a dinghy: (1) because the wind has dropped and you decide to row, and (2) because conditions have got bad and you decide to row.

1. Conditions too light for sailing

If it’s a dead flat calm and sailing is hopeless. Arne’s vertical furl is a perfect solution. The furled rig can be left standing – or struck and stowed away, whatever.

2. Conditions deteriorate, sailing no longer an option.

This is what it all comes down to.

Here is where the mini-junk  “one minute stow” is going to be necessary, not for convenience but for safety.

We are bobbing about, sail flapping and spars swinging, in an 8' dinghy, in a situation we should never have got ourselves into. Can Arne’s rig be brailed up, reliably (no foul-ups), struck and stowed in the dinghy, all from a sitting position?

It needs to be demonstrated. It may well be the solution.

(Referring again to the sprit rig, Culler suggests, if things are really dire, lifting out the mast and throwing the entire rig overboard “still spreeted out” and riding to it on the end of the sheet, as a sea anchor, until its convenient to haul it in and stow it. “A handy thing to know” says old Culler “don’t lose the end!”)

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I think Arne might have made a leap forward in thinking, with his fanned mini-junk and the running lift acting as a brail. The vertical furl, followed by stowing the entire rig.

If it can be done safely in a small open dinghy, by reaching around and without having to stand up.

Of course, it is necessary also to be able to reverse the procedure and re-deploy the rig from a previous stow, in about the same length of time.

Its looking good so far.

The horizontal furl.

Unfortunately I am stuck with this more conventional paradigm, partly because I share Jan's aversion to a standing vertical bundle, but mainly because I want to put a non-fanned low yard-angle rig on my Golden Bay. (A SJR – I know, I know - its probably too small). I’m still working on it in my head. I think it can be done, but it will have to be in a much more conventional way.

So far, Arne, with his fanned rig, with running lift/brail, and vertical furl idea, is ahead in the race for a one-minute mini-junk.

As for the committee's tender design competition - at this early stage I'd give the hull prize to David because a 3-plank with flaring sides is simpler than a 5-plank and good enough for an 8-footer. In fact, I'd be surprised if most people could tell the difference, with an 8-footer. Also the side buoyancy tanks, short moveable thwart and built-in off-centreboard. Arne could do that too, but has not yet fully revealed his cockpit layout.

Halibut has the looks, and a theoretical advantage but that doesn't beat functionality. However, at this early stage Arne might still win on points, because he seems to have cracked the real challenge. This rig of Arne's is looking like its going to be hard to beat!

I'm glad I'm only on the sideline, not one of the judges

"Anyway, all this is armchair theories until it has been tested."

I believe it's worth you working out how to brail the sail to the mast but in my real life experience I know I'd prefer to roll up the whole rig and stow it if I had to row upwind in any sort of breeze. So if you can make it easy to de-rig and easy to brail then it's a winner.

 Halibut is getting interesting! We had a Malcolm Goodwin "Toad" nutshell pram on the sea for many years. Our daughter has it still, on an inland lake. It has a very heavy sturdy balanced lug rig. Thinking about my experiences in it, such as reaching across the bay, about two miles, in a force six, I wonder if you really need to be able to reef? You just get your COG down low and hold on for dear life and bail like billy-oh.  A lug sail on this scale is also very easy to put on whichever side of the mast you like, would that be possible with a simplified junk like Arne is suggesting? A dipping-chinese-lug.  If there are too many strings involved which prevent this it might be an indication that a junk is too complicated and a balanced/standing lug might be more appropriate. The little junk is obviously more fun though so must be tried.

Arne will be delighted to know that we upgraded to a Norwegian Pram, about 11.5' built from plans from Wooden Boat. I think it's the best little boat you could wish for.

Anonymous wrote:

“Halibut Special”

Now I got the idea to try a fully fanned 3-panel JR for Halibut, essentially the top-section of the sails I usually draw. I have found that the top section of my sails are so efficient that they deserve to be tried alone on such a little nutshell. This will give a sail of half-decent sail area, which will reef well in two stages. The running lines will just be the sheet, halyard and lazyjacks.

The boom has been shortened to avoid sheet tangles, and the sheet goes to a boomkin long enough to sheet the reefed sail or bundle to the centreline.

The procedure of stowing the sail should sound like this:

• 1.      Let go the halyard to dump the sail into its lazyjacks.
• 2.      Haul on the running lazyjacks to raise the sail bundle and pin it to the mast. Longish batten parrels make this possible. Cleat the tail of the lazy j. at the mast.
• 3.      Bring the sheet inboard,  reeve it around the sail bundle and cleat it off on the mast.
• 4.      Unstep and lower the mast.
• 5.      The boomkin may be taken in at leisure.

With a little practice, this should be doable within 60 seconds, which is the maximum I would tolerate.
One may well row the boat with the mast erected and the sheet in place. When clear of the beech, the lazyjacks are cast off, the sail hoisted and then one is under way (.depending a bit of wind direction and choice of leeboard and rudder/steering oar...).

I kind of like this rig.

Arne

I drew an 'all-fanned' dinghy rig a long time ago. I think the idea should work, but have never made one.

The worst part of these little dinghy rigs is trying to row with the sail bundle knocking against one's head. So, how about simply taking your reef upwards via the lazyjacks, not unknown in JR circles, and then brailing the sail to the mast in the same way? Do you even need a halyard, then?