You have done well, Jan, to make that thing sail.

You have also proved some new things about the split sail, learned a lot, no doubt - and found an ingenious type of rigid batten parrel. Your idea is well worth following up as it virtually eliminates the need for any of the usual running control lines) - you might discuss rigid batten parrels with Steve D (Serenity) and Paul McK (the creator of your origame style and perhaps the first to demonstrate rigid batten parrels).

I think the origame method is an ingenious way of making a cambered panel quickly and testing some ideas, but it does seem to me that the next step is to make a proper sail with camber built in, and batten pockets if you want it to be robust.

Another way is to make light timber battens which go each side of the sail, and screwed together through the sail. It sounds crude but actually works very well, and even has some advantages. I've done it, and I'd do it again.

But the proper way, and the way which will last the best, is probably the conventional batten pocket on both the mains and the jibs.

Anonymous wrote:

Yes,you are right ! Mainly I didn't want to cut battens. I was looking for something like this tee mainly for this reason. EDIT: The batten (aluminum tube) is whole, uncut. The tee (whole pistol parrel) can rotate freely around it, but cannot slide along it)

Yes that makes sense. If they could not rotate they would tend to twist the batten. On the whole, I like the idea. A split sail needs to stay straight up and down and while most people have managed just fine with reasonably tight parrels, I think something solid like this or a former makes a lot of sense. I may use a former that is offset so I can also keep my battens one piece... More thought needed.

For a larger junks, designed for sailing in the salt waters on the long distances, more solid materials would be needed, as well as more reliable fastenings for the parrels on the mainlet side. These are details that everyone has to solve in his own way, I just wanted to show the idea.

Yes, but the idea is good.

To tell the truth - I also wondered for a moment whether the gap between the mast and the mainlets wasn't too big. But during sailing I didn't notice that it had any major impact on the aerodynamic properties of the sail. If necessary, the regulating lines can be attached both between the panels, mainlets, sheetlets, mast or the parrels, it's a matter of individual needs.

Well, it is something to try, it would not be hard to move the mainlets fore or aft if I leave the battens a bit long for experimentation. I sail in semi-protected waters.... if one can call the Georgia Strait protected   ;)

I also considered whether to make 1-2 eyelets in the luff of the mainlet for a line, which, by wrapping around the mast, would hold the mainlet closer to the mast, but now I don't think it's necessary.

Something that could be tried but I think, either I am imagining it wrong, or it would give more camber on one tack over the other

I am a novice in junk sailing, so I probably do not know something, so I will try to humbly accept and apply every rational argument for increasing the angle of the yard

I am a novice sailor on almost all accounts. Two years. and not many hours inside that.

PS - English is not my national language, so I use Google Translate, which unfortunately does not always understand what I mean, so I apologize for any language errors.

It is working fine, I have neither had trouble understanding nor have I felt the grammar was at all odd... mine might be another matter.

Len

Anonymous wrote:

In the 2024 season (too bad it's over already) I tested the SJR origami on my little foldable dinghy.

Some information in the thread "Junk rig conversion of foldable rowing boat", entry from May 04, 2024.

I did some experiments with different versions of rigid batten parrels. In the end, I chose a version I called "pistol parrels" (→ Photogallery). They worked very well.

In my case, all I needed to make such a parrel was a PP plumbing tee, pieces of aluminum pipe, pieces of electrical conduit pipe, packing tape, galvanized wire from an old clothes hanger, wooden beads from a toy store and one wood screw.

Regards - Jan

Interesting. I am not sure the pistol parrels made of plumbing tee will scale to bigger sails because the wall thickness of the tee would remain the same for the bigger size needed as it's intended purpose is to hold pressure in not give stiffness in a pole join.  However, if it is big enough to slide over the batten (maybe that is what you did actually) it may still work.

What is most interesting to me, is that there is a space between the mast and the "mainlets" rather than having the luff right up against mast as SJR have been done before. I was thinking of using the formers so that the mast would make the most sense to the aft airfoil. I am not sure what effect having a slot between the mast and the mainlets would have but suspect it would be different than with no slot. In my case, I think your method might make the most of having my mast offset to one side by putting the sail itself close to the centre line. I might need to do less re-ballast to keep us from leaning at anchor.

I also notice your halyard connection is different with an extra yard at the top.

Anonymous wrote:

The canonical form for batten parrels is to have them span many times the width of the mast and allow the sail to be moved fore and aft with the multiple running parrels, but Paul McKay and Steve Dawes have had good results and simplified running rigging using rigid formers that attach the sail to the mast with limited degrees of freedom. I've doodled a dozen layouts myself, but there is quite a bit of fiddly design, fabrication, and assembly needed for all of these formers.

The purpose of the formers is not (only) to restrict freedom fore and aft but also to simplify the rig and to allow the mainlets to use the mast as the leading edge of the foil in a manner that makes sense on both tacks.

So this is one of those places that what is fiddly to one person, is simplified to another. I would put things another way, coming from a programming background. In programming, the programmer does extra work once while creating the program so that thousands of users do less work many times. In the same way, the formers are meant to require more work at build time so that the usage of the rig in daily practice is simplified many times over.

I don't know how well this actually works in practice  ;)    However, considering that the origami concept was started on the same rig as the airo jib style (I have mangled the name) rather than switching to using parrels does say something about the value of the system.

I guess I should point out that most Junk rigged sails are designed to be able to be moved fore and aft for balance, it is only the split version that needs to be constrained and is set to hang within this constraint as a design goal. It is also the SJR that that would benefit most from having the mainlets line up with the leeward side of the mast.

Anonymous wrote:

Hi all, I live on the west coast of Canada, and I have been following the development of the junk rig for decades, lurking and reading, hopefully benefitting from all your expertise.  I was very excited about the split junk rig, although it looked complicated in its execution, so when I saw the simplicity Paul McKay's Origami rig, I knew I would have to give it a go. I improved my time last winter during the 'covid response insanity'

I also live on the west coast, though we moved away from Surrey to the Comox Valley years ago. I wanted to reply if for no other reason besides encouraging you to keep going. I too have been following the SJR and the Origami rig (SOJR?) and now that I am in the process of buying a suitable boat (just need insurance so we can transfer the moorage), I am almost ready to try things.

I also want the sail to be balanced as it is reefed, requiring each jiblet/main pair to have the mast at 33% of the length of the battens framing it, for ease of sheeting and better balance on all points of sail.

This makes sense, though I am guessing that being balanced on all points of sail and in all sailing conditions is less achievable. As the angle of the sail changes so will the centre of effort compared to the boat. When as close to the wind as possible, the centre of effort will be aft of the mast by about 1/6 of the chord of the sail but as one goes through broad reach to a run, the centre of effort will be at the mast. Though, to be honest, I do not yet have enough experience to know how much that changes things. (I did manage to crew on a sailing trip this summer)

 I made a test sail, but my construction set-up needs rethinking, I was not happy with the cut of the jib, the set of the sail, so to speak. I think that 35% of batten length was too much, I will settle out at 33% next time.

With the Origami rig, it should be possible to make the sail position adjustable, at least while experimenting. The mainlets can probably be in a set position but if the battens are a bit overlong, the attachment point of the luff and leech can be made adjustable by combining a loop around the batten with an out haul for positioning the luff. The luff could even be made with two or three bolt ropes to allow changing it's size by folding it over though I wouldn't want to do that for a permanent setup.

I like the esthetics of the Chinese junk sail, and although the identical panel sails of Sleive and Paul in their respective styles of split junk are designed for ease of construction, I wanted something that was closer to the esthetics of the traditional Chinese junk sails.

I would suppose reefing a larger amount from full to first reef and a smaller amount at the last would make sense. However, looking at your pictures, it was hard to tell if the difference in size was differing sail sizes or perspective.

That is all for now, more this fall...