David wrote:

I suspect that I'm going to need to haul the top of the sail further to windward, to keep it full and pulling. A "wall-to-wall" sheet track and traveller would be best, but that would be expensive, and not very practical. Accordingly, this morning, I've rigged up the arrangement that I described in Newsletter no 21, pages 24 - 25.  

Well, I tried that last season, and didn't like it. Not because it didn't work, but because it made it difficult to hoist sail with the lines lying across the cockpit. so I reverted to having all blocks on the cockpit sole. Towards the end of this season, I've  moved the deck blocks to a temporary lash-up position at the transom, and I like this better. With a less vertical pull on the sheets, there are much lighter sheet loadings. This winter, I'll make a beam to bridge across the legs of the pushpit to make this arrangement permanent. 

I have five-part sheeting, so the right-hand diagram applies, except that I also have upper and lower sheets, so the upper three battens are controlled by the upper sheet, the lower two by the lower sheet.

This summer, I've been noticing, more and more, that in light airs, I've sailed with just the lower sheet active, just taking the slack out of the upper sheet - more twist is needed to keep the whole of the length of the luff lifting at the same time. As the breeze increases, so I put more tension on the upper sheet - the need for twist is reduced. As the breeze increases again, and I take two or more reefs, so the lower sheet is taken out of play and I sail entirely on the upper sheet. Control over the set of the upper part of the sail is much better with the reefed part of the sail not being affected by tension in the sheet.

I was wondering if instead of a track a 'Loveday Loop' could be used to advantage in a junk-rigged yacht. They were a invented by John? Loveday who I think was a 505 or Flying Dutchman world champion back in the 60's. They were a stainless steel tube bent into a  'U' shape' the legs of the 'U' were fitted to a thwart/hull and the mainsheet blocks fixed to the top of the 'U', the boom just cleared the loop when the dinghy tacked. Fitted on the stern it would give the same advantage as a track with the addition that the sheeting height could be raised giving a lower sheeting angle.

I saw a picture on the boatdesign website of an Australian 40' catamaran that used one on a Bermudian rig with a wishbone boom. Just a thought.  

David Tyler wrote:

I should also like to claim bragging rights for sailing - yes, sailing - up the Falls of Lora under Connel Bridge, against a slackening ebb, but still flowing quite strongly over the reef that blocks most of the channel. The wind was fresh westerly, so I had one reef (so as not to be too showy). The usable channel is narrow, and I needed to make two gybes in quick succession to position myself correctly. The eddies and swirls at times other than slack water make the boat handling a bit tricky. I wouldn't attempt sailing it in anything other than a sprightly, junk-rigged boat like Weaverbird, though I've motored through in both Ivory Gull and Tystie.

These west coast places, Arisaig as Ian says and Loch Teacuis and others give great pleasure and I can see especially so in a well-sorted junk rigged boat. I look forward to my first trip under the bridge and up Loch Etive! And also to Arisaig to meet Solitude..

Bravo Zulu Captain.

In 2002, as temporary skipper of Her Majesty's Sail Training Craft 'Gerwain', a Royal Naval vessel, motoring not sailing, I looked at it theoretically, and then went elsewhere!    

POL BERGIUS wrote:

David Tyler wrote:

 I was at the top of Loch Etive, and had to beat the ten miles down to Taynuilt in a wind that varied from nothing to more than 15 knots, and from all directions as it found its way around and over the mountains. An uncountable number of tacks, as I worked the windshifts as well as I could. A bermudan boat would have motored ;-)

Ideal territory for a good junk rig! And not unlike some of Arne's home waters. I can't wait to experience that relative "ease" - continuing sailing when I know I wouldn't have bothered with the gaff cutter rig. Thanks for the boost to the mid-conversion morale!!

I remember Fantail and Tystie sailing together in Pelorus Sound on a bright and breezy December day.  The sails were going up and down like pantomime scenery and you'd no sooner sheet the sail in than it had to go out again.  We had a busy time of it and, of all the yachts in the Sound, we were the only two sailing.  We finally brought to and dropped anchor in some sheltered spot, and when I joined David a little later, he complained that he'd had no time to eat his lunch!  I'm sure we'd have given up after half an hour and turned on the donk, with any other rig.