David: You could add Serendipty and Se Si to your list, and Bert’s Farthing which was in the end sorted out to his satisfaction, and in New Zealand there are at least a couple more in the pipeline that I am aware of. (In New Zealand, first off the mark was, I think, Roger with Panic.)

As you already know, same as with junk rig in general, the SJR owners have mainly had cruising in mind. The applications of SJR range from a boat that does race competitively, through to a barge-scow live-aboard which cruises engineless in challenging waters, and is pretty much on the move all the time. A pretty wide range of mainly cruising applications. A fair number of owners have already commented, and as far as I am aware so far, comments have been universally of satisfaction with the rig.

“…I don't think there are any myths running around…” One of the things about the SJR is that it seems to have generated quite a lot of interest and attracted an almost disproportionate amount of comment. There is something about it that makes people feel comfortable to comment, always with good intentions and generally positive. That’s fine, but it is accompanied by a small downside, in the general level of "noise" and misunderstanding that always arises in open forum discussions. “Myth” might be slightly too strong a word, but it is important that misunderstandings don’t start to gain currency, which is something that does tend to happen in a “noisy” environment. It is a good thing to get, from time to time, a clarification and perhaps a repeat of the fundamentals. As I understand it, Arne has had the same experience over the years, with his cambered panel concept, and often has to do the same. The soft wing sail concept, by contrast, has been less of a talking point. While quietly watching its development with interest and admiration – I think a lot of people are really interested in this -  it is lucky perhaps, that there has been less of a tendency for spectators to offer comments.

I just think we are particularly fortunate to have had not only the benefit of a number of creative minds, but also an environment in which we can talk about and be inspired by these things. Thanks a lot, you people (you know who I mean) who have provided the rest of us with such a rich environment.

I can find Poppy, Amiina, Wayward, River Rat, Emmelène, Not Fish nor Fowl, Toroa, Wee Tri'd, Crusader, Fly, Flutterby, WN-6536-ND.

Fishermen often use these riding sails when hove to - makes having breakfast more comfortable, and especially handy when working the fishing gear. I never had one when I was fishing, but a lot of the others did. They stayed up all the time - even when the boat was tied up at the wharf between trips! (just like the opposing-conical "I am hampered by fishing gear" signal - I never saw anybody take them down either). I know that annoys some people!

Howard, what on earth are "staggered daggers"? - they sound extraordinarily lethal.

There are a number of myths running around about the Poppy/ Amiina SJRs.

Myth 1. The SJR was designed as a racing rig. No, it was not. The rig I built was an experiment to test my analysis of how to make best use of the good features of a junk style rig and overcome the weaknesses on a cruising boat. It has been sailed in cruising races beside other cruising boats with loosely generated handicaps to check the performance. That is all. How many other rigs have reported performance comparisons in this useful way?

Myth 2. The SJR uses the same mast position as a Bermudan boat. This has been touted since Edward mention that on a 'back of a fag packet' check the mast of a SJR would be about the Bermudan position on a FolkBoat. The FB has a large main/ small fractional jib rig which allows a SJR mast to be placed within inches of the Bermudan position, but on most boats the mast needs to be moved forward to balance the boat.

Myth 3. Highly balanced SJRs will not feather when the sheets are released. There are a number of things than can cause a problem here, but on rigs built to my notes there have been no problems, even with the mast placed at 35% overall rig chord. Moving the jib area forward can destabilise the rig. When the yard swings from fore and aft to 90° athwart ships the yard has to rise slightly as the halyard wraps round the mast. If the distance from the mast head halyard block to yard block is very short then the rig has to rise more, and the weight of the rig will try to return the rig to fore and aft. Similarly, the downhauls want the lowest batten/ boom to move down as it swings out so if the downhaul span is short and the downhauls are overly tight then the rig will want to swing to fore and aft. The answer is simple. Allow a reasonable halyard block to yard block span and don't over-tighten the downhauls, which is not needed anyway.

To say that the SJR is not particularly suitable for a NZ scow to be used as a retirement home does not make sense. Perhaps that is another myth about to be started. There is no reason why a SJR cannot be used on any sailing hull as its relatively high lift/ drag ratio will always be useful. With a very blunt hull you would not try to sheet in too tightly and point too high, but with slightly eased sheets the good L/D will help to drive the hull forward without too much side/ leeway making force which would be an positive advantage.

Since building Poppy's rig I have found that even the famous dinghy designer Jack Holt used a one panel split rig on his 8ft 5in Bumble Bee dinghy design very many years ago!

What's good enough for him is good enough for me.

Cheers, Slieve.

And then there is another trick:
Instead of spending too many calories on positioning the rig right with respect to the CLR, one could plonk on a big, strong and balanced swing-up rudder, which, just as on the Chinese craft, can act as a second centreboard, in addition to being a rudder. A scow, with its square transom, is begging for such a rudder. With that in place one is much freer to shift the mast in this or that direction, to suit deck- or interior layout.

Arne