I'm so pleased to hear that you are enjoying your junk rig, Pol.  The way I see it is that there are two types of sailors: those who dislike junk rig and those who have experienced it :-)

Pol,

my armchair guess is that the bad performance of the flat junksails over three decades (at least) has given the rig a seriously bad reputation in the West. I bet that well over half of today’s junkrigs still have flat sails.

In Stavanger, apart from one summer in 1990, there have only been well-performing junks around, and nobody question if our junks can sail to windward. If one has met Ketil Greve’s Marie G on the fjord, one will never forget it.

Arne

Low stress in a junk sail

I have had three convincing experiences of the low stress in my junksails:

1.      In 1990, I received the first, flat sail for Malena from England. All the four corners, including the tack and clew had been beefed up as if the sail were a gaff sail. There were at least 3-4 strengthening patches at each corner, and then there was the BIG hydraulic grommets. Even this early, I thought it looked odd, so just for fun, I tied the clew to the boom with only one single whipping twine. That held just fine, all summer. What a contrast between that twine and the stout grommet.

2.      In 1994 I could hoist my first home-made cambered panel junksail. It soon turned out that I had given the top panel too much camber, as it started luffing before the rest of the sail. To put it right quickly, I kind of brailed away most of the (10cm) round in the top panel along the yard, using twine stops every 20 cm. This was of course just meant to be a quick fix. However, it did the job, and when the sail was scrapped in 2012, the ‘quick fix’ was still there.

3.      Btw. that sail was made with seven panels although I only had a ‘6-panel mast’ at the time, so again, the lowest panels was rolled up and held with twine stops until a taller mast could be stepped, the year after. No problem  (See JRA NL 30).

Arne

Hi Pol,
I am sure you will be able to lengthen the mast 40cm, as you describe. If your mast is off the boat now, and you are keen on doing some woodwork, then go ahead.

However, if the mast is still on the boat and you have no other reasons for unstepping it, there is another possibility  -  shortening the lowest panel by 30-40cm. This is not risky, as there is no scissors involved. You will only lose about two square-meters, and these can easily be brought back in use, later. All you need is a yardstick, a thin felt-tip pen plus needle and some whipping twine. If the sail is still rigged on the boat, the job can be done within two calm hours, without taking the bundle down:

·         Hoist the sail to get access to the lower edge of the lowest panel.

·         Open the lashings holding the foot to the boom.

·         Measure and mark up a new foot, 40(?)cm above the original (keep that round).

·         Stitch on a simple twine hoop at the new clew and tack position (as on photo below)

·         Lower the sail a little to let you lash the new tack and clew to the boom.

·         Roll up the excess sailcloth and secure it with twine stops at , say, every foot.

·         Secure this rolled up bundle to the boom with similar stops.

Job done.

If you later for some reason are to take the mast down, and then want to lengthen it, the lowest panel can be brought back to full size in just  two minutes.

Just a thought.

Arne

Hi all,

I know the saying 'measure twice, cut once' all too well. Somehow, when it came to making the mast for the conversion of our Cornish Crabber ANNIE to JR it slipped my mind.  I went a little off piste with my tape measure and hand saw. One or two observant and seasoned junkies have commented and of course I'm feeling the pinch, with the halyard being at risk of wringing the masthead. I need more room up there.

I want to keep the (intentionall) 300mm or so that is above the mast band for aesthetics (it is yet to get it's nice capping piece), and at less than 100mm diameter at the truck I'm thinking it won't be up for the job of moving the mast band up anyway.. However there's a lot of meat (285mm square at partners, about 175mm square at the heel) that lengthening it by 400mm or so should be doable. The mast is laminated, solid, out of 60mm+ Doug fir slabs - full width - with MAS epoxy. 

Will I be ok to mortice and tenon a central piece into the 175mm square heel, and laminate some cheeks onto that from the top of the taper, replicating the shape down to a new heel 400mm further from the truck? As long as I've still got a healthy section of squared mast above and below the partners, which I believe I will (at present there's quite a bit more squared below the partners than above). In this way I don't think I'll be building any unhealthy stress points into the stick.

I am reassured that after two seasons the mast and partners have shown absolutely no sign of work. The Doug fir wedges, never needing a second tap after sailing, look as though they are just out of the box. The heel in its snug socket of polyurethane resin has been everything I hoped it would be.

I would be really grateful for any comments on my plan.

All the best, Pol.