Thanks for the replies.  The great thing about the Website is that you can bounce off an idea and find that someone has tried it before (normally David - is there no end to what he has already done!!).

Being an ex-windsurfer the mast-sleeve looks so right, at least on paper, but I have to agree with the consensus that sleeving the sail around the mast is a no-go.  As anything that takes way from a readily droppable sail, negates the best feature of a junk rig. 

And therefore, a simple (un-sleeved) junk-gaff, is unlikely to gain any advantage over a simple junk sail.

Of course, David is right, I should get off my butt and start trying out some ideas, and I have realized there is my daughter’s Topper hiding in the long grass at the end of the garden.  For some reason I never thought of that as a test bed.  So it is out with the strimmer, a few roof battens, bits of ply, that old polytarp, and Tadpole wing-sail mk1 here we come! (but do not hold your breath!!).

(Not that I am on my butt that often, as they say: work is the bane of the sailing classes)

Cheers

Mark

Mark

Have you looked at Wharram's 'wingsail' rig that they put on their range of designs?  It might be a starting point, being a modified Gaff.   You could probably find an old sail on ebay to muck about with.  It is interesting that the common complaint on the wharram forums, regarding this rig, is the problem of raising and reefing this 'sleeved' sail.  many people seem to find that the sleeve is not easy to use....  fine when the sail is fully raised, but a bit of a struggle to lower (easily) in a blow.    Of course the addition and the weight of battens might aid this.

Peter

Looking at the article on the schooner rigged Liberty in the current Newsletter it occured to me that the luff is very clsoe to the mast.

So why not simplify the rig in a a gaff-junk?  This could possibly incorporate a sail sleeved around the mast for aerodynamic efficiency.