Hi all, and Happy New Year,

In the 40th Anniversary Magazine, on Page 15, there is a brief mention of the mighty Thai junk schooner Samur, whose mainsail is 1200sqft (111 sqm), and was then being sailed by a family of four! (The editors informed us that there had been a letter from them in the JRA Newsletter 32). Her sails being made of individual panels lashed to the battens is what caught my eye. 

 I am currently planning a new sail for our soon-to-be-returned-to-junk Cornish Crabber 30, Annie. It will be hard to beat our cambered Arne Kverneland sail form, so...

I have ruled out making any big changes to the rig, it worked so well. Other than the very few improvements which I have not yet employed such as a running mast lift to avoid the severe compression on the bundle (i.e. not taking it around the mast under the bundle). This should limit the painful groans and squeaks from every part of the bundle in contact with the mast.

But there is one thing that I puzzle over in order to make my sail-making quicker and possibly easier, in the manner of the Samur mentioned above: what if I make all the barrel-shaped panels, to be lashed to the battens individually, and not sewn to their neighbour? The luff and leech of each panel could have non-stretch webbing as we did on our first junk sail, with loops over the battens at each end. This would be the quasi-continuous bolt rope/webbing arrangement needed? I am assuming I won't need a bolt rope or equivalent webbing along the top or bottom edges of the panels, as there is not a lot of stretch that way in the panels.

Lashings can be done in a number of different ways, but all would be simpler if the eyes can be kept at the same spacings so the panels can be lashed "together" at each station. In a recent post by GK in "FanShi gets a new sail" on this forum, where Pango's beautiful sail is shown, it is fastened to her battens in just the way I envisage. If the eyes are closely spaced it won't be too leaky? I mean between the panels, not the eyes themselves.

There may be a few benefits of this method of attachment:

1. simpler and less "heavy" sewing. As we added the last few panels, our 50sqm+ sail was quite a beast to move about, even on my 6m long table knocked up for the job, where the (OSB) surface was regularly rubbed with beeswax and polished. Instead of getting together 6m seams and sewing them nicely (which we did find arduous even with Arne's invaluable guidance) the easy work is adding a wider hem along the top and bottom and then fitting eyes, carefully spaced maybe with a template to help. 

2. a batten or whole panel could be removed for repair, or the sail could easily be halved for carrying to the shed. Our Annie's bundle is a very heavy two-man lift, and I don't get stronger each season as I would like. We bent a batten from untidy stowing of the sail once, and it was a hell of a job getting that 6m thing out. First, it was bent and didn't want to come out of the snug-fitting pocket. Second, we had to get her alongside which is something we avoid as much as we can, in order to slip it out for straightening.

3. I really feel right about lashing sails to spars! I've done almost all of my sailing under a gaff rig, 26 tons and 6 tons, and a few others. Only 4 short seasons with junk so far. The junk is a super-gaff rig, is it not?

A few potential downsides:

1. getting correct tension on the lashings so that the panels hang nicely - maybe not a problem if done as described above?

2. maintaining the integrity of the whole thing in the absence of that important luff and leech webbing.

3. might it be a "leaky" sail? Don't want to compromise - too much anyway.

4. fairly endless lashings (but this is something the whole crew can do!) and it will only be once in a while, possibly only once..

A man who thinks he's hit on a brilliant short-cut - one that isn't going to end in tears as they usually do - needs putting straight. I would be grateful for your feedback on this one.

Pol.