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3: BayRaider rig The rig of the BayRaider also appeals to me and I hope it can be replicated on the BayCruiser. It is a very tall, modern gunter yawl with sprit booms on main and mizzen and a balance club jib. This means that when all is set up, none of the sails flap and flog, something I hate. I am also very familiar with small yawls, having owned a Drascombe Dabber for many years. I still miss it, but it had many defects which I think the Swallow yawl addresses and solves. |
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A new GRP BayRaider being sailed on Cardigan Bay. This view shows the height of the rig and the clean line of the tightly controlled yard. The main sail slides over it in a pocketed luff. All really simple. The halyard can be refixed at two higher positions to allow the foot of the sail to be reefed. The triangle of sail below the sprit boom holds the boom down, so running before the wind is easy and no extra kicking straps are needed. The boom cuts into the sail slightly, but it doesn't matter. The set of the sail is as good as a conventional boom, with an extra bit below. Two shrouds on lanyards hold the hollow wooden mast central, supported on a stainless steel tabernacle. Adding a boom overcomes the weakest feature of the Drascombe yawl rig. Unboomed main sails are a snare and illusion. They cannot set downwind, they just collapse. They are OK reaching and fine close hauled. When you go about, the sail flogs and the block on the end will do more damage than any light sprit boom could ever do. The mizzen is just the same, but uses an unstayed carbon fibre mast. All very, very simple. Designing simple things is really difficult. |
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| The jib. This looks odd, there is no doubt. Where is the forestay? There isn't one as such. When the sail is furled, the heel of the club is pulled down on the deck and the jib luff lifts a bit, so that tension holding the mast slackens slightly. When the sail is pulled out and its clew fixed to the club, the heel is pulled up and the whole sail pulls the mast forward. This means the leach and luff are always tight. No flapping. Going about means the club and sail just swing across, The jib sheets are amazingly light, but can position the sail precisely. It is wonderful in practice. Maybe not as efficient as an overlapping jib/genoa, but again, just so easy and simple. Setting and furling may be more of a challenge with a cabin top in the way, but I have ideas... |
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The mizzen. There isn't much more to say that the photo doesn't show. The
sail slides over the carbon fibre mast and is tensioned. The sprit is hooked
onto the clew and the snotter tightened. The whole thing can be rigged up
out of the boat and dropped into the mast hole. But there is still a clever
bit. You drop the mast in back to front so it fits over an eccentric washer,
which fits up into the bottom of the mast. When you rotate the mast the
right way round, the washer retains it in place, even if the boat inverts.
The sprit boom again improves the performance immeasurably over a loose foot on a bumkin. It is controlled by two light sheets, which means it can be cocked into a head wind to swing the stern either way. Or you can goose wing it one which ever side you want when sailing dead down wind. The loose footed Drascombe always had to be tacked down wind to stop the sails collapsing into themselves. |
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Looking up the main mast. The heel of the carbon fibre gunter yard can be seen just sticking out of the luff pocket. It is held to the mast by a slider on the track. There is a further luff slider at each reefing cringle and that is it. The halyard ties on to one of three positions on the yard, depending on reefing. When it is pulled tight, the yard is held vertically against the mast. This photo shows the optional carbon fibre main mast. Painted white to protect it from ultraviolet radiation. I think this may be a worthwhile option to reduce weight and heeling forces. |
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Like all the rest of the rig, the main mast and sail are simple. A track takes the heel of the yard and some sliders on the sail below it up the mast. A short track at the bottom allows you to tighten the luff. The end of the sprit booms slide over a goose neck on its own short track and that's it. Nothing to go wrong, get tangled or confuse you in bad weather. This is the standard square, hollow wooden mast. |
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On the fore side of the mast there are just two cleats for main and mizzen halyards. I wonder if on the BayCruiser these should be lead back to the cockpit? Maybe, along with possibly a downhaul on the heel of the yard so it can be pulled straight down, rather than toppling over as it will do if you can't reach the luff over the cabin top to pull that down. The stainless steel tabernacle is small and very lightly screwed down. Should the mast get blown sideways before it is up and the shrouds tight, it is better to pull a few screws out than rip a hole in the boat. |
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These are the jib sheet (top) and mizzen sheet (bottom) coming in under the rowlock support block. They only need to be this thick because the control is so light. No heaving in of powering sails to keep them down, that is all done by the sprit at the back and the balanced club at the front. All you need to do is pull them in or let them out. The arrangement is repeated on the other side. You can back the jib and/or mizzen just by letting out on one side and pulling in on the other. Very neat and simple. |
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