One of the boats on our short list that I mentioned some time back, the Simplicity, got me thinking about its rig. The fact that at the time I was mired in the where-would-I find-room-for-the-running-rigging-on-various-possible-rigs-of-the-junkish-variety, made the word Simplicity resonate quite a bit...
Simple makes all kinds of sense!
Over the last couple of weeks or so, Mark Smaalders and I have been throwing ideas back and forth on the idea of a Simplicity rig variant for "So It Goes". The result winds up being a pretty interesting affair!
One thing you should know about Mark is that he "GETS IT"! Unlike a lot of designers, he has actually built a boat and cruised in it long term. In fact, he is co-author of the aptly named "Tropical Cruising Handbook" and writes from hard earned experience. Experience that finds its way into his designs as well. For example, he understood my thoughts that having less things to break in the rig was a good idea...
"I once had a welded forestay tang at the mast head give way during a nasty 4-day passage between islands in the Pacific. The only reason the mast didn't come down was that the fitting jammed at the masthead after breaking, which isn't the sort of thing you want to count on."
Like I said... He gets it.
We'll start talking about the actual rig tomorrow...
Plans Change, Martinique version
1 week ago
