a little rig stuff...

A needful skill, something worth listening to, and the Holy Grail Guitar from where I sit...

It's funny how folks will react to a given Boat Bits post... For instance, yesterday's junk-related link generated a surprising amount of email.

Which is not really surprising, as to a lot of people  junk-rig is a whole lot more than just a type of sail, it's a passion verging on religion and, just like religion, there are some serious fault lines in belief. Cambered vs flat panel is just one schism...

I suppose where I fall into the discussion is that while I really admire the junk rig and agree that while it is indeed a very practical rig, that given my druthers, I'd more than likely, opt for the superior (in my opinion) balanced lug rig.

Many of my opinions regarding rig has a lot to do with reading and re-reading various writings of Phil Bolger (his awesome 100 Small Boat Rigs is a must read for anyone who cares to know about how various rigs work). Not that I agreed with everything he said as it was always obvious that Phil had some deep seated prejudices and likes that occasionally got in the way of his common sense. But, all in all, even when he was wrong he still made you think.

Phil never liked the junk rig but most of his points about it are also correct... Face it, all rigs have a bit of negative baggage attached and if you spend all of your time obsessing about the negatives you're never going to see the positives in the package...

What I'd really like to do is to do up a boat and hang a variety of rigs on it, and see how they compare in practice without any of the apples and oranges, half-assed bad science, which passes for the norm where most comparisons of rigs is concerned...

Hmmm, I wonder if this could be a kickstartable possibility? Anyone really care to know whether a balanced lug is better than a junk sail?

Listening to Jillette Johnson

So it goes...