Badtux with an important point, EBM musing on the subject of flat earth education, and a couple of excellent although depressing observations...
Dave Z has a most excellent write up of their adventures with the split junk rig and it is well worth reading whether you're interested in junk rig or just want to know more about how sails work.
Yeah, how sails work is a pretty rare subject of discussion these days and most folks seem to just accept that sails sorta/kinda work and that's how it is.
That said, I have had a few emails on the subject of why Michael Schacht drew a gaff rig for his new Argo catamaran design. Sadly a couple of which were somewhat negative as well as showing a profound lack of understanding of how sails work especially where the gaff rig was concerned.
Now, it seems to me, that a large part of not understanding different sails/rigs is the fact that you just don't see them much.and, for the most part, hardly anyone has actual experience with gaff, lug, junk, or other rigs.other than the standard sloop.
I get that.
What I don't get is how someone with zero experience with a rig or sail type can cast aspersions on it's viability or efficacy for cruising.
Of course, being way past my sell by date, I have the luxury of growing up in a time when there were more than a few gaff rigs sailing and had the good fortune of actually sailing on a lot of diverse and interesting boats. So, I do have a lot of opinions where various rigs are concerned but those opinions are based on a lot of up close and personal experience as well as decades of studying sailboat design and different rigs.
So, I'll go on record that a gaff rig on Argo actually makes a whole lot of sense. Even better is that a gaff rig is, as far as rigs go, pretty inexpensive and easy to build. With a little updating in terms of material and construction there is no reason at all that it won't perform as well as what passes these days as a "standard" multihull rig. With care taken with the build of the hulls and keeping the Argo light I'd bet that it would show it's transom to most production cats which would be no bad thing at all.
Need I say more?
Listening to the Derailers
So it goes...
