I have been kicking around the idea of a double headsail arrangement, in lue of a single jib, on my Weekender. Not as a replacement rigging, but as a secondary, "experimental" rigging. The stay sail would hank to a forestay run from it's typical location on the mast, to the eyebolt for the clubfoot (which I would remove). The forward sail would be a 130-140 genoa on a furler. I know opinions will vary about whether or not this is an acceptable rigging, and those opinions are welcome, but not my questions.
The questions are:
About where and how do I connect the genoa stay to the mast? Do I need to increase the height of the mast to accommodate the arrangement? If so, how do I figure out how much?
Is repositioning the forestay compromising the stability of the mast too much? Will the genoa furler be enough help in this regard?
Will I need to modify the bowsprit?
Any opinions are welcome.
Brit, I suggest you try the boat with the stock sail plan or a lapper with moveable fairleads to begin with (I tossed the club almost immeadiately, it flogging about drives me crazy and it never had good shape "self tending") .... we have had all sorts of folks try packing on more sail from cutters to schooners and they seem to all eventually gravitate back to how the boat was designed.
Hi Brit,
You might ask this question again in the new Breeze forum. Paul moderates it and he can give you a profesional answer.
Keith
I've already caught up with him on this topic on a different forum.
Go ahead Brit and don't worry there all almost. :wink: Bud.
As with many aspects with the Stevenson yachts, much has been modified, changed, added/removed or otherwise altered from the plans. Even the plans themselves have been changed since they first were produced in the 70's (Weekender)
These boats do very well for the novice and intermediate sailor interested in an afternoon of casual sailing, using the stock rig. As you gain experience and build your skill level, you may want to incorporate rig additions and modifications. Typically, the lapper is installed and the club is tossed over the side (they call it a club because of what it can do to your shins and ribs) Your Weekender will perform nicely with the lapper, but more performance can be had.
Aside from the addition of a topsail or possibly a square course (a great sail by the way) you'll need to enlarge the rig to gain any real performance increases, after other options have been tried. These may include refining the underwater shape for less drag, re-working the rudder and it's box for crisper response and reduced drag, maybe a centerboard or daggerboard, windage reduction, weight and windage aloft reduction, the list can go to extremes, but generally it boils down to smoothing her up for wind and wave. After these changes a 10% larger sail plan can be installed. You may find your double headsails getting a ride for a while.
The gaff rig received a great deal of development during the latter half of the 19th century, but the advent of wire rigging permitted the use of the Bermudian rig which was closer winded then the gaff with less strings to pull. The evolution of the gaff rig pretty much stopped after the turn of the century. Had this continuous attention remained on the gaff rig, we'd see a very different gaff rig in use today. Alloy spars had made their appearance in the late 1800's, a valuable asset that was never really explored with the gaff rig. Something as simple as an aluminum or carbon fiber gaff could make a surprising difference in a boat's abilities. The same is true of other inventions used on the Bermudian rig, not typically seen on a gaffer. Internal halyards, lifts and built in sheaves of light weight materials. More aerodynamic attachment of rigging wire, spreaders, gaffs and sails were missed by the gaff rig. Imagine a free standing, rotating mast of carbon, carrying a fully battened, heavily roached mainsail with a spindly, but very strong gaff on a track instead of jaws. Hoisted before it a well sized triaxal cut headsail who's halyard is inside the mast, just like the mainsail's halyards and topping lifts. The only rigging exposed would be the peak halyard from the mast to the gaff. That's a lot of windage removed from the air stream as it passes over the yacht, which can't do anything but help performance.
