Re: [bolger] Re: lateen
I have some experience the boomless lateen as I sailed one for a summer years ago. It was a 18' sharpie that was unballasted with 90 sq.ft of sail.
I only thing I found dangerous is when reefing.
It can flog something terrible in the right events and I've had the clew snap me like a bull whip when trying to reef. I can only image a large sail and the danger.
Also, turning the boat into the wind when reefing is a must but without the boom, the leading edge can fold over, catch the wind, an instantly bring the nose around to a broadside in the wind.
Us caution or with too hands you'd be very safe.
As far as sailing, it's very easy to use, very easy to adjust to max power or flatten to reduce power and in general a nice setup for small boats.
The sail I used was cut flat and worked very well. We didn't even know about sail shaping 25 years ago when we put this rig together.
I'd have one again, but remember to reef early!
Jeff
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I only thing I found dangerous is when reefing.
It can flog something terrible in the right events and I've had the clew snap me like a bull whip when trying to reef. I can only image a large sail and the danger.
Also, turning the boat into the wind when reefing is a must but without the boom, the leading edge can fold over, catch the wind, an instantly bring the nose around to a broadside in the wind.
Us caution or with too hands you'd be very safe.
As far as sailing, it's very easy to use, very easy to adjust to max power or flatten to reduce power and in general a nice setup for small boats.
The sail I used was cut flat and worked very well. We didn't even know about sail shaping 25 years ago when we put this rig together.
I'd have one again, but remember to reef early!
Jeff
[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
The San Francisco Maritime Park has a traditional felucca "Nuevo
Mondo". I've sailed in company with it numerous times on outings and
have never seen them have any trouble so maybe the "very dangerous"
characterization is a bit excessive. The boat is a favorite of the
staff and appears at all the park/TSCA events.
"Nuevo Mondo" is a solid heavy boat so the deck makes a great work
platform for the crew. Maybe the lateen would be trouble on a less
stable boat.
Tom K
Mondo". I've sailed in company with it numerous times on outings and
have never seen them have any trouble so maybe the "very dangerous"
characterization is a bit excessive. The boat is a favorite of the
staff and appears at all the park/TSCA events.
"Nuevo Mondo" is a solid heavy boat so the deck makes a great work
platform for the crew. Maybe the lateen would be trouble on a less
stable boat.
Tom K
> In '103 rigs' PCB gives the boomless lateen a generally good character
> (notwithstanding the long yard's fight starting potential in tight
> moorings). In figure 105 of American Small Sailing Craft, Chapelle
> shows a
> double ender he politely terms a 'felucca'. It carries an attractive
> (to my
> eye at least) rig of boomless lateen and jib. He characterises the
> lateen as
> a 'very dangerous' rig in unskilled hands. That would be hands like
> mine.
>
> With the snow falling here in the frozen north the season for polytarp
> experiments is gone for another year, but I'm curious - do any of you
> have
> any good (or not-so-good) boomless lateen stories to share? I see
> Zephyr was
> drawn with a boomed lateen - perhaps there's a hint there?
>
> Cheers
> Derek