Re: Lateen rig
Michael Collins asks about the pros and cons of lateen and lug rigs.
I have no experience with the lug rig, but have been an active Sunfish
racer for 40 years. In the late 80's, we (the Class officers) asked
Hans Fogh to come up with the ultimate racing shape, and he did. His
design was adopted as "the racing sail" and anyone with serious racing
ambitions needs to use it. Previous sails were all over the lot in
shape and area, and some dedicated racers spent hours at their Sunfish
dealer's laying out his entire stock of sails and picking out the one
they thought was fastest for their style of sailing. Others stumbled on
to a sail that was fast for them and nursed it for years. But none of
the original sails could compete with the new racing sail. So if you
want performance from a lateen sail, the Sunfish racing sail is a good
place to start. It is no longer built by the Fogh loft (now North
Sails), and there are unfortunately variations in the racing sails now.
As to the adjustability of the rig for wind strength, The Class permits
what is known as a Jens or Hookansen rig, popularized some years ago by
Jens Hookansen of St. Thomas, a former Class champion. This rig can be
tied in several ways, but they all lower the point at which the upper
spar attaches to the mast. The spar IS bendy, so tied a foot or so
below the normal masthead halyard lead, the bendiness in increased. The
rig, in effect, works like a reef, since it spills wind aloft and
thereby reduces sail area. It is, in effect, self-adjusting, since it
bends more in the puffs and spills more wind.
As to the two-sided "problem", I found that there is no such thing. Our
correspondent who found the port tack, the mast interference side on a
correctly rigged Sunfish, to be faster is right ... under some
conditions. In light air, the non-interference starboard tack is
faster. I raced one whole season with the boat rigged incorrectly, that
is, with the yards on the starboard tack. This setup made the
interference side the starboard tack. I could detect no difference
sailing close to correctly rigged Sunfish under any wind conditions,
from drifters to howlers. No one ever noticed that I was rigged
"backwards."
One of the Class stalwarts and a former International Class president,
Paul Odegaard, has been leading experiments by several sailors to
develop a reefing system. Basically, two arrangement have been used:
reef points beginning at the tack and spaced evenly on a rising line to
a point a foot or two up the leach. The other system is like the system
used on most fore-and-aft sails, with reef points parallel to the boom.
This system requires slacking off the clew outhaul, so the sail can
slide down the upper spar without binding.
Finally, the first Class champion, Gary Hoyt, has designed a cruising
catboat with a lateen rig, with full-length battens fanning out from
the tack. I don't know if this was ever built. Hoyt, by the way, has
designed a number of interesting boats, the first of which, the Freedom
40, a cat ketch, was instrumental in popularizing that rig. He has
written several nifty books on sail, including "Ready About," full of
iconoclastic ideas.
-- Will White
I have no experience with the lug rig, but have been an active Sunfish
racer for 40 years. In the late 80's, we (the Class officers) asked
Hans Fogh to come up with the ultimate racing shape, and he did. His
design was adopted as "the racing sail" and anyone with serious racing
ambitions needs to use it. Previous sails were all over the lot in
shape and area, and some dedicated racers spent hours at their Sunfish
dealer's laying out his entire stock of sails and picking out the one
they thought was fastest for their style of sailing. Others stumbled on
to a sail that was fast for them and nursed it for years. But none of
the original sails could compete with the new racing sail. So if you
want performance from a lateen sail, the Sunfish racing sail is a good
place to start. It is no longer built by the Fogh loft (now North
Sails), and there are unfortunately variations in the racing sails now.
As to the adjustability of the rig for wind strength, The Class permits
what is known as a Jens or Hookansen rig, popularized some years ago by
Jens Hookansen of St. Thomas, a former Class champion. This rig can be
tied in several ways, but they all lower the point at which the upper
spar attaches to the mast. The spar IS bendy, so tied a foot or so
below the normal masthead halyard lead, the bendiness in increased. The
rig, in effect, works like a reef, since it spills wind aloft and
thereby reduces sail area. It is, in effect, self-adjusting, since it
bends more in the puffs and spills more wind.
As to the two-sided "problem", I found that there is no such thing. Our
correspondent who found the port tack, the mast interference side on a
correctly rigged Sunfish, to be faster is right ... under some
conditions. In light air, the non-interference starboard tack is
faster. I raced one whole season with the boat rigged incorrectly, that
is, with the yards on the starboard tack. This setup made the
interference side the starboard tack. I could detect no difference
sailing close to correctly rigged Sunfish under any wind conditions,
from drifters to howlers. No one ever noticed that I was rigged
"backwards."
One of the Class stalwarts and a former International Class president,
Paul Odegaard, has been leading experiments by several sailors to
develop a reefing system. Basically, two arrangement have been used:
reef points beginning at the tack and spaced evenly on a rising line to
a point a foot or two up the leach. The other system is like the system
used on most fore-and-aft sails, with reef points parallel to the boom.
This system requires slacking off the clew outhaul, so the sail can
slide down the upper spar without binding.
Finally, the first Class champion, Gary Hoyt, has designed a cruising
catboat with a lateen rig, with full-length battens fanning out from
the tack. I don't know if this was ever built. Hoyt, by the way, has
designed a number of interesting boats, the first of which, the Freedom
40, a cat ketch, was instrumental in popularizing that rig. He has
written several nifty books on sail, including "Ready About," full of
iconoclastic ideas.
-- Will White