Posted by John on December 10, 2005 at 04:07:54 from 84.64.131.122 user Jock.
In Reply to: Re: Mainsheet, was traveller posted by john nichols on December 09, 2005 at 18:51:26:
John, I'm sure that your intentions are good, but you are in danger of gold plating the shopping trolley. Pram dinghies are meant to be simple. Also, if Mary Anne is to be sailed by youngsters, you want the boat to be as simple to sail and as safe as possible.
Thus ruthlessly (nancylessly!) applying the KISS design philosophy:
If you adopt these design constraints and want a tradittional rig, you will find yourself choosing between (1)balanced lugsail rig as chosen by AR for the Swallows and Amazons and the (2)Spritsail rig as preferred for beginners by E. F. Knight.
Knight makes the point in Sailing that the spritsail is safer and who am I to disagree with him. You will find his analysis of suitable rigs for small boats here and also his solution for dispensing with travellers on balanced lugs. However, for inland waterways my personal preferance is the balanced lug. As a youngster I sailed a balanced lug Amazon-like dinghy on the Thames. It was very easy to rig and sail and tremendous fun to boot.
Oh yes, you reef the sail by lowering the sail, tying down the tack cringle then pulling back and tying down the clew cringle then bundling up the unused portion of the sail and tying down the bundles with the reef points, but without putting the reef points round the boom (if applicable). But what am I doing? It's all described by Knight here. I recommend getting a copy or the more relevant Small Boat Sailing. This This photo of a reefed balaced lug may be helpful.
Note, in these two examples, (1) ignore mizzen, (2) ignore jib. You only want one sail in Mary Anne so that she can be easily sailed single handed.
