In a recent blog post https://arwensmeanderings.blogspot.co.uk/2018/03/setting-up-standing-lug-sail-part-1.html I shared my mistakes in rigging Arwen (my John
Welsford designed ‘navigator’) which have over the years caused me problems
when using the sprit boomed standing lug sail yawl rig. Essentially these
mistakes arose from two issues. Firstly, I deviated from the plans and these
‘adaptations’ had consequences for sail setting and trimming. Secondly, to be
frank, I knew very little about sail dynamics, sail shaping, and lug sails, so
much so that I often considered it a wonder that I ever got Arwen to move!
Not all is lost however, for in the last year or so I have started to
gain some ‘limited’ understanding of the standing lug sail which I now share in
this second follow up post for anyone using or considering the standing lug
sail on their navigator. I am indebted to other navigator sailors such as Joel
Bergen, Robert Ditterich, John Welsford himself and my good friend Dave, along
with some members of the UK Dinghy Cruising Association and subscribers to my
blog and YouTube channel ( www.arwensmeanderings.blogspot.com and www.YouTube.com/c/plymouthwelshboy
). Without their advice and kind constructive observations I would not have
developed any understanding of the sail configuration on my boat. As I reflect
on this last sentence, I have to confess, it is pitiful that a sailor has to
rely on others to explain the dynamics of his own sail plan!
More adept sailors will find the standing lug sail a simple, easy to use
rig. If you have any observations and constructive advice about my observations
below, please do share them via the comment box on this page. I am very keen to
improve my knowledge further for this sailing season so that poor Arwen doesn’t
feel further embarrassed when out with her skipper.
So, let’s get started straight away with the simple stuff – how I raise and then set my sails.
Arwen’s standing lug sail has, I think, four points where adjustments
can be made to the sail trim and shape – the tack (luff) downhaul; the sprit
boom snotter ; the mainsheet attachment on the aft end of the boom; and
finally, the halyard tie on position on the upper yard, each of which I will
comment on in more depth later.
Based on what I was taught in the RYA 1 and 2 courses I completed in the
Med, I’d normally come head to wind using the sheeted in mizzen to hold Arwen
bow on to the wind, prior to raising the sails. However, I believe that in a
small boat, you should be able to raise or lower the sails safely in any
situation or on any point of sail; and that turning head to wind each time
should be unnecessary if the rig is set up correctly. Thus, this season I will
be trying to abandon this ‘habit’ as much as possible. In addition, I should
note that Arwen’s trim is rapidly altered just by shifting my weight around in
the cockpit, so maintaining a head to wind position when I am clambering over
the thwart to release sail ties is normally a ‘hit and miss’ affair to say the
least.
So, the procedure I go through runs like this:
1.
I loosen the snotter on the sprit boom so that it moves forward of the mast
2.
I then haul up the topping lift slightly lifting the sprit boom and the sail
yard furled on top of it; I then release and stow the sail ties (note I added in a topping lift/come lazy
jack arrangement on Arwen which over the years has worked a treat. It is the
only adaptation I did off my own bat which actually worked!)
3.
The main halyard is hauled thus raising the sail yard upwards. At this point I
make sure it is aft heavy and that I have secured the halyard rolling hitch in
the correct place on the yard (between 30
– 40% up the yard from the throat end seems best on Arwen); I also check
that the parrel bead loop that runs from yard around mast and back to yard is
moving smoothly and that the yard attains its correct position and angle.
4. Having cleated the
main halyard, I release the topping lift so that the sprit boom lowers and then
I push the sprit boom snotter end higher up mast to just past the first reefing
points line on the sail so that it is angled correctly
5. I
then check that the tack parrel beads loop is attached around the mast before
then tensioning the tack downhaul. Similar tensioning is applied to the
snotter to move the boom aft until any creases disappear.
(Notes: (a) The tack downhaul and halyard in combination put tension on the sail
from tack to peak. With the sprit snotter eased, there should be a crease from
tack to peak and I am tensioning the snotter until this crease disappears. Too much tension, by the way, will form a crease from throat to
clew. I’ll go into more detail about sail tuning later on in this
article. (b) I have arranged the snotter halyard to drop vertically through the
deck to a block alongside the mast on the port side of the front thwart top,
from which it then runs back aft to the cockpit. This allows me to adjust the
snotter and thus the sprit boom from within the aft cockpit, eliminating the
need to go forward periodically to retune the boom position).
Having raised the sails (it is far simpler than it
sounds from the above description) I then set about setting and trimming the sails to gain a good and efficient sail
shape and hull speed.
And this is where I get confused due to differing
sets of advice I have received. Remember, I know little about sail
dynamics or lug sails!
What I tend to do in winds of up to ten knots, when
reaching and running, is to tension mizzen first (by sheeting mizzen in hard but keeping sail snotter loose for a
slightly baggier sail) and then use this to set the mainsail and jib
correct angles/positions. I aim to get a little weather helm on the tiller and if I have understood all this, it is
the mizzen that sets the sheet angle for the other sails and the pointing angle
for Arwen.
In ten to fifteen knots, John always advised
me to ease the mizzen sheet, then ease the main if exposed, by checking the
degree of weather helm on the tiller. To sail for speed in ten+ knot winds, I
ease all the sails a fraction and adjust the mizzen to gain a small degree of
weather helm. (If the tiller pulls hard,
ease the mizzen; if the tiller seems too light, sheet the mizzen in a little.
Pressure on the helm is what tells me whether Arwen is over pressed or not; and
whether it is time to reef – for reefing see later section).
Someone also once told me that when easing sails, I
should ease jib first, then main, then mizzen. This same person, quite an
experienced sailor in Salcombe, also told me that when using all three sails – I should trim the jib and main for best
angle of attack and get all their tell tales streaming aft and then trim the
mizzen to get a few degrees of weather helm, which for those of you still
paying attention, is the reverse of other advice I’ve been given. Consequently,
I remain confused as to which it all is!
(Over this last sailing season, I did try, on the
advice of an experienced dinghy cruiser, to play about with the sails. Leaving
the tiller, I discovered that easing the mizzen meant it caught less wind and
as a result Arwen pivoted gently away from the wind. Sheeting mizzen in meant
it caught more wind and thus Arwen’s bow turned into the wind. Having never
learnt to sail with a mizzen, this was a revelation! I was starting to learn
how Arwen balanced and the effect of her sails on this. I tried similar tactics
with the jib and so began to make simple course corrections using the sails
rather than rudder, thus maintaining a more constant speed. Sadly, I don’t
recall this being taught on the RYA course I did all those years ago. Maybe it
was and I forgot!)
So,
what about the fine sail tuning?
I hinted earlier that I would look at this aspect
of using the standing lug sail in a little more detail. I stress once again, I
am not expert in this rig, consequently, what I say next may be wrong in places
and I therefore welcome constructive comment and observations.
The basics – if I want to tighten the luff and ease the leech, thus removing a
crease from tack to peak, then I move the forward end of the sprit boom
down the mast a little OR I move the halyard securing point on the yard forward
slightly. If I want to tighten the leech and ease the luff, thereby
removing a crease from clew to throat, then the directions of movement for
sprit boom on mast and halyard on yard are reversed i.e. boom position up a
little and halyard attachment slightly further aft.
Halyard position on
the yard is critical as I hinted at earlier. For a
standing lug sail to work I think there needs to be imbalance, if I have
understood some people correctly! This is achieved by the halyard being tied
onto the yard at a point far forward enough to make the yard aft end really
quite heavy. Without doing this, the sail rotates in such a way that the boom and
aft end of yard end up lying in the boat and the forward end of the yard just
points upwards. On Arwen, as I said, somewhere between 30 – 40 % up the yard
seems about right.
Another key aspect is sail luff
tension. The tack downhaul is tensioned hard to pull the luff straight,
prevent sail rotation, stop the boom moving forward of the mast and to get the
yard upwards to its designed angle. At the same time this also tensions the
leech thus lifting the aft end of the sprit boom into the correct sailing position.
I rarely ease tension on the downhaul once set since all that does is lower the
peak angle and drop the aft end of the boom into the cockpit. (note: also
crucial to all of this is tying that halyard on at the correct position on the
yard. As mentioned earlier, if the yard
halyard is bent on too far aft it reduces yard tail heaviness, which whilst
making the sail easier to raise, does lead to less luff and leech tension. A
phrase I do remember from the sailing course in the Med all those years ago, ‘a
floppy sail is an unhappy sail’! In addition, sail shape will be poor,
the yard bounces, the boom bounces and all is not well!)
However, a note of
caution about this luff downhaul tension. Too much applied and I think it
causes other problems. The sail shape is fixed and it is this that determines
the angle of the yard to the mast. Correctly applied tension raises the yard
until the sail attains its correct shape. Over tensioning ruins sail shape and
requires more fiddling with snotter and boom angles and leads to new tensional
sail creases along the yard area of the upper sail.
A delicate touch is
required in tuning the standing lug sail!
Of paramount
importance is ensuring the tack parrel
loop is secured around the mast and that it doesn’t restrict luff downhaul
tension being applied (see first article to how I managed to mess that one up).
Alan, a blog
subscriber of mine summed it up beautifully. “Whilst three of the four sail corners are attached to fixed spars, the
fourth isn’t. That tack corner can float forward or aft if not secured and
tensioned correctly and that affects the setting and tensioning of the lower
part of the sail below the boom position. As the snotter is applied, pushing
the boom aft, the lack of fixing of tack to mast means the tack is also pushed
aft as well and so tension to remove any throat to clew crease is not applied
and the lower sail shape doesn’t set correctly”. As we will see later this
lower sail shape below boom is critical as it acts as a vang).
Finally, I was also given a cautionary word of advice from John Welsford
himself too. “One of the things that can
affect the set of the sail is having a
yard which is not stiff enough”. He went on to explain that if the yard
was flexing too much then any crease from throat to clew would be impossible to
get rid of. He suggested that ideally there would be around 70mm of flex in the
yard in a 15-knot wind. “any more than
that and you lose control of the shape, any less and the sail won’t twist off
to reduce the heeling effect in a gust
And so, we come to the sprit boom.
I’ve made several points about the snotter on the sprit boom and have
already hinted at its main purposes. As I understand it, if I have this right,
it acts as a vang and boom in one and eliminates the need for an outhaul on the
sail/boom. The sail below the boom prevents the sail and aft end of boom from
moving up when the mainsheet is eased and the vang, boom and lower sail bit
stop the sail from twisting off to leeward. (Note:
in such a scenario, sail twisting to leeward, I assume that the sail would spill
wind thus reducing speed and power. The vang on Arwen is always tensioned and
on a windy day this can be a disadvantage. I think, if I remember correctly
from sailing lasers all those years ago, by easing vang tension, I could induce
some upper sail twist and thus spilling of wind, which depowered the sail and
prevented me from heeling or capsizing. On the sprit boom standing lug sail, I
haven’t really found a way of getting upper sail twist to spill wind short of
going forward to move the boom position down a tad on the mast. In a
sudden gust I merely ease the main sheet or head up into the wind a little more
to reduce heeling effect. My only other thought, probably way off base, is
perhaps altering downhaul tension at different times. Perhaps it needs to be a
medium tension in light winds, firmer when the boat is moving along nice and
flat and really full on when the boat starts to heel over, so that the sail
flattens and thus depowers. I feel I read this somewhere but can’t remember
where; and part of my brain sounds a warning that this may not be right at
all!)
If I tension the snotter to bring the boom aft, the sail will flatten
and tension will be applied to leech and foot and thus the main sheet merely
hauls in or eases out the sail and has no other role. Of course, it does also
allow you to play the main sheet more easily in a breeze as well. As I said
above, I assume that flattening the sail is a good thing to do as the wind
increases in strength. Conversely, I assume that easing the snotter during
lighter winds is best to make the sail baggier. If I have this bit wrong,
please do drop me a comment. Light wind sailing, for example, is one of the
things I am struggling with in Arwen and its irritating to say the least!
Positioning the boom angle is critical. I start with its forward end
positioned on the mast level with the first reef line and then adjust
accordingly as outlined earlier. When set too high, the sail shape seems wrong.
When set to low, the boom bounces. I remember reading somewhere that it is a
matter of finding the ‘Goldilocks – just right’ position!
In summary, I like the simplicity of the sprit boom although with
fairness I think I should point out it doesn’t give the sail control,
performance and adjustment potential offered by a normal boom with a vang
attached. I am sort of beginning to understand better how it works though. For
me, the sprit boom brings ease of use and extra headroom. But yes, getting that
position on the mast right is fiddly and may necessitate some adjustment during
the first few minutes of sailing (which affects boat stability as you move fore
and aft); and yes, a sprit boom is tricky to reef and can when hauling up or
collapsing belly outwards to leeward. I am conscious that I am careful to sail
in conditions where I won’t be suddenly overpowered. I haven’t fitted any foot
straps on Arwen. I didn’t see the need. I don’t intend hiking outwards on her.
If I am beginning to feel overpowered, I’ll furl the jib as the first reefing.
At worst, I collapse the main and sail under jib and mizzen.
So, what about reefing a standing
lug sail with a sprit boom?
When I have read up
on standing lug sails with sprit booms, it seems that a major point of debate
is how to reef a sprit boomed sail. Many people seem put off by this aspect of
the rig. Now maybe I am doing it wrong and I do have a video which shows me
doing it in a horrendous fashion when I had a silly slab reefing system set up.
I have since removed that and so procedurally I now
1. Heave too or turn head to wind, furling the jib and sheeting the mizzen
tight
2. I ease the snotter and then tack downhaul and lower the main sail
halyard by the same amount as my reef depth
3. I then move the downhaul up to the first reef grommet along with the
loop of parrel beads around the mast.
4. I then raise the mainsail again until the tack regains its original
position.
5. Tension is then applied to the downhaul to raise the aft end of the boom
where I then unclip the clew from the boom and reattach the boom at the first
reef point on the leech.
6. I then tension the snotter correctly and finally tie up the reef lines
to braille the loose sail below up. (note: I have found that tightening the
snotter before applying tension on the downhaul leads to the formation of
several sail creases – so be warned!)
7. Finally, I unfurl the jib and bear off to fill the sails
In this way I have reduced sail area and power in
the sail, hopefully reducing any heeling effect. I tend to reef earlier if I am
heading upwind and especially if I am not carrying extra ballast in Arwen.
Other thing I have noted about reefing the sprit boom is that on occasions
after reefing, the sprit boom extends further forward of the mast thereby
catching the leech of the jib. So, at times I have sailed without the jib after
reefing the main. Consequently, when reefing, rightly or wrongly, I tend to consider
furling the jib as my ‘first’ reef.
Reefing the main for the first time is then my ‘second’ reef. During this winter’s refit I have attached a second
deck eye for the sail reef clew on the boom. It is 30cm or so further forward
than the normal clew aft end eye. I am hoping that this season the excess sprit
gained after reefing will now hang over the aft cockpit rather than in front of
the mast.
Using the mizzen
I am still getting
used to having a mizzen. I know that under skilled hands it has many purposes
and can be used to great effect in tight anchorages for sailing off buoy or
anchor in different directions. I have yet to master that stuff! So far, I have
used the mizzen to help me come about when tacking. Instead of backing the jib,
I have on occasions reached over my head and used the front of the mizzen boom
like a tiller, pushing it hard to port in conjunction with tiller to move me
from starboard to port tack. When tacking I avoid sheeting the mizzen in tight
until I have moved onto my new tack. Sheeted in tight, the mizzen points Arwen
head to wind and helps her stop. It is all basic stuff I know but I am
beginning to get the hang of it.
When sailing under jib and mizzen
I have discovered speed is essential. I bear off a little, build up speed, wait
for a gust, move the tiller over and keep it there. I then back the jib rather
sharply as Arwen comes about. She has on occasions stalled at this point
and someone shared a lovely tip with me about using the mizzen. In such a
circumstance, I should ease the mizzen, through the tiller over hard in the
other direction, grab the mizzen boom and pull it in, thus sailing backwards
slightly which apparently pivots the boat around. One to definitely try this
season.
Of course, the big
problem is memory. Out on the water, I can never remember any of this stuff!!
Although a lengthy
piece, I hope I have most of this right and that it will help people in their
future considerations of what rig to use on their navigator. At the very least,
I hope it generates lots of discussion and comment, for I have much still to
learn and understand. If you feel there are bits wrong, do please drop me a
comment below.
Similarly, if any
of you have tips about light wind sailing with a standing lug sail and on a
different topic, what procedures I should be following to sail onto and off a
mooring buoy or anchor using this sail configuration, I would love to hear from
you too.
Thanks for reading
this far and sticking with it. Take care; enjoy your next time out on the
water.
Steve
www.YouTube.com/c/plymouthwelshboy
POSTSCRIPT:
My good
friend made some useful observations regarding the above blog post. Bless him,
he went though some of my videos and looked at other navigator videos as well. He
made these observations/raised these questions
1.
Had
the sail stretched any during the last eight years of sailing?
2.
Was
the mast the correct length?
3.
Studying
the videos and when out of the boat with me, he has noted that the sail is very
baggy and that there seems to be a permanent crease. As I said in above post, he
comments that there should be a small crease from tack to peak when a lug sail
is hoisted; but that it should fall out once the sail comes under pressure from
wind, downhauls and snotter.
4.
He
reminded me that a standing lug sail is a four cornered piece of fabric, under
tension from the four attachment points (see above post). I should check how I
have attached each of the four corners because it affects sail shape. So check
lacings and how it hangs when aloft. The four tensioning systems tension the
sail along the sides and diagonally. Pull on opposite corners and the diagonal
between will crease. Too much tension between these opposite corners causes the
crease which must be balanced out using the other opposite corners.
5.
Observing
the videos my clever friend noted that the sail area below the crease and
around the sprit boom and below is very baggy and with a clew to throat crease,
he suggests I look at the downhaul system and position. He noted that the tack
and attached downhaul is at least a foot away from the mast in some of the
videos; and so ‘adds’ a foot or so to the foot of the sail. This can be taken
up with the sprit boom snotter being tightened and the boom moved aft but it
would be better to reposition the tack downhaul so it is closer to the base of
the mast.
6.
The
sail clew is wrongly attached as well. It has 8 inches or so of lashing and a
snap hook link; and it the attachment on the sprit boom isnt completely at the
aft end. Altering the sail clew so that the sail attaches directly to the very
aft end of the sprit boom would help enormously. In addition, if the sprit was then
further forward it would allow greater control of sail shape. As I indicated above,
the sprit can alter the curve of the sail; fuller in light airs and when running;
and flatter in stronger winds and when close hauled.
7.
In
terms of setting sails he comments that he always sets jib flying cleaning,
then adjusts main to maximise air flow and uses mizzen as a balancing sail. He
reminds me of the need to go through the whole cycle again after every wind
shift or course change. I should avoid using the rudder where possible and
should remember that too much lee or weather helm will slow the boat down. “. Letting go of the rudder completely and
balancing the sails onto your chosen course will provide the maximum speed”.
In a
nutshell, my friend suggests I should
a.
move
the crease from throat/clew to tack/peak, before any sailing takes place by increasing
tension on the tack/peak diagonal, (or reducing the tension on the throat/clew
diagonal); including moving the tack forward to the mast.
b. The
sprit should be moved forward and the clew attachment made much tighter and
moved further aft on the boom thus giving more control. The height and angle of the sprit can be
successfully then adjusted as it is my outhaul and vang.
Comments from the Duckworks Magazine site are below:
From Tom
Steve,
I’ve been studying all forms of lug for a while, and have personally built and used both a chinese lug and a balance lug on my boats, and absolutely love them. I intend to try a standing lug with sprit boom on my current boat, so It’s with great interest I’ve been reading this. Here’s my input for what it’s worth 🙂
Generally if you attach the halyard at the 40% back point, that makes the mast cross the yard @ the 35% point, which is usually pretty optimal for either a balance lug or a standing lug. A few % adjustment fore or aft is perfectly fine, but if you get the yard too far aft of the mast, you end up with too much sail twist. If you get it too far forward, you can’t properly tension the luff.
Generally luff tension is increased with the wind strength to flatten the sail.
A balance lug is self vanging. the yard pivots on the halyard as a fulcrum as the boom pivots on the downhaul as another fulcrum. If the aft end of the boom tries to lift, the front end past the downhaul and mast tries to drop, which is prevented by the luff tension. Wit a standing lug you need some way to vang down the boom off the wind as you don’t have the “teeter totter” effect of the boom on the balance version. This is what the sprit boom is so good for, provided your snotter attachment is far enough up the mast. If it’s too low, the geometry doesn’t give the foot of the sail any leverage to hold the boom down, and you end up needing a vang anyway. The perfect angle for a sprit boom is usually bisecting the angle of the foot and the leach, but this is often unobtainable as it puts the snotter attachment to far up the mast to be practical.
Traditional adjustment of the snotter is looser in light winds for a fuller sail shape, and tensioned in higher winds to flatten the sail, same as with the tack downhaul.
The Yard advice from Welsford is critical. I made my first yard much too thick and heavy, and as a result I’ve had too much bag at the top of the sail in all conditions, and it doesn’t bend off and de-power the sail in a heavy gust as it’s supposed too.
Lastly the mizzen. I wish I had one. Raising and lowering the main is much easier head to wind, especially in heavier winds. full drop your centerboard, raise your rudder and sheet that baby in tight, and the whole process of raising and lowering the main is much less dramatic. Secondly, it absolutely lets you dial in the helm balance for whatever sails you have up, sheeting in for more weather helm or out for less/lee helm. I agree with whoever told you to trim the jib and main for best performance on your bearing, and then sheet the mizzen to adjust the helm.
Thanks for the article!
Tom
