Veleros pequeños

[morfeo]

No he podido hacer un enlace.
Saludos

A Rig For Southern Cross
By Southern Cross Designer- John Welsford (aka- The Pesky Kiwi Pun King)

Genesis
“Howard and I collaborated on a different rig for his SCAMP, one specifically designed for the environment in which he will be using it. After much thought he settled on a split rig utilizing a gaff main and I drew it from his base design. Howard has a strong like of a gaff rigged main from experience and suggested the value of the split rig for a number of sensible reasons. His innovation of the running shrouds (not back stays) is a key element to the safety aspect of the rig.

So why not use the lug rig that moves SCAMP so well in her normal waters?
Lets have a look at that.

With that single large sail SCAMP won't heave to in the conventional sense, they “Park” (Howard coined that apt phrase). That’s broadside on, and they will sit there happily as long as you want, not going anywhere. SCAMP's are safe “parked” in waves up to about a meters and a half high. That’s close to five feet. Big wave for a little boat and very few small boats will ever be out on the water in those conditions.

Where Howard is going there can be waves up to ten times that high. ( that’s on a good day) The boat has to be able to sit hove to head to wind and, the single big sail wont do that.

Sail Reduction-
We normally put three lines of reefing points onto a SCAMP sail, if the wind is such that there is still too much sail up when on the last reef, its pull the sail right down and sit in the bottom of the boat to wait out the squall. But where Southern Cross is going ,control in sustained extremely high winds is imperative and the single big sail doesn’t give the choices in sail reduction that are needed. IN addition hoisting and striking the single lug sail in extreme or gusty conditions could prove problematic for Howard.

Damage-
With one big sail the loads on that sail and its systems are high, SCAMP has extraordinary stability for a small boat but the loads on the rig are higher than you’d expect. Any failure leaves the boat drifting with little chance of improvising a jury rig, and Southern Cross is going where no small boat has ever been before ( I tried to work a Star Trek quote in there but that has to be near enough), and there is no chance of support or repair, so there has to be a lot of redundancy in the setup. The ability to create a rig out of the wreckage should she be rolled and dismasted is beyond important, it may be the only answer in a life or death scenario.

So with all of this and a few other criteria in mind I set out to draw the rig that Howard called for and that would be ‘fit for purpose”.

The gaff yawl is a powerful rig-
It is not particularly close winded but it generates a lot of drive for a given heeling force. In simple terms, that’s more drive for the amount of stability that the boat has. In heavy weather few boats will sail close to the wind anyway, and small boats more so than big ones so I drew a rig that would produce the most thrust at the wind angle that will be practical in those conditions.

A gaff mainsail means a relatively short mast, strong, easy to manage should it need to be pulled out for work, with low windage and light in weight.

With three sails, reef points on the main and the ability to change jibs there are many different combinations available. Dropping the mizzen and main for example will work when reaching or running before a squall, the small jib being easy to control at any angle to the wind.

When sailing across or upwind the main can be reefed, reefed several times until its time to drop it completely, and with jib and mizzen the boat is still balanced, easy to control and able to heave to if needed.

The Mizzen Sail
In spite of what some write about mizzens that little sail is really useful, it enables the boat to be hove to head to wind, can be used to manage the weather helm enabling the boat to self steer, a huge help on long days, and remember, summertime in the deep south means that there can be daylight for 20 hours. The ability to let the boat sail herself is a real help to the singlehanded skipper wanting to rest, navigate, eat or make repairs under way.

With the jib on a roller furler, that sail can be “disappeared” when needed (down and all the way back into the cockpit until needed), and a bigger drifter set flying, all without leaving the safety of the cockpit. There are days of calm weather in the region and Howard’s strategy is to sail as quickly as possible to take advantage of these breaks. Southern Cross can set a lot of sail in those conditions.

Staying-
Now here’s where one of the big differences appear. The mainmast is not stayed in the normal sense, in fact it does not need stays at all. When capsized, or overpowered running off downwind, the mainsail can be pinned against the stays, in the former case that makes it very difficult to manage when righting as it will try and drive the boat forward or capsize her again as it comes up. In conventional boats its necessary to swim the boat around head to wind to prevent this, but in these cold waters, and in the sort of conditions that might capsize this little ship that’s not a good thing. Should Howard capsize and chances are he may and more than once time will be of the essence. He has to my knowledge tested and learned from some 60 SCAMP capsizes both solo and with crew in teaching and demonstrations. Howard was also a key player in the initial capsize tests conducted on the prototype SCAMP #1. He knows the boat both upright, turtled and on her side likely better than anyone else. He and I have had the opportunity to really understand the mechanics of avoiding capsize and how to execute fast righting and re-entry should it happen.

With the free standing mast, the sail can swing downwind wherever the boat lies relative to the wind and with the main luffed, the mizzen and job sheets free, she will lie quietly.

Going downwind in a heavy squall can be dangerous, and believe me this area is prone to them, walls of spray hundreds of metres high, appearing out of nowhere, coming at you at 60 knots is not uncommon!

The ability to let the main “flag” forward is a real help, round the boat up to about 45 deg off dead downwind, let the running shroud on that side go and dump the mainsheet then point her back downwind again and the main will swing around fully depowered off the bow.

With the jib rolled up or fully struck and the mizzen also swung around its unstayed mast the boat is unpowered, just being pushed along at a controlled rate by the windage of her hull and spars, but is still able to be brought under sail in an instant to clear a lee shore or sail into a confined space.

The mainmast is supported by a running shroud on each side. It’s strong enough to stand unstayed, but the inevitable flex affects the luff tension on the jib, so she has the “running shrouds” there to control that. An aditional benefit of those is to facilitate a jury rig should that be needed.

Damage Again
In case of a broken mast, the main boom is long enough to make a replacement, the mizzen mast is long enough and with the jib, and the running shrouds to hold it up its tall enough to allow the reefed main with its gaff to be set as a loose footed lugsail which will power the boat sufficiently to make some progress.

Again, sailing along the Pacific coast south of the Straights of Magellan is extreme sailing and plain risky, there is little or no chance of assistance should anything go wrong. The skipper has to be able to fix, or rejig the rig in case of breakage minor or major so the rig which Howard has developed has much redundancy built in. I was honoured to have him send me his version of the rig asking that I examine it, refine it and finalize it. We can’t plan for every eventuality, but have done our best to anticipate what the brave little ship will meet, and are confident in her abilities.