Friday, July 27, 2012

The Story of a Jib and a Balanced Lug

With Musings on a Lateen.

There was once a lonely Lug who didn't know what he was missing until he met Jib. He sailed to windward, off the beam and dead down, all with apparent equanimity.



Then one day Jib came along and spiced up his life. Now he had someone to get hung up on. Jib liked to languish on his yard and get tangled in his boom. Just the life for a Lug.
Jib had many fine qualities, but fast tacking was not one of them. More like a perpetual holiday for Jib.


Doryman has gotten used to having both of them around. Jib and Lug work well together. The occasional tangle of sheets, boom, leach and yard bother no one.


"Faerings aren't suppose to have Jibs". "A balanced Lug and a Jib won't work on the same Boat.".


Let people talk. They are just jealous.

Thanks to Jamie Orr for the photos.

The inspiration for this sail combination came to me from David Oliver of the excellent blog, Lutes which celebrates the traditional fishing vessels of the Balearic Islands. The Balearic sailing rigs developed as a way to facilitate work on deck, while offering performance for navigation. David reminds us it is important to view these rigs as a tool for fishing to understand how they are used. There are types of working craft from around the world with provision for the same or similar sail combinations.


The lutes employ a lateen rig, yet by adding a jib far forward, windward performance is improved.


The addition of a mizzen on a retractable boomkin gives more sail options, not the least of which is the ability to strike that huge main, allowing more room to work. 




While the lateen can be mounted far enough forward to act as a jib and main combination, the option of a jib plus main is more versatile.


The balanced lug rig is very similar to the lateen in function. The ancient lateen is possibly the most beautiful sail in the world.


David's blog is written in Catalan, but for those of us who have trouble with that complicated language, he offers a translator and we thank him for that! He owns a beautiful lute and it's a treat to see one under sail. I recommend a long visit to Lutes.


10 comments:

Denis said...

Very witty, thanks. Looks like a success though.

jp huza said...

What a sweet story! Now I feel all warm and fuzzy. Thank you.

(another take on it: Can't we all just get along? Yes. Harmony Rules!)

doryman said...

By the end of the cruise in the San Juans, I had learned how to keep the jib from tangling in the two sticks before the mast.
There is no doubt the jib was an asset during a tack, though the kids in the racing dinghies in the background of the second picture seemed to think it was pretty funny how slow my old boat was.
That little foresail is hard to see from the helm, so trim was a best guess - I can see the foot and that's about it.

Pretty happy with the results. To tell the truth, I hesitated for a full day before rigging the new sail. Climbing out on that tiny foredeck was not very tempting.

Joel Bergen said...

A nice little home-made furler might be an ideal companion for your jib.
-Joel

doryman said...

This sail already has a luff wire. You have a very good point there.

I think the Stone Horse needs one (nay, two), also. How much sail area do you think your furler can handle?

Joel Bergen said...

The weakest part of the furler is the eyebolt, so a good rule of thumb is to make sure your eyebolt is at least as strong as your luff wire. 1/8" luff wire has a safe working load of 350 lbs and 3/16" luff wire has a safe working load of 740 lbs. For eyebolts, a 1/4" unwelded has a working load of 350 lbs and a 5/16" forged or welded has a working load of 800 lbs.

doryman said...

I can see how that works. I'd have to do some calculations, but my guess is the yankee on a Stone Horse develops 2500-3000 lbs of pressure, so the hardware might be more like 1/2".

The wire on this jib is probably 5/32". I'd go with a welded eye, seems better in many respects.

Laingdon said...

Hell. man, there's a junk- rigged Spray replica in PT with a full head rig on it- sprit, jib and all the associated standing and running rigging. If you can put a jib on that, you can put one just about anywhere, I guess. Well sone.

doryman said...

Now that's something I'd like to see!
In fact, Sparrow has inspired this rig a bit. The year you added your drifter opened a few possibilities in my ever curious mind.
The big unanswered question was whether the jib would work on a boat with so much sail and hardware forward of the mast. (see updated post above)

jp huza said...

thanks for the headsup about the lateen lutes site. I used to sail a sunfish sailboard clone, which had a lateen. Aesthetically, a beautiful sail. I like the looks of them on the Nile dhows. I also like their lower center of effort, too.
It was always a kick to set up and get on and off the water faster than anybody else on the river. Simplicity has that advantage...but in a blow, the lateen boom would fly up and away. Had to vang it down pretty good to keep the wind working for me. I wished I could have set up a little jib with it, but the interference of the lateen could have become very dramatic in a hurry on the sailboard. Glad to see that you have got them working together on your boat. Harmony is a very nice thing, indeed.