Materials limitations is not the reason most people who use the
junk rig want to use it. My
sails on Batwing were made out of perfectly conventional sail cloth. Ease of reefing and
furling are usually the main reason for using the
junk rig. I became very interested in ease of reefing and
furling after sailing through about 2 weeks of 25' waves in the N. Pacific in September and October on an Erickson 35.
I also never wanted to crank a genny when tacking again (a millionaire
lost a finger that way, you know, Rupert Murdoch's son,) or drag one down to the fore
deck in a gale again, or fight with a sail that wanted the
boat turned into the
wind to come down. Turn into 25' breaking waves? No thanks! As for pulling down a genny in a gale, my wife never tried to do so again after the genny lifted her about 3 feet off the
deck, and she was a healthy and fearless woman. The
reliability of not worrying about the condition of dozens of bits of
stainless steel holding up your rig is another factor speaking in favor of the junk rig.
For some, economy of construction is a main reason. A 65'
catamaran can be built for over $100,000 less using a junk rig or a similar rig using a wing sail than with a marconi rig, because you can dispense with: Chainplates, toggles, turnbuckles, shrouds and stays, tangs,
aluminum masts,
mainsail tracks and slides, roller reefing, fancy
mainsail reefing
gear, track and cars for the mainsheet, track and car for the gennoa, genny sheet winches, multiple
sailmaker made
sails, and of course, perhaps, lots of optional goodies for spinnakers. In a large
boat, you start to need some pretty fancy
gear, like slides with ball bearings and compatible track, which add up very fast, and really huge and expensive winches. I priced each of these items for a 65'
catamaran and was horrified at the total cost. No wonder these things usually retail for over a million bucks!
For that matter, a square rigged ship of the 1800s was square rigged because it was the only way to get enough
canvas to carry the weight of large cargos. A marconi-rigged clipper ship would have been hopelessly under-canvassed. Even large gaff-rigged schooners were considered undercanvassed, and they could set a lot more
canvas than a marconi rigged-version could have.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Pblais
Modern sail cloth has made all these old sail rigs pointless. Materials in general have changed sailing more than any single factor. The junk rig does let you use almost any woven material as a sail since the design provides all the sail shape even if it isn't all that optimum. The idea may be curious but not worth actually doing. |
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