Quote:
I am aware of the nostaligic essence and the salty appearance but beyond that, wouldn't it be technically inferior compared to conventional modern sail plans on a 30-40 foot sloop?
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The modern sloop is more a product of modern materials than anything else. Being technically inferior is not something I think is of as an issue. Inferior implies it won't
work as well and gaff rigs have worked a long time. They still are practical on modern multi masted
boats. The gaff rig is quite well developed and could be considered more modern than many other types of rigs.
We have a tour
boat that
sails here out of Yorktown, VA that went to
South America for the
winter. They sail using the gaff rigged
sails not just put up the sails and
motor around. They do
motor to keep a schedule but it is amazing how two people handle the
boat for a whole tour season here. This boat is considerably larger than a 30 to 40 ft sloop.
I think it would be a mistake to take a modern sloop and somehow think it would be optimal to make it into a gaff rig or attempt to redesign a gaff rigged vessel as a sloop as some form of superior technology. It's like delineating how an orange is unlike an apple and so is an inferior apple. The
history of
boats is as much a study of the
history of material science as anything else. Boats have always required well developed technologies to operate. Cost and other materials properties have been critical to all boat designs. Applying those technologies to a gaff rig design yields fine boats.