Would you call this a lug sail..?

Jan 19, 2010
12,362
Hobie 16 & Rhodes 22 Skeeter Charleston
So I saw this interesting sharpie and got to wondering what (if) the correct name would be for the sail.

1613050326687.png


To my eye it is almost a lug sail but it has a lower sprit that looks more like a modern boom with a gooseneck AND the luff is bent to the mast instead of extending forward. So is it a lug or a gaff or ... laff.... glaff.... gug?

Edit: and the the way the tack sets reminds me of a lateen rig...

So...??? Lug, Gaff Lateen = ?
 
Jan 27, 2008
3,045
ODay 35 Beaufort, NC
I have a lugsail on a sailing dinghy. The sail is attached to the boom and the boom connects to the mast. The top of the sail connects to a sprit that is not connected to the mast. It is only attached to the halyard. The sail is not connected to the mast. I don't know what the arrangement is in your photo.
 
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Jun 29, 2010
1,287
Beneteau First 235 Lake Minnetonka, MN
Not a Lateen, more Gaff headed. Digging through "Sailmaker's Apprentice" and a modified Gaff seems to fit it. Even more like a "Gaff headed cat ketch" that there is an illustration of.
 

PaulK

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Dec 1, 2009
1,222
Sabre 402 Southport, CT
Looks like it has a gaff at the top, so gaff goes into the description. A lug sail would have a yard at the top that crossed the mast. This looks like it pivots on the mast: a gaff. It's not a spritsail (like an Optimist) because the sail is supported across the top by the gaff. The booms are sprit-booms on the fore and mainsails, so that needs to be included in the description too. Therefore possibly: a gaff-rigged sprit-boomed schooner (or ketch; it's hard to tell how tall the after mast is.) It also looks like it might be a Sharpie, too. (Sharpie Schooner; Sharpie Ketch)
 
Jan 19, 2010
12,362
Hobie 16 & Rhodes 22 Skeeter Charleston
@dlochner ... nice video... so the rig I posted looks a lot like a Gunter but not exactly and the way the tack is set is similar to the "freedom" rigs of wind surfers but without the wishbone boom. .... So I think I'm going to go with a Freedom-Gunter rig (any votes for grunter :biggrin:)

Edit: @PaulK posted while I was typing. ... Yes it is a sharpie... so if we fold them all together we got gaff-gunter-freedom-sprit sharpie cat-schooner.
 
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Jan 19, 2010
12,362
Hobie 16 & Rhodes 22 Skeeter Charleston
As I think on this more... I think it most resembles a "fat-headed" freedom rig

1613055990348.png
1613056018262.png


I can imagine building a wishbone boom system out of carbon fiber tubes for that sailplan and really have something slick.
 
Jun 29, 2010
1,287
Beneteau First 235 Lake Minnetonka, MN
As I think on this more... I think it most resembles a "fat-headed" freedom rig

View attachment 190282View attachment 190283

I can imagine building a wishbone boom system out of carbon fiber tubes for that sailplan and really have something slick.
That's a wishbone on there that the boat in the picture does not have. Either a gaff headed cat ketch of some sort or what @PaulK said. Not even close to the windsurfing rig.
 
Jan 19, 2010
12,362
Hobie 16 & Rhodes 22 Skeeter Charleston
That's a wishbone on there that the boat in the picture does not have. Either a gaff headed cat ketch of some sort or what @PaulK said. Not even close to the windsurfing rig.
okay then... I'm going to go with grunter. Gaff-headed for sure, but it is not a gaff sail... some sort of hybrid... and cat ketch describes the masts not the sails.
 

capta

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Jun 4, 2009
4,766
Pearson 530 Admiralty Bay, Bequia SVG
Since it has a peak halyard, I'd go with an unconventional gaff rig.
A cat ketch is the rig, not the masts, denoting that she will have no head sails.
 
Jan 19, 2010
12,362
Hobie 16 & Rhodes 22 Skeeter Charleston
Well whatever we call it... I like its simplicity. It seems like a good way to get decent sail area without overly tall masts. If it were my boat, I'd build a wishbone boom out of alternating cedar and oak strips bent around a jig... something like this...

1613062950951.png


And I also wonder if you put the tack all the way to the deck if you couldn't run a stay up the mast and hank it on like a jib.
 

DArcy

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Feb 11, 2017
1,690
Islander Freeport 36 Ottawa
It looks like a cat rigged gaff schooner to me. If the spars atop the sails are attached to the mast then they are gaffs, if not then it could just be a fat headed sail. It doesn't look like a ketch, both masts look the same height or if anything, the aft most mast might be taller.

A gunter rig has the yard almost vertical and the gaffs look to be closer to horizontal on this rig. I don't know of any terminology for having the sail overlap the boom. The sails are almost identical concept to the new AC75s except with no headsail (and single skinned, dacron, slightly cheaper...). What's old is new again.
 
Oct 19, 2017
7,732
O'Day 19 Littleton, NH
Looks like it has a gaff at the top, so gaff goes into the description. A lug sail would have a yard at the top that crossed the mast. This looks like it pivots on the mast: a gaff. It's not a spritsail (like an Optimist) because the sail is supported across the top by the gaff. The booms are sprit-booms on the fore and mainsails, so that needs to be included in the description too. Therefore possibly: a gaff-rigged sprit-boomed schooner (or ketch; it's hard to tell how tall the after mast is.) It also looks like it might be a Sharpie, too. (Sharpie Schooner; Sharpie Ketch)
:plus:

-Will (Dragonfly)