Gaff sloop messenger. Gaff weapons. The only worthy use for money is to build a schooner with it.

Internal layout guarantees sufficient comfort for a crew of 5-6 people and is available in three versions. All beds are 2 meters long. The height in the cabin is 1.98 meters to the ceiling. In the bow cabin 1.9 and latrine -1.85m.

The first layout option has a bow isolated cabin with a double berth, a wardrobe and a sofa. At the companionway to the salon, on the starboard side, there is a full-length latrine with washbasin and shower. From the latrine there is access to the rundut under the cockpit banks, where, among other things, you can store waterproof clothes. They are also accessible from the hatch in the cockpit. From the latrine to the bow there is an L-shaped galley with a sink, refrigerator, 2-burner stove with oven. On the port side at the entrance there is a second isolated cabin, the captain's. To the bow of it there is a navigational area - a stationary chart table and a boat, and on the side shelf next to it and on the bulkhead there is a navigation instrument panel, a radio station and an electrical panel. In the salon there are long (2.0 m) sofas (one corner) and a large dining table with folding tabletops. There are many shelves on the sides for personal items. Behind the latrine there are capacious lockers under the cockpit canopy for the skipper's belongings, as well as a locker for the life raft and in the afterpeak there is a compartment for gas cylinders.

The second layout option is more suitable for a larger crew (up to 7 people) on not too long voyages. There is additional sleeping place in a “coffin” under the cockpit cans, and the latrine was moved behind the mast bulkhead. In this version, the amenities and galley are somewhat more modest in size; the locker in the starboard cockpit bank remains alone and is not deep.

The third option provides an enlarged bow master cabin with a side-to-side berth, a wardrobe and a bureau table and two banquettes. There is no stationary chart table (it is made folding, and when folded it is located on the bulkhead of the latrine). Large lockers under the cockpit banks on the port side. The latrine and galley are large.

The space under the berths and the deep hold in all variants will be large number stocks. Capacious lockers under the cockpit banks, in the afterpeak and in the forepeak are intended for the skipper's belongings, life raft and gas cylinders. The fuel tank, fresh water and fecal tanks are located under the cockpit and in lockers under the berths. A boiler located under the cockpit behind the 20 hp diesel provides galley and shower hot water. 3 or 4 pairs of portholes in the deckhouse coamings, 2 opening light hatches and a transparent sliding companion hatch provide good illumination below deck, as well as good ventilation, which is supplemented by three Dorado fans or dish deflectors for ventilation of the premises in bad weather.
It is worth paying attention to two options for the layout of the bow cabin, as in the pictures on the right.

Real comfort for human habitation is provided relatively deep draft hull (0.7m) and low position of the berths relative to the waterline. In such a deep hull, pitching is felt much less and is easier to bear, since the crew is located at the center of gravity of the boat and the center of its oscillations. The behavior of such a vessel on the wave is much calmer than most modern, light yachts with a shallow draft, sitting on the water like floats. The advantages of a wooden yacht are undeniable. Living in a wooden boat is a real pleasure. This is a living, natural creation, built by human hands, and the classic style of its design will add romanticism to your sailing.

Types sailing equipment are quite varied and depend mainly on the conditions in which the ship will sail and on its size. The armament of sailing ships differs mainly in the shape of the main sails.
Large sailing ships wore (and still wear) the so-called straight sails. They are trapezoidal in shape and rise on horizontal yards, positioned symmetrically to the mast and in front of it. Under such sails the ship sails well only with a fair wind; it can only go to the wind at a large angle - about 60-70. On sports yachts, straight sails are not used as the main ones, but on large cruisers, sometimes on passing courses they set a straight additional sail, called brief.
Sports sailing yachts are armed exclusively slanting sails, which are located on one (rear) side of the mast and are attached to it with the leading edge. Oblique sails provide significantly better traction performance when sailing upwind than straight sails.
There are several types of oblique sails.
Quadrangular gaff sail(rice. 12, in and 13 , A) has gaff- an inclined spar tree, one end resting against the mast. The luff (edge) of the sail is attached to the gaff. The luff of the sail is attached to the mast, and the luff to the geek, horizontal spar, which with the help of a swivel (hinge). connected to the mast. A type of gaff sail is a sail guari with a very long gaff (often longer than the boom and even the mast), standing almost vertically.
On small yachts, mainly on open sailing dinghies, they are sometimes installed rack or sprint sail. They replace the gaff rake, to which the upper luff of the sail is tied, and its front end freely extends forward beyond the mast ( rice. 12, A), or sprint- a pole that stretches the sail, resting its lower end against the mast, and its upper end diagonally against the corner of the sail, as on the Optimist children's dinghy ( rice. 12, b).
About 40-50 years ago, almost all yachts were armed with gaff sails. Now triangular Bermuda sails are used, which are easier to use and provide better traction qualities.
Bermuda sail (rice. 12, d) does not have a gaff, which makes it easier to install. Its luff is attached to the mast, and its lower luff is the same as that of a gaff sail. - to the geek.
Based on the number of masts, yachts are divided into single-mast and double-mast. Vessels with a single mast rig are the cat, sloop and tender; with two masts - iol, ketch and schooner. Sports yachts rarely have more than two masts. An exceptional feature in the practice of racing was the participation in the single-sailor race across the Atlantic in 1972 of the three-masted jib yacht-schooner “Vandredi 13” with a length of 39 m and a sail area of ​​about 100 m 2.
Kat has one mast and one sail, called grotto. The cat's mast is placed relatively close to the bow. Cat is a very simple weapon, but it is used only on small yachts with a sail area of ​​up to 8-10 m2. With a larger windage, it is inconvenient - the sail turns out to be high, therefore the force of wind pressure on the Sails is applied relatively high. The yacht has to be made wide, with increased stability.
In the USSR and in most European countries kat ( rice. 12) is the dominant armament of single-handed racing dinghies, operated by one person (for example, dinghies of the “OK”, “Optimist” and “Finn” classes).
To reduce sail height and increase stability, small and medium-sized yachts (windage up to 60m2) are most often equipped with a sloop ( rice. 13).
Sloop- this is an armament in which the yacht, in addition to the mainsail, carries another front sail, called jib. The sloop can be gaff or Bermuda.
The Bermuda sloop is now the most common rig for small and medium-sized yachts. Among the Bermuda sloops, two varieties can be distinguished: the normal Bermuda sloop (or, as it is often called, “three-quarter”, since the staysail usually reaches 75-80% of the height of the mast) and the Bermuda sloop with a top staysail (the staysail is raised along the forestay, which goes to the top of the mast). the very top of the mast). The first type is typical for racing yachts, and the second - for cruising and racing yachts ( rice. 13, b And V). The space between the mast and the staysail is called the fore triangle.

Tenders, like sloops, can be gaff or Bermuda. Gaff tenders most often have a mast that is not solid, but consists of two parts: the mast and topmasts(extension to the mast from above, which can be lowered).
Two-masted rigs (Fig. 15) are used on large cruising yachts, where to reduce roll it is important to have an even lower windage than tenders. In addition, the distribution of the total sail area over several sails makes it easier for the crew to work with them, which is especially important on yachts making long voyages. The purely nautical advantages of two-masted yachts are very great: by removing certain sails you can immediately reduce windage, and by combining these sails you can adapt to a wide range of wind forces without taking reefs.
Not very large cruising yachts (50-100 m2) are in most cases armed with a boat or a catch. The Iol has a short rear mast (mizzen mast), which is mounted behind the rudder head.

The sail on this mast is called a mizzen. Iolas can be either gaff or Bermuda.

Note that for all two-masted yachts with oblique sails, the type of rig is determined by the shape of the mainsail. So, if the sail has a gaff mainsail, it is called a gaff, regardless of whether the mizzen on it is gaff or Bermuda. The mizzen area on the floor is usually 8-10% total area sail of the yacht.
Catch differs from the iol in the larger mizzen, which has an area of ​​15-25% of the total sail area, and in that the mizzen mast stands in front of the rudder head.
Like iol, ketch can be Bermuda or gaff. Sometimes a ketch has a mainsail without a boom, with a clew located at the top of the mizzenmast. The lower gap is then filled with a larger mizzen-sailsail. Such ketches are called jib (rice. 15, b). A regular ketch or sail can also have a mizzen staysail, only in this case it must be removed when moving the mainsail from one side to the other.
On a mizzen, the mizzen is more of an air rudder than a sail; in addition, in some cases, the mizzen is more convenient from the point of view of the crew’s work on deck and visibility for the helmsman.
Schooner has a rear mast higher than or equal to the front. The front mast of a two-masted schooner is called foremast, and the back - mainmast. The sails are named accordingly foresail and mainsail. Schooners, like other yachts, can be gaff or Bermuda. Bermuda schooners are often armed with a gaff foresail (at the same height as the Bermuda foresail, it can have a larger sail area than the latter). There is a type of Bermuda schooner - staysail schooner (rice. 15, G). This schooner does not have a foresail. The gap between the foremast and mainmast (intermast quadrangle) is filled with one or more oblique triangular sails. As a rule, schooners are used to equip the largest yachts with a sail area of ​​more than 150-200 m2.

In these times of dominance of Bermuda sloops, it is rare to see a gaff schooner at sea. Nevertheless, my “Chava” is equipped exactly like this. What is this, a reconstruction of a classic, desperate savings on an aluminum spar, or a tribute to romance?

The project allowed, among others, the option of arming the yacht as a Bermuda tender or a gaff schooner. Let's try to consider in detail and impartially the pros and cons of these sailing options for a specific project, as well as some features of the design and operation of a gaff schooner.

Bermuda tender.

Bermuda weapons have long been the standard for sailing yacht. New materials and technologies used in the development of sails and spars have led to very effective and easy-to-control weapons that have no equal on sharp courses.

On full courses, a yacht so rigged can carry twin staysails or a gennaker instead of a spinnaker when sailing with a small crew or alone. The main problems of the Bermuda rig are the large amount of standing rigging and the serious loads transferred to the hull by the spars and rigging.

The relatively large cross-section mast is supported by two rows of spreaders. The sail area of ​​the project, armed with a Bermuda tender, is 78.2 m2.

Gaff schooner.

The gaff rig masts are relatively short and of large diameter, secured with shrouds and stays in the top area, since the gaff tendrils moving along them when setting the sails do not allow the placement of additional attachment points.

The mainmast is installed on the deck, the loads on the hull are distributed by the submast pier. The foremast shrouds are located in the bow of the hull; the width of the hull here is much smaller than at the midships, where the mainsail shrouds are installed. In addition, the mast is additionally loaded with bow sails.

Therefore, the foremast passes through the deck in steps on the bottom, and is additionally braced at deck level.A special feature of the gaff rig is the absence of backstays. The shrouds of the standing rigging and boomsails take the entire load from the installed sails, and the booms of gaff sails, even at full courses, almost do not extend beyond the deck in plan.

This leads, on the one hand, to an elegant and swift silhouette - the masts have a noticeable design tilt towards the stern, on the other - long booms at full courses require mandatory block hoists, short drawn from their legs to suitable attachment points on the deck - as a rule, to the leeward side and slightly forward.

They rigidly fix the booms against involuntary jibes.The rather long bowsprit is another feature caused by the shape of the gaff mainsail and the need to balance its windage with forward bow sails, otherwise the yacht will be strongly driven to the wind.Main sail area –65.8 m 2 . Taking into account the additional windage, the yacht can carry about 100 m 2 sails.

Spar design.

The choice of a steel pipe in the project as the basis for the mast columns seems, at first glance, strange. There is an opinion among sailors that steel is not a suitable choice for a spar. They believe that such masts will be too heavy, the boat will lose stability, and corrosion will make them very short-lived.

However, the mass calculation tells a different story. A traditional timber spar requires an increase in mast diameter and will be heavier in weight. Aluminum alloy provides virtually no advantages over steel. If we introduce a couple more criteria - the cost of the material for making the mast and its availability, then steel certainly becomes the best choice.

The mast is assembled into a single unit by electric welding and sealed to prevent corrosion, after which it is protected with paint and varnish coatings in the same way as the steel body. All necessary electrical cables are routed externally, along the cables, as well as the running rigging.

Booms, gaffs, topmast.

These spar trees according to the project, they must be made of wood and hollow inside. The designer does not approve of their manufacture from solid pieces of wood due to excess weight and the risk of cracking.

The fittings and other useful things for the wood were already ready when, for reasons of durability, strength and reducing cost and labor, the decision was made to replace it with affordable aluminum alloy pipes.

In particular, this was prompted by correspondence with the owners of the American sistership schooner “Adventure”. They had to replace the booms after ten years of use of the boat, although the masts and sails were still in good condition. Just at this time, pipes made of aluminum alloys ceased to be in short supply, and the issue of spars was resolved in one fell swoop.

The blanks were thoroughly washed from grease and first coated with primer for aluminum, and then painted. The fittings, gaffs, and other hinged components and parts are made of stainless steel and installed on screws and threaded rods, as well as polyurethane sealant.

The gaff mustaches are covered with technical leather, the “stainless steel” is polished with a felt wheel with GOI paste, clamped in a drill. The topmast is installed in its place in ezelgoft through insulating bushings machined from caprolon to prevent electrochemical corrosion.

The bowsprit is made of larch. I managed to select and purchase for this purpose dried boards 20 mm thick of the “zero” grade. The bowsprit is glued together from these larch boards using epoxy resin with the addition of dry wood dust.

Larch has a high resin content in the wood, so before gluing, the surface must be thoroughly cleaned of it with acetone to ensure adhesion. In order to smear this amount of resin (more than 2 kg) on ​​the surface of the boards and assemble the package, I needed to make five batches.

To prevent the resin from setting up prematurely, I worked in the shade in the morning. The next day, the bowsprit was already processed with an electric plane. Then, when the extra piece of the workpiece was sawed off, it became possible to test the tensile strength of the resulting adhesive seam. When the board was torn off, it tore to the quick, and did not burst anywhere along the adhesive seam.

Standing rigging.

The shrouds and stays are made of stainless steel cable and 619 galvanized steel cable, with thimbles and hand-made stops. The fires were sealed according to the classical scheme - through one strand under two against the lay.

After manufacturing, each fire was painted for anti-corrosion protection and capped. Standing rigging turnbuckles and mounting brackets must be at least as strong as the cables attached to them.

The shrouds of the foresail and mainsail, installed on the bulwark gunwale, were strengthened during construction, and therefore are used not only for their intended purpose, but also for lifting the boat with standard 6-meter slings.

Galvanized wire rope for standing rigging is much less expensive than stainless steel wire rope, but requires periodic maintenance. According to classical technology, at the beginning and end of each season it must be removed from its regular place, boiled in drying oil and rubbed with paraffin.

Coatings based on varnish, paint, or modern compounds designed specifically to protect rigging are also often used. In addition to being cheap, there is another important advantage of galvanized cable - it always warns of corrosion with rust spots, which makes it easier to control the condition of the rigging.

Such a cable does not break unexpectedly, like a stainless steel cable. Therefore, the use of galvanized cable for standing rigging is quite justified.For the forestay and jib rail, as well as the waterstay and waterbackstays, it is advisable to use a stainless steel cable.

The bow sail carabiners quickly wear away the galvanizing, exposing the steel, and the waterstay and waterbackstays are constantly bathed in sea water.Marine galvanized lanyards and connecting brackets have a rather unsightly appearance, are huge in size and have questionable durability due to corrosion; those purchased from import catalogs cause justified mistrust due to poor quality and manufacturing technology.

In addition, their price is unreasonably high. Therefore, the turnbuckles and shackles for the standing rigging were made to order: the turnbuckle body and locknuts were made of bronze, and the tips and pins were made of stainless steel. Lanyards must be attached to the pins through hinges, giving the joints a second degree of freedom.

The traditional scheme for protecting sails and spars from abrasion on the rigging includes installing bear protectors on it in the right places. Such protectors can be made from scraps of worn-out gear using the technology of making printed mats.

Attaching sails to the spar, setting and steering.

Gaff sails are tied with the luff to the gaff, the luff to the mast and the luff to the boom. They are placed with a gaff-hardel tied to the heel of the gaff, and a dirik-halyard tied to its end. Gaff sails are controlled using gear tied to the boom and called a boom sheet.

There are many options for attaching the boom sheet to the hull, the simplest is a block attached to a butt (U-bolt) welded to the deck. This option is provided for by the project and was originally implemented on the Chava for the mainsail and foresail.

A slightly more complex option involves installing a boom-sheet strap and, thanks to the shift of the thrust point to the leeward side, allows you to increase the tension of the luff and reduce the “twist” - the twisting of the upper luff into the wind relative to the lower one.

This should increase the efficiency of the sail on sharp courses. This design combines well with the installation of a stern stop to support the main boom when the mainsail is in full swing. The foresail gaff on the schooner is equipped with additional tackle, called the foresail backstay, which goes to the top of the mainmast.

Each mast has coffee strips installed on the shrouds, which also turned out to be convenient and safe supports for the back when working with sails near the mast. There are four dowels on each floor plank, three cleats on each mast, and four cleats are installed on the deck.

Nevertheless, this is the necessary minimum for such a weapon scheme. Efficiency of weapons during ocean cruising It is absolutely clear that in the conditions of the Olympic Triangle race, a yacht armed with a Bermuda tender will come first.

This type of sail is by far the best on sharp courses, and when the wind moves to the stern corners, there is always the option of setting a spinnaker or gennaker. However, the specifics of long-distance travel impose slightly different requirements on sailing ship.

Two more important aspects that are worth considering are the increased stability of a gaff schooner and a lower tendency to broach due to the low center of sail.

Sturdy and securely braced steel masts provide confidence in stormy conditions, and the low center sail allows more sail to be carried in fresh weather, making the boat a true storm bird.

Distributed along the length of the sail with a long bowsprit and main boom to the transom allow you to accurately center the boat in different weather conditions, facilitating the helmsman's watch and simplifying the adjustment of the thrusters.

The schooner successfully maneuvers and gains altitude even in very fresh weather, but this cannot be considered decisive when deciding on the choice of armament for a cruising yacht.

Drive with a family crew or solo.

To work with the sails of a Bermuda tender with an area of ​​about 100 m2 in such conditions, serious mechanization will be required. Bow sails are furled, the mainsail is mechanized (for example, retractable into the mast), powerful clew winches.

At the same time, the expenditure of muscular strength becomes minimal, the boat is perfectly controlled by two people and even alone thanks to the efficiency of the sailing armament.However, there are also problems here. In order for all this to work reliably, you will need to invest a lot of money in purchasing high-quality equipment with an appropriate margin of safety.

In addition, this modern equipment operating in marine conditions will require constant ongoing maintenance. Do-it-yourself repairs of high-tech components during long-distance travel are excluded or very limited, so it is necessary to provide for the possibility of duplicating equipment or other options for restoring the functionality of weapons.

When rigged with a gaff schooner, the total sail area is divided into several fairly small sails, each of which can be set by a single person.

There is no mechanization, and in order to select the sheets of the bow sails, a pair of small winches on the cockpit coamings is sufficient. You only need one more small winch on the main boom for reefing.

The foresail and mainsail gaffs are lifted manually through pulley systems. The absence of lip openings on the masts eliminates many problems when setting and cleaning the mainsail and foresail, which are typical for Bermuda sails.

At the same time, the use of new materials - relatively light gaffs made of aluminum pipes, sails made of Dacron - gives this type of weapon new useful qualities. As a result of such innovations, a modern gaff schooner tacks much better than its traditional counterpart. As the weather cools, the fisherman is removed successively, then the topsail, leaving only the main sails. As the wind picks up, the mainsail begins to reef as the boat begins to “beg”, showing a tendency to drift.

The time to remove the jib usually comes when the mainsail is already reefed to a couple of shelves. By the way, the gaff schooner is drifting steadily. To do this, it is enough to leave the bow sails on the windward side during the tack and put the rudder slightly into the wind.

The problems with servicing gaff weapons are traditional and well known. There are much more different types of gear than on a Bermuda boat, and they require special wiring and fastening points, for example, cleats on the shrouds, so working with sails is generally more difficult and takes more time.

As a safety measure, a net is stretched between the water backstays and runs under the bowsprit, which also adds to the charm of the boat. Routine maintenance and repairs boil down to timely replacement of running rigging gear, leather on the gaffs and restoration of worn out protectors.

A traditional wooden spar also requires constant attention, but in our case we were able to get rid of this, since the masts and all other spar trees are metal. The most they need is periodic restoration of paintwork in areas of wear.

It’s clear - you can justify anything, and there is some subjectivity here. Nevertheless, the choice was made, the boat was built with a gaff version of the armament, it passed sea trials on the open sea with access to the ocean and so far fully justifies the design decisions laid down.

Andrey Popovich. Vladivostok.

, which is devoted to the sailing rig of a gaff schooner, its details and features. It will primarily be useful to builders of the Dudley Dix-designed Hout Bay 40, but “every man has a harbor with a small schooner in his heart.” These are the words of Henry Miller, and I love these words. And if suddenly you have a desire to figure out how to raise the sails and set off, this book is for you. Critical comments and suggestions that will help improve the quality of presentation and expand the list of topics considered are actively welcomed, since the book includes a fairly small part of the available materials, and their relevance is not always clear to me. This book continues the series "Schooner "Chava". Other books in the series: Schooner "Chava". Project selection. Housing assembly
Schooner "Chava". Evolution of the ship's engine

Efficiency for ocean cruising

It is absolutely clear that in the conditions of the Olympic Triangle race, the yacht armed with the Bermuda tender will come first. This type of sail is by far the best on sharp courses, and when the wind moves to the stern corners, there is always the option of setting a spinnaker or gennaker.

However, the specifics of a long-distance voyage impose slightly different requirements on a sailing vessel. On a boat sailing under the control of an autopilot, on the ocean swell, it is unlikely that any of these “pot-bellied monsters” will be installed, and without them, a Bermuda boat on favorable courses relative to the wind will go slower than a gaff boat.

2016 Note - this is not entirely true. The gennaker and gollywobbler are now successfully used on our boat sailing in the ocean with a wind machine. Another thing is that the short and thick masts of the gaff schooner determine the small size of these sails and the simplicity and safety of working with them.

The fact is that the high and narrow wing sails of the Bermuda tender, designed to work effectively on sharp courses, cease to be so for full ones, when the role of the lifting force of the sails falls, and the shape that provides maximum turbulence comes forward, where the ideal sail is a circle .

Another important aspect to consider is the increased stability of a gaff schooner and the reduced tendency to broach due to the low center of sail. Sturdy and securely braced steel masts provide confidence in stormy conditions, and the low center sail allows more sail to be carried in fresh weather, making the boat a true storm bird.
The sail distributed along the length with a long bowsprit and main boom to the transom allows you to accurately center the boat in different weather conditions, facilitating the helmsman's watch and simplifying the adjustment of the thrusters.

A gaff rig, and even a two-masted one, is, of course, noticeably inferior in efficiency to a Bermuda sloop or tender on sharp courses. However, the schooner successfully maneuvers and gains altitude even in very fresh weather, and this drawback cannot be considered decisive for deciding on the choice of armament for a cruising yacht.

Addition 2016. The practice of participating in races with mixed participation of gaff and Bermuda cruise boats of similar sizes in the Philippine archipelago has shown something that is not obvious - when tacking in a fresh wind and on a serious wave, schooners can emerge victorious.

Drive with a family crew or alone

To work with Bermuda tender sails of approximately 100 sq. m. in such conditions, serious mechanization will be needed. Bow sails are furled, mainsail with mechanization, for example, retractable into the mast, powerful clew winches. At the same time, the expenditure of muscular strength becomes minimal, the boat is perfectly controlled by two people and even alone, taking advantage of all the advantages of effective sailing equipment.

However, there are also problems here. In order for all this to work reliably, you will need to invest a lot of money in purchasing high-quality equipment with an appropriate margin of safety, in addition, this modern equipment operating in marine conditions will require constant ongoing maintenance.

As a rule, failures of such equipment occur in difficult situations under high loads - in stormy conditions, during maneuvering, when the capabilities and time for repairs are limited and the likelihood of crew errors is high. Do-it-yourself repairs of high-tech components during a long voyage are excluded or very limited, so it is necessary to provide for the possibility of duplicating equipment or other options for restoring the functionality of weapons.

I must say, this seems to be quite a serious problem on the islands south seas. During our stay in Vanuatu, a very beautiful charter yacht, one of the former America's Cup contenders, came there for repairs. The breakdown of the lykpaz led to the fact that they were forced to stand for two weeks waiting for ordered spare parts, and when we left for NZ, they continued to stand sadly in the roadstead. Such a disruption to the transit schedule is a serious loss of money and reputation for the ship.

Another example - in Majuro, Marshall Islands, our anchorage neighbor was a new American yacht with a family crew. During the passage they lost the bow furler of the genoa. And Jim quite seriously told me that I would have to wait at least a month for new parts from the States.

When armed with a gaff schooner, the total sail area is divided into several fairly small sails, each of which can be set by a single person. There is no mechanization; in order to select the sheets of the bow sails, a pair of small winches on the cockpit coamings is enough, in addition, you only need another small winch on the main boom for reefing.

The foresail and mainsail gaffs are lifted manually through pulley systems. The absence of lip openings on the masts eliminates many problems when setting and cleaning the mainsail and foresail, which are typical for Bermuda sails. At the same time, the use of new materials - relatively light gaffs made of aluminum pipes, sails made of Dacron, give this type of weapon new useful qualities.

The luff of such a gaff sail can be pulled much tighter than before. As a result, the gaff falls off less in the wind, the shape of the sail is less distorted due to the “twist” - twisting the upper luff relative to the lower one, a “light” gaff, due to less inertia, is less inclined to unpredictably shift from side to side and distort the shape of the sail in low wind conditions and rolling...

Let's add here a rigid hull, thanks to which the shape of the bow sails is not distorted due to the sagging of the forestay, note its modern shape with sharp waterlines and a deep-set false keel, and it turns out that today the gaff schooner tacks much better than its traditional counterpart.

The yacht is easily balanced with sails. Unlike the modern "Bermuda" concept, the sails are divided into main and additional ones. The main sail is carried by the schooner constantly, until the onset of conditions close to stormy ones. In moderate winds, additional sails are set. When close-hauled, she carries all possible sails, this is the main sail - mainsail, foresail, staysail and jib, and additional - topsail and fisherman.

As the weather cools, the fisherman is removed successively, then the topsail, leaving only the main sails. As the wind picks up, the mainsail begins to reef as the boat begins to beg, showing a tendency to drift. The time to remove the jib usually comes when the mainsail is already reefed to a couple of shelves. By the way, the gaff schooner is drifting steadily. To do this, it is enough to leave the bow sails on the windward side during the tack and put the rudder slightly into the wind.

A topsail is placed on the topmast of the mainmast, which operates on all courses relative to the wind. The topsail is raised from the leeward side of the mainsail by a topsail halyard passed through the top of the main topmast to the deck. The topsail sheet is passed through a block at the toe of the mainsail-gaff, then through an intermediate block in the area of ​​its heel, and further onto the deck. In addition to them, the topsail is held at the ezelgoft by the upper tack, passed through the butt on the top of the mast, and is pulled down by the lower tack, fixed to the cleats of the mainmast.

On long tacks, the topsail is removed before the turn and raised again to leeward. When tacking on short tacks, the topsail is often left where it is, and some loss of thrust is tolerated due to the deterioration of aerodynamics. Setting up and removing the topsail is difficult a large number gear that needs to be selected or baited at the same time, but its area is small, and after setting it does not require special attention.

The problems with servicing gaff weapons are traditional and well known. There are much more different types of gear than on a Bermuda boat, and they require special wiring and fastening points, for example, cleats on the shrouds, so working with sails is generally more difficult and takes more time.

This is especially true for additional windage. For example, setting and retracting a topsail will require working with four different running rigs, as will setting and retracting a Fisherman. Setting a gaff sail requires simultaneous work in a certain sequence with two tackles - a dirk-halyard and a gaff-gardel, which requires some experience. To gain strength, these tackles are held with tackles in two lopars, so the time required to set and remove the gaff sail, including laying the tackle in the bays, is much longer than in the Bermuda version.

It should be noted that having two rigs for hoisting the gaff, on the other hand, allows fine tuning of the sail shape for different conditions, and gives very interesting results after gaining experience. Gaffs and sails on full courses require protection from abrasion, since they rest on the shrouds in these conditions. Long booms on full courses must be secured with block hoists to prevent them from being dangerously thrown to the other side when pitching.

Working with bow sails, with access to the bowsprit on a wave, can become quite unpleasant, therefore, for cleaning the jib, additional gear is provided - a niral, which pulls the halyard corner of the sail to the bowsprit tip, and all further work is laying along the bowsprit and tying the retracted sail in a sailing manner can be done from the bow deck.

As a safety measure, a net is stretched between the water backstays and runs under the bowsprit, which also adds to the charm of the boat. Routine maintenance and repairs boil down to timely replacement of running rigging gear, leather on the gaffs, and restoration of worn out protectors. A traditional wooden spar also requires constant attention, but in our case we were able to get rid of this, since the masts and all other spar trees are metal. The most they need is periodic restoration of paintwork in areas of wear.

It is clear that anything can be justified, and some subjectivity is present here. However, the choice was made, the boat was built with a gaff armament, it passed sea trials on the open sea with access to the ocean, and so far fully justifies the design decisions laid down.