Gaff rig is a sailing rig (configuration of sails, mast and stays) in which the sail is four-cornered, fore-and-aft rigged , controlled at its peak and, usually, its entire head by a spar (pole) called the gaff . Because of the size and shape of the sail, a gaff rig will have running backstays rather than permanent backstays.
22-558: The Woody Guthrie is a 47' gaff sloop which supports the mission of the larger Sloop Clearwater educating people about the Hudson River and its environment. The vessel was ordered by Pete Seeger in 1978 for the Beacon Sloop Club, which has supplied volunteers to maintain and operate it ever since. The boat is named after the prominent progressive folk singer Woody Guthrie , a friend of Seeger's and author of
44-463: A Gaffers Day for any classic sailing boat that can "hoist a spar". Up to 90 vessels from around Australia take part in sailing on Sydney Harbour in a practical demonstration of the skills and technology used in the nautical past. Weather helm Weather helm is the tendency of sailing vessels to turn towards the source of wind, creating an unbalanced helm that requires pulling the tiller to windward (i.e. 'to weather') in order to counteract
66-534: A gaff rig, the CE of the mainsail may actually be overboard of the hull, in a stiff wind the craft may want to broach . Running goose winged with a balloon staysail poled out to windward will balance the CE; Nick Skeates circumnavigated Wylo II with this configuration. In light winds, or when racing, a watersail may also be set. Since 1972, the Sydney Amateur Sailing Club has regularly hosted
88-407: A jib-headed topsail may be carried between the gaff and the mast . Gunter-rigged boats are similar, smaller vessels on which a spar (commonly, but incorrectly called the gaff) is raised until it is nearly vertical, parallel to the mast and close adjacent to it. Topsails are never carried on gunter rigs. The spritsail is another rig with a four-sided fore-aft sail . Unlike the gaff rig where
110-417: A neutral helm. Weather helm also provides a form of dead man's switch —the boat stops safely in irons if the helm is released for a length of time. Any action that reduces the angle of heel of a boat that is reaching or beating to windward will help reduce weather helm. Racing sailors use their body weight to bring the boat to a more upright position. Reducing or reefing the total sail area will have
132-455: Is difficult to set enough sail area in the Bermudan rig without a mast of excessive height and a centre of effort (CE) too high for the limited stability of the hull . Because of its low aspect ratio , the gaff rig is less prone to stalling if oversheeted than something taller and narrower. Whilst reaching , the CE being set further back, will encourage a small craft to bear up into
154-400: Is often a pragmatic alternative to having a heavy helm. A swing keel lifted halfway is the perfect treatment for weather helm on a gaffer. The usual adjustments to mast rake, or even bowsprit length may be made to a gaffer with persistent heavy weather (or lee) helm. On a gaff-rigged vessel, any heading where the wind is within 20 degrees of dead aft is considered a run . When running with
176-410: Is the same whether the vessel is steered by tiller or wheel; turning the wheel leeward gives the same rudder effect as pulling a tiller windward. The fundamental cause of "helm", be it weather or lee, is the differential between the center of effort of the sail plan to the center of lateral resistance of the hull. If the center of pressure is astern of the center of lateral resistance, a weather helm,
198-465: The head hangs from a spar along its edge, this rig supports the leech of the sail by means of a spar named a sprit . The forward end of the sprit is attached to the mast but bisects the face of the sail, with the after end of the sprit attaching to the peak and/or the clew of the sail. For a given sail area a gaff rig has a shorter mast than a Bermudan rig . In short-ended craft with full body, heavy displacement and moderate ballast ratio, it
220-422: The jib (and maybe lowering the staysail ) on a cutter. Sailing off the wind, weather helm may be caused by the imbalance due to fore-and-aft sails all being sheeted out on the same (leeward) side of the boat. Raising a spinnaker or poling out a headsail to windward with a whisker pole can help. Yachts making ocean trade wind crossings have rigged 'twins' - double headsails poled out to opposite sides from
242-445: The direction from which the wind is blowing (i.e. "closer to the wind"). The gaff is hoisted by two halyards : Additionally, a gaff vang may be fitted. It is a line attached to the end of the gaff which prevents the gaff from sagging downwind. Gaff vangs are difficult to rig on the aft -most sail, so are typically only found on schooners or ketches, and then only on the foresail or mainsail. A triangular fore-and-aft sail called
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#1732797941465264-491: The effect. Weather helm is the opposite of lee helm . It is generally less troublesome than lee helm. Weather helm is the result of a leeward and aft shift of a vessel's vector center of effort (the direction to which the force generated by the sails is pushing). This shift is caused by excess pressure on the mainsail , which overpowers the windward lateral resistance generated by the jib (or other head sail) and keel or centerboard. This results in an imbalance of force at
286-633: The famed tune, " This Land is Your Land ". Since the Guthrie was built, volunteers have given sailing experience to thousands of members and guests of the Beacon Sloop club for free. Guests are educated by the volunteers about the history of the river and the boat and asked to help the mission of the boat in any way they can. In August 2017, the Woody was relaunched after 6 years of fundraising, 2 years of work, $ 400k spent, and 5,000 volunteer hours. She
308-427: The lateral drag against the blade still exists, along with the need to pull the rudder to an undesirable position (see Mitigation). A slight amount of weather helm is thought by some sailors to be a desirable situation, both from the standpoint of the "feel" of the helm, and the tendency of the boat to head slightly to windward in stronger gusts, to some extent self-feathering the sails. Other sailors disagree and prefer
330-482: The most popular fore-aft rig for schooner and barquentine mainsails and other course sails , and spanker sails on a square rigged vessel are always gaff rigged. On other rigs, particularly the sloop , ketch and yawl , gaff rigged sails were once common but have now been largely replaced by the Bermuda rig sail, which, in addition to being simpler than the gaff rig, usually allows vessels to sail closer to
352-436: The same circumstances, it is sometimes difficult to determine the source of weather helm. While weather helm occurs on any size of vessel, the physical movement of the craft is often more severe for vessels without a keel. This is a result of the smaller blade being very quickly overpowered by the relatively larger mainsail. In keelboats, despite the fact that weather helm is not as readily felt, it can be just as detrimental, as
374-448: The same effect and, counter-intuitively, many boats will sail faster with less sail in a stiff breeze once heel and weather helm have been reduced, due to the reduction in underwater drag (see Over-canvassed sailing ). Easing the sheets on aft-most sails, such as the mainsail in a sloop or cutter can have an immediate effect, especially to help with maneuvering. Moving or increasing sail area forward can also help, for example by raising
396-464: The same forestay for extended downwind passages without a mainsail. Square rigged sails also provide relatively symmetric drive off the wind. As weather helm requires pulling the rudder through the water at an angle to the intended course, it produces drag and impedes the boat's progress through the water. In the book "Sailing Illustrated", Patrick M. Royce defines weather helm as simply a "heeling sailboat wanting to come head to wind." The principle
418-438: The stern from windward, and the craft pivots about the center of drag (often near the center of the keel or centerboard), causing the bow to drive windward. Weather helm does not only result from an overpowered main; when a vessel is heeling to leeward, the aft component of keel drag is moved to windward. This creates a force (a turning moment ) that pushes the bow to weather. As both an overpowered main and heavy heel occur in
440-434: The tendency of the vessel to want to turn into the wind, or to weather-vane, will result. If the situation is reversed, with the center of pressure forward of the center of resistance of the hull, a "lee" helm will result, which is generally considered undesirable, if not dangerous. Too much of either helm is not good, since it forces the helmsman to hold the rudder deflected to counter it, thus inducing extra drag beyond what
462-412: The wind, i.e. strong weather helm . The boat builder can compensate for this at design stage, e.g. by shifting the keel slightly aft, or having two jibs to counter the effect. The gaff-cutter is in fact a very popular sailplan for small craft. The helmsman can reduce weather helm significantly, simply by sheeting out the mainsail. Sheeting out may appear to create an inefficient belly in the sail, but it
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#1732797941465484-553: Was restored at the Hudson River Maritime Museum in Kingston, New York. Gaff rig The gaff enables a fore-and-aft sail to be four sided, rather than triangular. A gaff rig typically carries 25 percent more sail than an equivalent Bermuda rig for a given hull design. A sail hoisted from a gaff is called a gaff-rigged (or, less commonly, gaff rigged or gaffrigged ) sail . Gaff rig remains
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