Lugsail Performance Better than you may imagine

Ive lost count of the number of times that Ive read comments from people saying that lugsails may be simple to rig, easy to reef, and convenient to use, but that there is a high price to be paid for the good points, and that the price is poor performance to windward - especially when sailing without a jib and/or staysail.

Concentrating hard on getting our 45 yr/old dinghy up to windward in order to weather a sandbar, using a balance lug rig without a jib.

The prejudice against lug rigs is made worse because so many people are disturbed by the asymmetry of having the yard, boom and sail on only one side of the mast - to most theoretical observers it just seems wrong.

I admit to having suffered from the same prejudice, and the only thing that forced me to attempt an asymmetrical rig was my interest in Chinese lugsails. Back in 1984 I rigged my boat with a Chinese Lugsail (a.k.a. Chinese Junk rig) just so that I could learn about the performance and operation first-hand.

This rig proved to be an exceptionally good cruising rig, but it required lots of development work with the shaping of the battens before starting to really sail well. For heavy weather sailing in tough conditions, Ive never had anything better. However, it was heavy and complex for use on a dinghy.

Well, despite the fact that professional seamen used lugsails for centuries, todays sailors seem to find it very difficult to overcome their feels regarding asymmetry and the perception of  poor windward performance.

Recently a group of sailing friends spent a few days at Lake Wivenhoe in south-east Queensland, Australia, and some interesting video has emerged (videos courtesy of Paul Hernes) showing Rick ODonnell and John Shrapnel sailing against each other in Ricks Iain Oughtred-designed Fulmar and John in the Periwinkle I designed and built for him. On this particular day Rick had a single reef tied into his mainsail, and John had removed his 52 sq.ft mizzen sail altogether, so both boats were carrying reduced sail area.

Ricks Fulmar is somewhat longer than designed, as I believe that he increased the station spacing during construction, and I think she is about 18 ft LOA. Periwinkle is 17 ft LOA and has a cut-away forefoot, so she is handicapped by a significantly shorter LWL than Ricks Fulmar.

In the video below, you can see for yourself how the lugsail performs against a more conventional rig. Note that the lugsail is on the "bad tack" - i.e. the sail is wrapped around the mast, which is a frequently heard argument against the practicality of the "asymmetrical" lug.

So, dont be put off a lugsail just because you feel uncomfortable about asymmetry, or because you think they dont perform well to windward. Lugsails are cheap and easy to make, simple to handle, a breeze to reef, and very quick to rig and strike. The easier a boat is to rig and un-rig, the more likely it is that you will use her. In a later post Ill show you how you can improve the windward performance of the lugsail even more, using nothing more than a short length of V.B. cord.

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Balance Lugsail Setting up a Downhaul

One of the great pleasures associated with owning a home-built, traditionally-rigged boat is that you can fiddler around with the running rigging for years and years. My old boat is forty years old and Im still altering details of the rig. It is educational, fulfilling, and wholesome activity!

My old boat running home in 30 knots of wind, with the main reefed. Everything in the rig, with the exception of the sail, is homemade and home-designed.

Here are some photos which illustrate the downhaul arrangement that Paul Hernes has developed for his Phoenix III. Control of the downhaul is critically important in getting good performance from a lugsail, and this arrangement allows the downhaul tension to be controlled by a single-hander in a very simple fashion. Additionally, this downhaul is also used to tension the snotter when Paul is using the larger spritsail, so one piece of simple equipment does two separate jobs - and does them both efficiently.

Here you can see the four-part downhaul made up of common polyester braid and two cheap stainless steel vang blocks. Note how the tackle is attached to the rugged mast partner, and the running end passes down through the mast partner........

...and on down to a turning block set low in the boat.

From there, the downhaul leads aft through a hole in the semi-bulkhead and along the centreboard case bed-logs.......

....and terminates in a cam-cleat on the aft end of the centreboard case. This is within easy reach of the skipper and can be tightened or released in a matter of seconds.

This picture shows the simple attachment to the boom. Paul has used a very strong-but-light piece of Dyneema (or Spectra) but for a short length like this anything would do, as stretch would not be an issue. The attachment to the boom can be a loop (as here) or a rolling hitch. The important point is that the attachment can be moved forward or aft along the boom at will, allowing wonderful adjustment of luff and leech tension.

In Pauls arrangement shown in the photos, the boom is simply held close to the mast by the tension of the downhaul. However, there are plenty of other options - in the above drawing is one that I favour as it holds the boom securely against the mast and also allows one to adjust the forward and aft location of the boom with ease.

 I encourage everybody to read widely and to experiment with all sorts of rigging options. If you are not constrained by the rules associated with a racing class, go out and have some fun with homemade equipment - it is cheap, and if you made it yourself you can obviously fix it as well. Usually all you need is some line and a few bits of timber - and your brain!

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