The Power of Sails

I suppose it isn’t merely a coincidence that I’ve made significant changes to the sailplans of the last three cruising boats I’ve owned. The first project was the biggest. My old Golden Hind 31, Sophie, had lots of charm and character, but her sloop rig was laughably small. After blundering about for a couple of years, I treated her to a much taller spar, a fixed bowsprit and a new set of sails, and so transformed her into a very handy cutter. She sailed as smartly then as any boat with three keels (including her two bilge keels) could ever hope to.

My first Lunacy, an aluminum Tanton 39 cutter, also got a new fixed bowsprit, though it had to be welded rather than bolted on. This allowed me to add a third headsail to the foretriangle—a large lightweight Code 0-type genoa (I called it a screecher) that furled on its own luff courtesy of an easily removed continuous-line furler. The sail was easy to set and strike, much easier than changing the regular working yankee for a regular genoa, and greatly enhanced the boat’s light-air performance…

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