The Sail Plan

Click on any image to enlarge it. Blog starts with 9/23/08 post.

The original Yakaboo carried a very good looking batwing yawl rig. This is an efficient sail shape (like the elliptical shape of many airplane wings) that allows many options to shorten the amount of sail area to suit prevailing conditions. As much as I would like to do a rig like this (and may in the future) I just can't take the time if I want it done by vacation.

I started looking for suitable alternatives, perhaps a lug yawl rig for its ease of construction and simplicity.

Looking around on the net, I came across this nice lug yawl set-up. It turns out that these sails were made by Todd Bradshaw of Madison, WI, author of Canoe Rig: The Essence and the Art : Sailpower for Antique and Traditional Canoes. I contacted Todd to inquire whether he would make a similar set for me, and how soon. I also sent away to Amazon for a copy of the book.

After supplying Todd with information on the boat and its intended use, he sent some illustrations showing the proposed sail rig. He suggested going with higher-peaked sails, which will shorten the length of the boom (to keep it from hitting the water when the boat heels), and to improve windward performance. He also suggested raking the masts 5 or 6 degrees.
In place of reef points to reduce sail area, there will be three mast steps to be used with a 39 sq. ft. main and a 15 sq. ft. mizzen. Most of the time, both sails will be used with a total area of 54 sq. ft., then either the main or mizzen will be stepped by itself when the wind pipes up.

The higher peaked sail means the main mast will be too long to stow in the cockpit, but I'm willing to make that trade-off to get better performance.
Defining the sail rig is necessary before the decking is installed because I need to locate the front mast step while it is still accessible.