sail set up

[wardd]

for a sailboat about 30 foot, what would be the easiest rig for one person for a long voyage to handle?

[lewisboats]

Ketch rig, probably gaff or lug but bermuda is ok too. You could also go with a Yawl but with a bit less performance. Splitting up the area in to smaller sails makes it easier to handle, plus there is more flexibility in how things are set up and it makes it easier to balance the rig and make it self tending. The Gaff and Lug would allow you to carry a bit more sail with the effort lower for less heeling but the Bermuda might have a better edge to windward.

[BeauVrolyk]

for a sailboat about 30 foot, what would be the easiest rig for one person for a long voyage to handle?

The sails on a 30 foot boat are small enough that you probably should just stick with a sloop. As much as I love the way a split rig looks, it has (literally) twice as many things to go wrong. I know there are folks that love split rigs (ketch, yawl, and schooner) but in something as small as a 30' boat, stick with a sloop.

I disagree with the earlier post, pointing you towards a gaff or lugger rig, as even great sailors have been nailed by the gaff when trying to strike sail or reef. Eric Taberly (sp?) is a good example. Extraordinary sailor swept off the deck by a gaff during a sail take-down. I've owned and sailed gaff and bermuda rigs and there is simply no question, the bermuda rig is safer and much easier to sail.

If you're really going a long distance - take the absolute simplest rig you can. Enough other stuff will break down, you don't need twice as much rigging.

[PAR]

The simple answer is what you're most accustomed to working with, regardless of type. A cat or sloop seems logical as mentioned, but if you have a higher comfort level with something else, then this may be an option.

In short, there is no one rig that you can point a finger at and say this is what you want. Conversely, you would be best advised to have a rig with the least bits of string to tweak and sails to set, so the Bermudian sloop and cat look good.

[Fanie]

Aft mast.

[TeddyDiver]

even great sailors have been nailed by the gaff when trying to strike sail or reef.
If thats a serious argument then you sould have boomles mainsail(s)..:p

[bntii]

If thats a serious argument then you sould have boomles mainsail(s)..:p

Booms are harnessed by a tight sheet while dousing. Gaffs can swing like a bat till you get them under wraps.

I say a masthead sloop- I sail a 40 footer single handed and would not want to split the rig.

[TeddyDiver]

Booms are harnessed by a tight sheet while dousing.
Untill they aren't, and you can't tack to wind forever. Bet the number of insidents with booms is 100:1 compared to gaffs.. Besides it's easy to set a brake sheet to gaff if it would be a problem..

[bntii]

Good grief.... the question is not if booms carry risks and should be avoided. The issue is if gaff rigged boats have ADDITIONAL liabilities which make them a poorer choice than say the masthead sloop given the posters thread question:

for a sailboat about 30 foot, what would be the easiest rig for one person for a long voyage to handle?

There are reasons to not choose the gaffer for this 30' boat- it's a less efficient rig and you might get swept off the deck by the damn thing. Sure- there are benefits as well: Skip the spreaders, have lower loading on the rig in general. I am comfortable sailing highly engineered boats which rely on high loads in the rig. There are reasons to avoid modern rigs if but it does not make life any easier.

[wardd]

ive never sailed a boat before

i was interested in a power boat but with fuel prices rising my thinking is more to sail

im not interesting in speed and racing just the pleasure of getting out on the water safely and comfortably

my ideal bosat would be trailerable, very comfortable for one, somewhat for two and i can drag other guests behind on a piece of rope

and im not so interested in looks

my theory being in the boat you dont see that much of it anyway and if your looking at the whole boat you obviously arnt sailing it

and besides ill leave the better looking boats to be pillaged and stolen

[TeddyDiver]

Good grief.... the question is not if booms carry risks and should be avoided. The issue is if gaff rigged boats have ADDITIONAL liabilities which make them a poorer choice than say the masthead sloop given the posters thread question.
Yes it is.. with a far better reason than gaff. Allthough it's a matter of opinion..
Define ADDITIONAL liability and I give you a long list of the modern dingeldangel in masthead sloops just waiting for the worst moment.. ;)

[BeauVrolyk]

All,

I must say, this entire thread (the bit about being struck by booms or gaffs) has declined into a silly discussion. As I helped start the mess, and it isn't really helping the original poster on this thread, I'd suggest that we simply leave our personal opinions out (I'll start) and try to provide facts as opposed to judgements.

There are many reasons people can have for choosing a certain rig for their boat. The original post was asking:

"the easiest rig for one person for a long voyage to handle"

I can't think of a single fact based argument that would persuade one that a gaff headed sailplane is "easier". Hoisting the gaff is much more work than a bermuda sail, the gaff is difficult to control in bad weather (Taberly (sp?) a great sailor did get killed by his, a fact not an opinion.) and while one can control it with additional strings it remains more difficult.

Folks, I grew up on a 23' gaff headed cutter with three headsails and a square topsail. It was a great deal of fun, but was also a tremendous amount more work than a simple bermudian sloop. I know we're all nostalgic about old rigs, and many of us think that folks in the Victorian era knew more about sailing and are to be emulated. But, that's not what this person asked. This person simply asked for the "easiest", and we do him a disservice by declining into a discussion of things that haven't been in broad use for a century precisely because they are more difficult.

BV

[Fanie]

"the easiest rig for one person for a long voyage to handle"
Aft mast. You pull a rope and you sail. You pull the other rope and the sail is furled. No dangerous :D booms.

[TeddyDiver]

One fact being that when bermudan main is easier/better reefed/sailed against the wind, a gaff sail is better with it. Trying to reef either of them against their nature in hard weather is plain stupid..
Have to remember also that (a lot of) boomed gaffers used (instead of reefing) to hoist leg-o-mutton instead in bad weather.
Boomles main is the safest but doesn't fit in all deck plans so in that regard Fanie nailed it..

[Itchy&Scratchy]

Surely the easiest style of rig to operate single handed would be a free standing rig like those made by Freedom Yachts a while back-not sure if they are still being made,which incorporates a roller furling mast inside a windsurfer style boom with a loose foot.

Justin

[wardd]

i just found the bolger as29 as39 and like the concept and the free standing rig but i wonder how it would do with a bermuda rig

for reefing i had an idea couldnt a rope be sewn into the sail with a loop or an attachment that could be secured at the mast end of the sail to the boom and pulled tight at the other end of the boom?

[PAR]

Considering you meager sailing skills, experience and expertise, I'd strongly recommend you concentrate on developing some personal likes and dislikes aboard actual sail craft, before contemplating redesigning rigs.

[wardd]

probably most of what i think of already exists

[alan white]

for a sailboat about 30 foot, what would be the easiest rig for one person for a long voyage to handle?

I owned a 30 ft sloop with only 400 square feet of sail, about 40% was mainsail and the rest fortriangle. At 160 square feet, the main was hardly bigger than my current gaffer of 15 ft, which carries 155 sq ft on the main and another 30 sq ft of jib.
The 30 footer was an IOR racer displacing 8000 lbs
That particular boat was no problem to single-hand. I sail my small over-canvassed gaffer in all kinds of conditions and it keeps me busy, to be sure.
Given the simplicity of a sloop rig, a lot of older IOR boats that are both light and have small mains would be ideal when set up with a roller-reefing 120% jib. However, a heavier 30 footer (of, say, 18,000 displacement and 900 sq ft of sail) would probably be easier to handle if set up as a ketch or even a schooner, possibly with two headsails.

[Fanie]

I'd strongly recommend you concentrate on developing some personal likes and dislikes aboard actual sail craft, before contemplating redesigning rigs.
I would recommend this as well. Some prefer certain rigs to others as you probably gathered by now, you may find that one sail type is to your liking - the only way to decide is to actually fiddle with them.