Describe Sailing a Junk or Crab-Claw Rig

[mcm]

C.J. Marchaj says in his "Sail Performance" that they're excellent performing rigs, and they can be economically home-built.

But who here has actually sailed them, and whats it like, especially in a blow?

What do you do when you change tacks, and the mast is leeward?

Is that how they're intended to sail, and, if so, does the performance change greatly on that tack, especially in a blow?

With these rigs, should your hull have a long cut-away fore-foot, or a full plumb entry?

What's the general opinion of these rigs for an economical monohull pocket-cruiser?

Thanks for any opinions.

[ron17571]

Try reading proa canoe sites and you well run into this kinda info.

[mcm]

Thanks for the heads-up Ron.

Proas however, are a multihull design that takes a large crew to create a constantly shifting ballast, and to "shunt" the rig from one end of the boat to the other while completly turning the double-ended boat around in order to change tack.

while Proas are the original design for the "crab-claw" rig, I'm more interested in anyone's experience of these rigs used in a simple monohull, and without "shunting" when changing tacks.

Is it possible, and what's it like?

[pogust]

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/junkrig/
You will find plenty of pictures and details.

[mcm]

Thanks for the link Pogust.

But after reading dozens of their posts, I still couldn't find the answer to my basic question.

Probably because everyone in that discussion group are too experienced with the rig to be interested in talking about the basic aspects of sailing these rigs.

Again, my basic question is whether the sail is designed to be on the windward or leeward side of the mast?

And, if you change tacks, do you have to move the sail to the other side of the mast?

If you do, how does one manage that?

And, if you don't move the sail, does it perform differently on the opposite tack?

[pogust]

The sail is fixed to the mast on the same side all the time.
It does perform slightly different on opposite tack.
Sail can be kept on either side of mast.

http://www.friend.ly.net/~dadadata/junk/tutorial.html
will show you the basics of different sail layouts.

[mcm]

Thanks Pogust,

I finally got a copy of "Practical Junk Rig", and it confirms exactly what you said.

The book goes on to reveal that at the turn of the last century, the legendary Josua Slocum sailed a 36' Junk rig from South America to North America, and claimed the Junk rig to be the superior rig for small yachts especially when short handed.

Wow!! Now that's a recommendation that has to be taken seriously.

However, "Practical Junk Rig" does NOT cover anything about the South Seas Oceanic Lanteen "Crab-Claw" rig.

Yet its similarity to the Junk rig leads me to suspect that it also can be successfully sailed without "shunting" the sail from side to side and end to end when tacking.

Who can confirm that for me?

Who has any experience sailing a 'Western' pocket-cruiser hull with a "crab-claw" rig, and can tell me what it's like, and whether you had to "shunt" or not?

[rayaldridge]

Here's a guy who put a crabclaw on a small cat:


http://www.rclandsailing.com/catamaran/results.html


This is a minimalists design with a crabclaw-- should have some more info on how it's sailed:


http://www.triloboats.com/intro.htm


Ray