Page 144 - The Complete Rigger’s Apprentice

CHAPTER 5

Standing Rigging Design

and Materials

Rig design usually is something the rigger is given. and jury-rigging. Experience and practice are
Although we can often suggest modifications, the our greatest allies here, but there’s nothing so
basic layout and configuration are already estab- reassuring as having one’s judgment borne out
lished, so that our primary responsibility is proper by calculations.
design execution. But this is not to say that we are
excused from technical considerations; we owe it The bias of this book is toward long-proven
to the vessel and ourselves to understand the char- practices. “We pay attention to tradition,” a boat-
acteristics of hull and rig type, the sort of sailing builder friend once said, “so we don’t have to make
intended, and thus what types and degrees of strain two hundred years of mistakes.” By studying design,
will be imposed on the rig. we benefit from the experiences of others. One of the
There’s usually no need to second-guess the clearest lessons is that good designs always evidence
designer, just to equip ourselves with the ability to a firm grasp of basic mechanical principles.
make informed decisions. It would be easier to just
do the handwork and let other people worry about
design, but getting involved in the abstract side of DESIGN PRINCIPLES
rigging gives us two very important benefits:
“ The square of the hypotenuse is equal to the sum of
1. Understanding the whole, we see the reasons the squares on the two sides.”
for using certain materials and procedures; we Pythagoras
are not so likely to alter or substitute as we would
be if the reasons for each particular were not Angles
technically justified. Knowledge keeps us honest Standing rigging is an exercise in leverage, so to
and provides motivation for honing our skills. explain its mechanics we’ll begin with the lever. Fig-
ure 5-1 shows a familiar form of lever, the seesaw.
2. Much of a rigger’s work is extemporaneous— The children are seated 9 feet on either side of the
replacing failed pieces, inspecting, tuning, support, or fulcrum. Each child weighs 50 pounds,
shifting leads, lashing, hoisting, lowering, but as far as the seesaw is concerned they each

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