Page 327 - The Complete Rigger’s Apprentice

Troubador Sonia Stay
Veteran yacht designer Ted Brewer is a direct heir
to the people who developed rig scantling formu- The builders of the 34-foot double-ended yawl
las. But his designs, for everything from gaff-rigged Sonia were wonderfully creative. The main back-
schooners to BOC racers, have always been char- stay splits partway down to miss the mizzenmast,
and reaches the deck well aft on this fine-sterned
acterized as much by freshness and adaptability as vessel. Ordinarily, this would put a lot of upward
by classical conservatism. So when client Dr. Paul strain on a delicate part of the hull.
But instead of making the stern heavier (and
Bubak asked for a very easily handled but very effi- more expensive) for stiffness, Sonia’s builders car-
cient fractional rig, Brewer came up with the artful ried the backstay legs right through the deck, then
sail plan shown in Figure 8-8. angled them down and in to attach to the stern-
Traditionally, cruising rigs have minimized the post. Now the only load at deck-level is a moderate
effort expended on staysails by breaking up the sin- compression load between the legs of the backstay.
Just as at the main shrouds, the deck functions as
gle large one of a sloop into two or three smaller a set of spreaders, and the sternpost is itself sup-
ones, to make a cutter. But another method is to ported from sagging.
shift staysail area into the less truculent mainsail.
This results in such a small staysail area that you
no longer need to run the jibstay all the way to the
masthead in order to have room for the sail. A “frac-
tional rig” results, so named because the stay only
comes three-fourths, seven-eighths, or some other
fraction of the way up the mast.
Less staysail-wrestling also means less jibstay
tension, and thus less mast compression, so frac-
tional rigs can have slightly lighter masts for the
same total sail area (see table in Figure 5-26).
It’s not all plusses, however. You might not have
the chore of changing headsails, but you do have to
reef the main sooner and more often. And savings
in headsail costs are offset by increased mainsail
costs, particularly if it has full battens, lazyjacks,
and other options to make the sail more efficient and
easier to handle.
Troubador’s rig has a very small (non-over-
lapping) jib and a very large, very tall main. It’s a
bit radical-looking for a cruising boat, but Brewer Sonia’s through-the-deck backstay configuration.
simultaneously pushed the envelope and kept his
scantlings conservative. The result is a safe rig and jumpers for fore-and-aft pull; they can be set up
low work load for Bubak and crew, without corre- in high winds or choppy water or when the mast
spondingly low performance. is heavily bent by the backstay. Many fractionally
rigged race boats dispense with the jumpers and
Rig Details With so little sail area above the rely solely on running backs. This saves weight
jibstay, the masthead needs little lateral staying. and windage but means the runners must be set
Diagonal jumpers are sufficient, and they also act up promptly with each tack or risk losing the stick.
to brace the mast against the forward pull of the Combining jumpers, runners, and a conservative
jibstay. Running backstays act as backups for the mast section makes for low labor (you only need

306