Page 335 - The Complete Rigger’s Apprentice

bending the entire mast, but just by the height and the mast from bowing. But when reefed, the gaff lies
angle of the little spar at the top of the sail. against an unsupported section; you might think
You want light-air performance? You get room the thrust load would burden the mast unfairly. But
for a conventional drifter and a gaff topsail, way up as you can see in Figure 8-14, the peak halyard is
there where the light breezes blow. Some gaffers even more nearly vertical when the sail is reefed, so that
carry a wardrobe of topsails to suit varying wind more of the sail load goes into compression on the
conditions. True, you can put a great big main on mast, and less goes into compression on the gaff.
a Bermudian rig, but when the wind comes up you The deeper the reef, the less the gaff’s thrust.
have to reef that big main. With a gaffer, your first Stay tension is a bit different on gaffers, too.
reef consists of dropping the topsail. Much easier. If the topmast backstays are on aft-swept spread-
If the wind continues to rise, reefing a gaff main ers, they exert aft pull against the jibstay, and are
results in a dramatically lower center of effort com- backed up by, of all things, the mainsheet—via the
pared with a triangular sail of similar area. And
since you bring the gaff down at the same time, you
also lower the center of gravity appreciably.
A nifty design note relative to reefing: In fully
hoisted position the gaff, loaded by the sail and peak
halyard, thrusts diagonally down against the mast.
Aft lower shrouds take up this thrust, preventing

Figure 8-14. Lyle Hess’s Falmouth cutter, length on
deck 29 feet 9 inches. The reefed gaff position is also
shown.

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