The following is an excerpt from Tom Cunliffe’s forthcoming book The Complete Ocean Skipper, which will be published next year by A & C Black.
Take a dinghy tour around any anchorage and youâ™ll see that although the Bermudan sloop is now the default rig there are often other boats that break the mould. A junk-rigged schooner, perhaps, or a gaff cutter. Maybe even an unstayed carbon mast towering in aerodynamic splendour above the shining anodised forest. Who are these guys? Are they eccentrics playing out some fantasy? Are they hopeless romantics who refuse to let the past slip away, or are they innovative brains at work? The truth is, they could be any of these things.
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Bill Martin says:
As I am docked in Redondo Beach, California I am restricted for the most part to a varied chain
small islands that are more or less unprotected when there are storms. Sigh! I surprised my two kids with a school book that was about a young Native American woman who became a sole survivor and was moved to the main land probably to her chagrin. Max and Laira both had read the book in the fourth grade. Talk to you soon. I appreciate your help for we new-birds!
Bill_Martin1@icloud.com
Keith Brown says:
What design is the boat ARGO in this posting? It looks like a very handsome small gaff cutter, but I’m not familiar with the design/build. It is beautiful, though. By the way, I have two gaffers, I love them both.
Steve Twitty says:
My wife and I currently have a WIB Crealock design 36 footer. We’re selling it and one option is to buy a Colin Archer 43 gaff-rigged ketch. I’ve read all I can find on performance and though it may not be as fast as our Crealock, it does offer more room down below and good seaworthiness. From the excerpt article above, the loss of pointing higher than 45 to 50 degrees is a concern. Any knowledgeable opinions would be appreciated. We are located in Thailand and our plans are to sail the “great loop” from Phuket to Maldives to Chagos and then back to Phuket before trans-shipping to the Med and crossing to the Carribean. We are both in our mid-60’s, though physically active and fit.
Tom Cunliffe says:
Hi Steve
Exciting to hear about your plans, and I note your concerns about not pointing much above 45 or 50 degrees. I’ve one or two comments to flesh this out:
1 – On a long passage, do you really want to point higher than that? The higher you point, the less comfortable you will be – in any boat. Also, the wind will change sooner or later. On a run to the Azores from Antigua, for example, it’s far better to start out knocking along at 60 degrees (true) to the trade wind rather than trying to point your guts out. The wind will free as you come around e mid-Atlantic high, so why give yourself a hard time?
2 – In realty, few non-race boats point higher than 45 to the true wind in any sort of a seaway. 50 is often more realistic. You go faster and keep leeway to a minimum. Like many boats, gaffers will point higher than they will sail. My Westernman would point 40, but sailed at 45. At 50 she was flying. My current Mason 44 with a decent suit of sails will out-point the pilot cutters by 5 degrees or a bit more, but she’s well heeled over. The true Colin Archer will sit a lot more upright and give you a far more comfy ride, so that in the end, your passage times won’t be much less. I was always surprised at passage times on the 50ft pilot cutter I owned. She never seemed hurried, but she always got there quickly.
3 – Many gaffers sail badly because they have poor sails. Get a decent set cut by someone who understands the rig.
3 – A different thought. Do not be fooled by fake Colin Archers. There are some shockers out there. Colin Archer was a great designer and the real thing sails like a witch despite the beam and tonnage. It’s a minor miracle, but it happens every time. Some of the developed copies such as the designs of Atkin and Manuel Campos sail wonderfully too, but beware the ‘Colin Archer type’ of dubious ancestry which may prove slow and slack-winded.
Steve Stone says:
Wow, Tom. I enjoyed reading this. Sage advice. Thanks.
Steve Twitty says:
I very much appreciate the input and agree that on long passages sailing more off the wind is the way to go. We do a lot of sailing in Phang-Na Bay and down to Langkawi and this does require some high pointing when the Northeast Monsoons is not well-formed. The boat I am going to look at was built by the owner in the 80’s (http://www.yachtbroker-charters.com). I know nothing of his history or capabilities. She is currently in Phuket and prior to stepping on board, I am reading all I can on Colin Archer/Atkins designs as well as pros and cons of gaff rigs. I want to have sufficient knowledge so when I face the owner, I can ask the right questions. Again, I very much appreciate the input and love Off Center Harbor.
Peter Paradis says:
I had constructed a 26 foot gaff cutter and launched this past year…. love the look and get lots of positive comments from our marina ( Potomac , Chesapeake bay region ).. it has been a pleasure for my wife and i..
Bill Rutherford says:
Our 15′ Cat turns 32 this year, just a couple of years younger than my oldest daughter, so we have raised a family on it while sailing extensively on east coast, west coast and inland lakes. I agree with Cunliffe in his positive points and would add for small boats, short spars, unstated masts and people sized forces which encourage changes underway. We reef, unreef, scandalize and stowaway and this year we’re 70. And all spars fit atop the boat for cruising I-95. With minimal hardware, we build, rebuild and maintain all ourselves. Only problem is answering all the questions at the ramp…Fair Winds. Love Cunliffe’s books.
neal carter says:
I was involved with the reconstruction of the ELF, shes a 1888 gaff topsail cutter built by George Lawley. The only drawback to the design is the large crew required to really get her going…very labor-intensive…and look out for the 17ft bowsprit !
Leonard Sinowitz says:
My brother and I bought a Albert Strange cutter which was originally designed as a gaff rig but converted before our time into a Bermuda rig. We sailed it as such for about 6 years until we spent the next two years converting her back to Phantom,s (Design #137/1913 )original rig. ( got all the plans from Mystic Seaports ). It was remarkable how much more enjoyable and well she sailed in comparison to the Bermuda rig. We sailed her for the next 20 years and got great pleasure from this conversion. Albert Strange knew what he was doing .
Leonard Sinowitz