Thread: Freestanding masts

Howdy,

Found my self on LinkedIn writing about freestanding masts. As only contacts can read it there I thought I would put it here for more general consumption.

It started with Wojtec Wacowski

I have sailed several weeks on the Spirit of Bermuda and I have become a great fan of free standing carbon masts - many operational benefits - but a high initial cost. Simon Coley - member of this group and Captain of the Spirit might be the best source for more info. It would probably be beneficial if you would precise better what you want to know and why?

There were other replies talking about sailing boats with freestanding rigs and that it was fine with few problems.

There was also the suggestion that it might be a bit boring sailing a boat without a jib or spinnaker.

I went to add this

I have designed smaller boats with free standing masts and consulted on some larger boats as well.

Freestanding masts will always be heavier than the best stayed rig, so you have to keep an eye on the weight.

Usually it doesn't make sense to carry headsails on free standing masts because they will just bend forward and you will have no forestay tension.

So this makes it normal to move the mast forward - this can result in the mast having a large effect on pitching with a significant loss of performance. Every kilo you can pull out of the mast will help performance as the water gets rougher.

The other aspect is that I've done a lot of quotes for sails, spars and deck gear for different rigs. For similar sized boats a "medium tech" freestanding spar/s, sail/s and deck gear can save a huge amount of money compared to a medium tech conventional rig.

A freestanding rig on an appropriate hull can also often be more than competitive with spinnakered boats, with a fraction of the hassle, so long as you know the right way to goosewing the sails.

The right way is to let the mizzen flip the way it wants and carry the main "by the lee". This way all sail is exposed to fresh wind rather than a conventional rig where half the spinnaker is behind the mainsail or in its disturbed air.

As far as the feel when racing ... you can have much less crew and sail the boat completely to its potential. Helmsperson with mizzen sheet trimming for helm balance, crew sheeting main just like a genoa, but with a fraction of the effort. On a reach you can adjust for every wave and every gust, sailing low and high in lulls and gusts - after a sailing with a good freestanding rig on a good hull and go right past conventionally rigged boats because the high sheeting loads hamper their ability to adjust continuously to conditions. It is like sailing a big Laser.

Then something interesting came out from Olaf Vons

I like your comment and the advantages carrying the main "by the lee". We Dutchmen call it "MilkMaid's" trim. Under the main and genua we carry "watersails" who close the gab between the beam and the water. The flying jib is brought backwards and also by the lee. The wind catched by the genua is directed in the flying jib.
On a reach we are faster than the modern keelyachts.
(we are 16m, 35tons Bft4, avg ca 9,5kn.)

All the best and have fun
Olaf

"Milkmaid's trim"

Interesting to know that sailing the main by the lee with the mizzen in normal trim has a formal name in Dutch sailing parlance. Cool name too. I do wonder why that name though!

MIK