How to rig a 12 foot Heron sailboat

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Biphasic

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I have just bought my wife a secondhand 12 foot Heron sailboat for her birthday.
We both are completly new to this and are looking forward to learning how to sail using this little boat as a platform into buying a bigger boat once we have some experience under our belt.
We are booked in for lessons but not till the end of January 2013 and we were hoping to go out on one of the nearby small lakes to play with it over our Christmas break, but we are struggling on how to set it up It seems to have a two peice wooden mast, with regards to the rigging there are ropes everywhere. it has two sails the main one and a smaller one.
I have got the first part of the mast set up on the boat and have got the boom on but that is as far as I have been able to get. I have spent a whole day today:confused trying to work it out but with no luck.
I would trully apreciate it if there was anyone out there that might be able to help me with some advise on how to set this lovely little thing up ready for a sail.:confused:
Kind Regards
Greg
 
Hi, I've owned a couple of herons in the past but it's quite difficult to describe how to go about rigging one (and I couldn't) without illustration. Have you tried contacting the class association:

http://www.heron-dinghy.org.uk/

There's still an active class association, they have a load of information available, some through the website and I found them very helpful in the past.

Also, if you've never sailed a dinghy before, I'd strongly advise you take somebody with a little experience with you the first time you go out. The heron is a safe, stable little dinghy, as dinghies go, but if you end up in the water, in the middle of winter (when many dinghy sailors are tucked up nice and warm, in front of the fire at home), you may struggle to convince even yourself that boating can be fun!
 
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If it's a two-piece mast, it is probably very similar to a Mirror dinghy.
Basically, the lower section of the mast is rigged in the boat, the top section is hauled up with the sail. It's known as a 'gunter' or 'gunther' rig.

The Mirror class association has some diagrams on its website, e.g.
http://www.ukmirrorsailing.com/imag...sic_rigging_guide_with_gunter_rig_diagram.pdf
There is other info on their website.
Welcome to the forum by the way, there are quite a few dinghy sailors of all sorts on here, but there are even more on the Yachts and Yachting forum.

There are also helpful people in CVDRA, the classic and vintage dinghy racing association.
Hope that helps?
Some things to put into Google anyway!
Where are you based?
 
lw395 said:
If it's a two-piece mast, it is probably very similar to a Mirror dinghy.
Basically, the lower section of the mast is rigged in the boat, the top section is hauled up with the sail. It's known as a 'gunter' or 'gunther' rig.

The Mirror class association has some diagrams on its website, e.g.
http://www.ukmirrorsailing.com/imag...sic_rigging_guide_with_gunter_rig_diagram.pdf
There is other info on their website.
Welcome to the forum by the way, there are quite a few dinghy sailors of all sorts on here, but there are even more on the Yachts and Yachting forum.

There are also helpful people in CVDRA, the classic and vintage dinghy racing association.
Hope that helps?
Some things to put into Google anyway!
Where are you based?
Click to expand...


Son & self found ours to be great for sailing, as far as Dungeness & back to Folkestone.
Ideal size for two to cope with - on the water or ashore
 
I learnt to sail on one - they aren't hard to rig, but I'd struggle to describe how. However, here goes!

  1. The bottom part of the mast stands on a small socket on the foredeck, and is held upright by three wires, on going to the bow of the boat and one to each side.
  2. The jib (the small traingular sail) is pulled up the wire from the bow to the top of the mast using a rope that runs through a pulley at the top of the mast. It has two ropes, from the back corner, one either side, to control it.
  3. The Main sail is attached to the gaff along the top and the boom along the bottom. The boom is attached to the mast near the bottom; the gaff slides up and down the mast and is fastened to it with a pair of jaws. You pull it up with another rope through a pulley at the top of the mast. There is a rope from the back end of the boom to control the sail.

However, if you've never sailed before, get someone who can sail to go out with you the first few times. It isn't as easy as it looks, and can be a bit counter-intuitive at first! Don't be put off by my sayting this; it's just that it's one of those things it is easier to show someone than to describe.
 
We've got a gunter-rigged Heron. As others have been said, lovely, forgiving, stable little boats. The top part of the mast should have some wooden jaws on it which fit round the lower bit of the mast. Across the "mouth" of the jaws there is probably a bit of string with some wooden beads on it, is that the case with yours? The insides of the jaws might be lined with leather or canvas. About half way along that "stick" there would be an eye, which you would attach the main halyard to. As has been said, the "top half" of the sail goes in the slot on the underside of this stick. You then hoist it on the main halyard and it pulls the stick almost vertical (in effect, doubling the height of the mast).

Could maybe take some photos if it's not tipping it down at the weekend if you're still stuck.
 
Fear not mon brave. I made this series of pics for a guy who bought my Heron. Each file name tells you what you are doing in the pic.

Click on the link. That opens a directory. Just click on each link in turn in the directory. (click on the "Back" button in your browser to return to the directory)
 
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Lakesailor said:
Fear not mon brave. I made this series of pics for a guy who bought my Heron. Each file name tells you what you are doing in the pic.

Click on the link. That opens a directory. Just click on each link in turn in the directory. (click on the "Back" button in your browser to return to the directory)
Click to expand...

Excellent pictures - they take me back about 50 years! Glad to say that I could still rig one.

Couple of questions:

Why the bottle-screw on the fore-stay? As I recall, the jib halliard tensions the mast , and when I were a lad, all the stays were simply shackled to pad-eyes with no adjustment. ISTR (my memory is vague!) that our jib had a wire luff; the stay is really only there to hold the mast up while you're rigging it.

The out-haul on the boom is another new thing; back in the day, there was just a shackle and a black mark on the boom.

Of course, I am remembering a very ancient Heron - the sail number was three digits - and I guess that even in a one-design like the Heron things would have moved on.

What I love about the Heron is that it is a proper boat that you sit IN, not ON!
 
Biphasic said:
I have just bought my wife a secondhand 12 foot Heron sailboat for her birthday.
We both are completly new to this and are looking forward to learning how to sail using this little boat as a platform into buying a bigger boat once we have some experience under our belt.
We are booked in for lessons but not till the end of January 2013 and we were hoping to go out on one of the nearby small lakes to play with it over our Christmas break, but we are struggling on how to set it up It seems to have a two peice wooden mast, with regards to the rigging there are ropes everywhere. it has two sails the main one and a smaller one.
I have got the first part of the mast set up on the boat and have got the boom on but that is as far as I have been able to get. I have spent a whole day today:confused trying to work it out but with no luck.
I would trully apreciate it if there was anyone out there that might be able to help me with some advise on how to set this lovely little thing up ready for a sail.:confused:
Kind Regards
Greg
Click to expand...

Tell us where you live & someone may well be able to drop by & show you. failing that, why didn't you ask the previous owner!!!! :rolleyes: :D

But, yes they are lovely boats & actually quite simple to sail. Get yourself a secondhand simple introductory manual, Ladybird Book of Sailing will do!

Some things to remember; put the main luff rope up the gaff groove & the foot in the boom groove before raising the gaff up to the top of the mast & tension by pulling the boom down. You will just be pushed sideways if you have not pushed the centreboard down when the wind is not astern.

The gaff is the one with two curved bits sticking out of the bottom - they fit around the mast.
The mast is the round one with a square "peg" at the bottom that fits in the boat & either a round rebate at the top or triangular added bits to support the standing rigging that loops over the top.
The boom is the square spar with a groove in the top & a square hole at the mast end (for the gooseneck swivel) and a swivel at the outboard end for the mainsheet block.

I always like to test rig a new dinghy in the garden before I go to sail it. That way I find out what's wrong without ruining my day out.

BTW, I don't think that the Heron is 12' - it is very similar to the Mirror at around 10-11'
 
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11' 3"

The rigging screw was simply there to make rigging easier. (As you can see the forestay that came with the boat was far too short without something. A bit of line would have done the trick) ......and because I had a rigging screw in my box of bits :D
 
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Aaaah. My first boat in the 1960's, Heron no.119.
Don't need a bottlescrew on the forestay...bit of string is fine...forestay only there to stop the mast falling down when the jib is not hoisted, that way the jib luff is kept as taut as poss when going to windward.
 
If the OP wishes to reply to his request with his location, then if he is near me in Epsom, Surrey, or near Langstone Harbour,I'd be happy to go through it with him.
We have Heron No 8119 a GRP one with gunter rig. Sails great, very safe with the inbuilt bouyancy and is good as a first boat, but can be developed into a nice fun racing boat (to get you started)
 
Lakesailor said:
I'm guessing that he will not be able to respond until the Mods have approved him as he only joined on the 8th and only has 1 post.
Click to expand...

his post was dated 8th Dec. That was Saturday ( morning) so it would not have been moderated until sometime Monday.

There's a good chance he gave up with these forums when his post failed to materialise and there were no responses when he last visited on Monday afternoon
 
VicS said:
his post was dated 8th Dec. That was Saturday ( morning) so it would not have been moderated until sometime Monday.

There's a good chance he gave up with these forums when his post failed to materialise and there were no responses when he last visited on Monday afternoon
Click to expand...

I hope not, he is exactly the sort of newbie we want - which is evidenced by so many positive responses.
 
Biphasic said:
...We both are completly new to this ... hoping to go out on one of the nearby small lakes to play with it over our Christmas break...
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Ignore me if I'm being patronising. You do know that, if things get a bit snarled up, you could end up in the water.
The water could be dangerously cold at Christmas (unless you're somewhere other than the UK).
Last thing I want is to discourage anyone from sailing - but thought I should say it just in case.

I managed to capsize a Heron a couple of weeks ago in fairly benign conditions - I lack agility and had not sailed dinghies for several decades, plus my crew had never sailed before. Brisbane river, pleasantly warm and no sharks - no problem.

If you are all equipped and ready for cold weather sailing, take the advice of the others and enjoy it.
 
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