Ketch rig tuning

[pugwash]

In my short experience as owner of a 31-ft Holman ketch I think these are the benefits of ketch rig:
(1) Looks lovely (IMHO of course).
(2) Provides more convenient hand-holds around the cockpit.
(3) Puts a crick in your neck when steering under power.
(4) Is hopeless on or off the wind but excellent when the wind is around the beam.
(5) Comes into its own when the wind racks up and you drop the main: jenny and mizzen give you a low, easily balanced rig.

I must say I am surprised that the benefits of the mizzen are so limited. You have to trim it quite free or it induces great weather helm. I'm wondering if I'm missing something.

There was a helpful thread recently about reefing a ketch, but I'd really appreciate advice on how to get the best out of it in ordinary conditions. In short, how do you trim and fine-tune the mizzen of a ketch? I'd appreciate some good advice.


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[snowleopard]

a cynic once said that no-one buys a second ketch! certainly when i sailed across the atlantic in one the mizzen got very little use and the much-vaunted mizzen staysail stayed firmly in its bag.

the big problem with a ketch is the backwinding so the mizzen needs to be flattened as much as you can, using the halliard, outhaul and kicker, then sheet a little off the centre line. if you try to pull it into the centre line you'll just develop lots of weather helm and go slower than if you just furled it! flattening the main and sheeting off the centre line will also reduce backwinding.

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[LadyInBed]

(6) Another pole to hang things from (wink)

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[jamesjermain]

I was sailing a Thames barge a few years ago and having 'beat' a few miles offshore we turned for home. I asked the skipper if I should ease the jib sheet. 'Ease the sheet?' He bawled. 'Buggered if I've adjusted that in 30 year.'

Much the same applies to a ketch. If you need to trim it you should be dropping it. Set it up for a reach. If it back-winds drop it because it is causing more drag than drive and if you sheet it in it'll only cause weather helm. If it starts flopping around drop it because the wind is too far aft and it's blanking the main.

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[Cornishman]

All of which adds weight to the old popular conception that YAWL is best. I once examined in a yawl of about 65 feet LOA and got the skipper to steer her with the rudder lashed midships. Dead easy, the mizzen acted like an aeroplane's rudder. Try sailing a Salcombe Yawl sometime, too.

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[pugwash]

I was planning to try this with my ketch this weekend. I suppose it will be more difficult given that the mizzen is forward of the rudder. But the reason you'd do it in earnest is because the rudder has fallen off. When rudderless, should a ketch behave much the same as the yawl you speak of?

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