Spray - Sail Arrangements

[seapainting]

I am starting a painting of Joshua Slocum's Spray off the coast of Australia. Allowing for moderate wind(say 20 knt) conditions I am showing the Spray with a single reef in both the jib and the mainsail. Can anyone give suggestions for the mizzen sail in these conditions. Would it be normal to sail with the full mizzen as I don't believe it could be reefed based on the photos I have seen of the Spray. Alternatively would the mizzen be taken down once the other sails were reefed

 

[peterk]

hi painter,

What point of sail is your ' Spray' on?

Slocum cut down the mainsal
and shortened the mainboom for handiness and
because of weather helm
He installed his trademark lug mizzen to get easily reducable sail area.

I think that
in the 20 knots you are talking about
he would NOT have used the mizzen
when off the wind - but then again he might have - he like pushing the 'Spray'.

...peter, www.juprowa.com/kittel

Joshua Slocum Society International

 

[Guest]

Post deleted by danfoley

 

[peterk]

brian, point taken, but...

hi brian -
it DOES depend on the point of sail.
I owned a ketch myself
and
of the boats I delivered quite a
few(12 or 13) were ketches - in the 70s and 80s the preferred
long distance cruising rig.

You are of course right about the handiness
of just dropping the main,
but NOT on anything abaft of a beamreach,
then I drop the mizzen
(to keep the boat from fishtailing
BEFORE I reef the main,
or drop it altogether.

The 'Spray' was
basically a yawl
- with the mizzen small and stepped as far aft as possible
- namely right on the transom
though some might
want to call her a ketch..

...peter, www.juprowa.com/kittel

 

[seapainting]

Thanks for your input fatipa and peterk. The painting will depict Spray leaving Melbourne in what Slocum describes as "rough conditions" on a tight reach. In other sections of his book he refers to firstly reefing the main and then as conditions deteriorate eventually going to a reefed main and staysail combination but with little reference to the lug mizzen. I did have an H 28 ketch at one stage and tended to always leave the mizzen up even if it was a mizzen/staysail combination so I suspect I will be safe to show Spray with a combination of a single reef in jib and mainsail and mizzen fully up.

 

[Mirelle]

I am pretty sure that the mizzen would have been stowed. At that time, to have a sloop or cutter with a boom that did NOT overhang the stern rail was considered odd - for this reason alone Claud Worth made Tern IV into a yawl! I suspect that Slocum was influenced by the same sort of considerations.

With the wind free, the little lug mizzen would tend to make her round up, I fancy, espescially with a headsail reefed.