A spritsail can be brailed up along the mast in a moment by means of a line leading through a block on the mast and passing round the sail. A glance at any Thames sailing barge at anchor will show how this is done.
An old ship’s long-boat provided with a sprit mainsail, sprit mizzen, and jib, as in ([Fig. 26], is a very convenient sort craft in which to take one’s first lessons in sailing. When it blows hard the mainsail can be stowed, and the boat will sail under jib and mizzen, or these last two sails can be taken in and the mainsail alone be left standing.
The mizzen sheet, it will be observed, is rove through a sheave-hole at the end of a bumpkin, a small fixed spar projecting from the stern of the boat.
The Dipping Lug is a powerful sail very well adapted for sea work, and a favourite with fishermen and other professional sailors, but it cannot be recommended to the amateur; for at every tack the sail has to be lowered and passed round to the other side of the mast. This necessitates plenty of sea room, and would be an awkward operation to undertake while turning up a narrow and crowded channel. To handle a dipping lug with safety in a stiff breeze requires considerable experience both on the part of the steersman and of the hand or hands to whom the dipping of the sail is entrusted.
Any one who wishes to rig a boat in this fashion should read W. H. S.’s description, in the Yacht Racing Calendar and Review for this year, of a very useful invention of his, whereby the dipping of a lug is made easy and the possibility of bungling in tacking reduced to a minimum.
The Standing Lug, though not so powerful a sail as the dipping lug, is far more convenient; as the sail has not to be lowered in tacking. The tack, instead of being carried forward, is brought down to the mast, where it is hooked on to an iron hook if the sail be a small one, and if the sail be a large one it is fitted with a tackle, so that the tack can be bowsed down after the sail is hoisted. The yard is swung at about one-third of its length, where it has a strop to pass over the hook on the traveller—an iron ring on the mast to which the end of the halyard is attached, and which prevents the sail blowing away from the mast.
Fig. 27.
In order to ensure a lug sail that will stand well, the peak should be cut high, as in the drawing. It is a common fault to cut the head of a lug sail too square. Such a sail can never be made to set flatly. A short beamy dinghy with one lug is a handy little craft for the amateur; but if the boat is a long one she will be better with a jib and mizzen, as in ([Fig. 27].