Full-Rigged Schooner
ON RIGS
"The present tendency of canvasing is to increase the number of sails on cruising yachts, and to decrease on racing craft. Experience teaches that in both cases we are doing the right thing. Ultimate speed is found in single sails; ease of handling, safety and mobility in divided sail."
ON RIGS
In discussing rigs suitable for cruising we may at once dismiss from consideration several that are in common use, but which are not adapted for service in our waters, or are distinctly inferior by reason of being difficult to handle with small and unskillful crews. We will, also, dismiss the true cutter rig from our considerations, as it has almost passed out of use, its place being taken by the modern type of single-sticker, which is part cutter and part sloop. This combination rig is not in its full sparring suitable for boats under forty feet, but when stripped of the topmast it is in some ways an excellent type.
We can also drop the cat, and what is called the cat-yawl, from our list. The four rigs to which I shall call your attention are the pole-mast sloop, yawl, ketch and schooner.
The pole-mast sloop, of which the knockabout is the commoner specimen, is an excellent rig for use on a cruiser. The difference between the sloop proper and the knockabout is in the method of spreading the canvas; in the sloop the canvas is spread fore-and-aft, a large percentage being forward of the mast; in the knockabout the much greater part of the spread is in the mainsail, and the hoist is higher. The tall, narrow-peaked mainsail of the latter is its characteristic feature. The jib is small and tacked down to the stem head.