Yawl Rigs
Yawl Rigs
The unqualified praise which has been lavished on the yawl rig has, as is usual, awakened a no less unqualified storm of dispraise. While the yawlman has, with that noble effrontery which distinguishes the true crank, claimed for his favorite rig everything in sight, the recalcitrant unbeliever has as broadly denied it, even those common virtues which one supposed to be possessed by even the meanest and most primitive craft.
I have no hesitancy in saying that so far as the driving value of the mizzen is concerned it is an unimportant quantity. This is especially so when on the wind. On most of the yawls I have handled there has been good cause for this. In the first place, the boomkins were too short, and the other spars too light. You cannot expect a sail to sit properly and hold its draught on buckling spars. The lead of the sheet is such that the boom cannot be kept rigid, and just as soon as it blows its end turns up like a pugdog's tail, throwing the canvas all out of shape. Then the back-wind from the mainsail makes it impossible to keep the mizzen full unless it is sheeted very flat. On yawls with gaff-headed mizzens the mast is frequently too short; consequently the head of the sail cannot be kept in place. With jib-headed mizzens the same spar is too light; in consequence when the sheet is brought down hard the mast buckles aft, throwing the head of the sail into a bag. How frequently you see a yawl on the wind with her mizzen all a-shiver. If you make the boomkin longer, the boom stouter, and give the mast a good head, you will get a better sitting and more efficient sail.
Yawl Rigs
Now let us, in order to test the qualities of short-rigged sloop and yawl, place them in such situations as they are liable to get into when cruising. First they are caught in a heavy, sudden blow with a lee shore close aboard. It is necessary to shorten sail at once. The yawl simply lowers her mainsail and, holding way under mizzen and jib, forereaches along, while the crew, having secured the boom, proceed to tie in the reefs. The sloop is in such a situation that she cannot run off; she must either anchor, lower everything and drift, or else jolly along with head sheets flowed and the peak of the mainsail up. Having a part of the mainsail drawing increases the difficulty of reefing, and if there is any sea the lowering of the sail will cause her to roll, making it bad work securing the clew. The yawl's clew is inboard, where it can be readily handled, and owing to her jib and mizzen sheets being aft she is comparatively steady.