I felt I had really arrived, owning a boat with both a mizzen and bowsprit (‘prodder’ to you, mate!).

Having put some nautical miles under the keel, and coming to the conclusion that a sail area spread in three portions has many plus’s; against minus’s… I was chatting to Bryan Collins at Crystal Palace and found we were in agreement on several points… you see, it’s one thing reading about dinghy cruising; another to do it.

Take roller reefing on the genny. The instant ability to reduce or get rid of completely, far outweighs the cost and slight extra trouble needed (Holts roller reefing gear for dinghies is excellent). Our sail stays on the roller rig for all the season, with just an additional tie when the boat is left to its own devices. Mind you, you can get one hiccup… the Book of Words states all you have to do is pull on the string (nylon) and the sail is furled. Not so… in certain conditions if you don’t keep tension on the genny sheet as you pull in, you will get a turn of nylon dropping over the open drum to the spindle below. Result — a beautiful jam-up, and not very easy to sort out on the water…

Going sternwards to the mainsail, we have one slab reef point; two would be better. We have reefed a number of times as the wind rose up the scale. When it gets too much we whip the main down, tie it to the boom, fit the boom to the crutch; then ‘swig’ both the kicker and centre mainsheet firmly. The reason the kicker is used is that it pulls the gooseneck tight against the mast and holds all good and firm. After this the skipper can knot up the mainsheet under tension and still hang on to it; it gives one hand something to do - just steering seems a bit unnatural. Exactly the same use is put to the kicker and centre mainsheet when the tent is erected; the boom pulled down tight on the crutch and the kicker holding it firm against the mast on the gooseneck.

With Gannet we find when the wind is really up that the genny at 69 ft² and mizzen at 15 ft² (84) is more than enough; it drives the boat well and is very comfortable for the crew.

The mizzen: it is our usual procedure, before reaching the mooring at Southend, to clew-up the sails, with the mizzen sheeted hard-in on the wind, genny rolled, mainsail lowered, lashed, tied. and covered. Then on with the outboard to motor through the congested moorings. I once experimented off-shore with plenty of sea room and let go the mizzen. The difference was quite something; we drifted and were uncomfortable, side-on to the waves.

The bowsprit has produced its own problems. On the Devon Day Boat the roller reefing is on the forestay which goes to the end of the bowsprit. The wire bobstay, which is covered by neoprene tube, attaches to a stainless eye on the boat’s forefoot. This rig, coupled with one shroud each side, holds up the mast. Now, when it comes to mooring or anchoring, one normally anchors with the warp through a fairlead and then cleated on the foredeck. But wait a minute… when the boat swings to the tide we find the warp sawing against the bobstay. Not good — remember — if the stay goes, so does the mast. So for a lunchtime stop it’s OK to anchor in the orthodox manner, but for overnight or mooring — NO — especially using chain.

I had a talk with a cruising friend who suggested the following method which I now use, adapted to our requirements:

Two fathoms of 5/16 chain, one end wound round the foredeck cleat, shackled and wired on (the mooring dries out). The chain is then taken down the forefoot, through the stainless eye at the bottom, then back up to the starboard side deck aft of the cuddy. It is then cleated to a large cleat which is through-bolted to the deck. On the end of the chain was originally fitted a large shackle; this for attaching to either the anchor rope or the mooring chain. There are also about 14’ of strong blue twist rope which is also attached to the captive chain, about 1’ down from the shackle; its use is to haul in the chain to attach or detach the same. This rope is also captive on deck to a bullseye forward of the cleat. All this we call ‘side anchoring’… and takes longer to explain than to do.

In practice it works well. The large shackle has been replaced with a stainless steel chain link which screws up; it was very difficult for the crew to handle both ends of chain to shackle-up; the pin was easily dropped and lost, and in rough conditions the boat sometimes has to be pulled sideways on to the waves, and leaves no room for error; this is when the skipper dives forward and lends, not one, but two hands — oh yes — we’ve had some hectic moments!

Once securely attached and let go, the boat is anchored to the lower forefoot, and the chain is nowhere near the bobstay. Eureka — we win! Our captive chain is a bit unsightly and rattles about a bit in a seaway, but the main thing is that the crew does not have to leave the safety of the cockpit. The sketch explains all.

At the latter end of the season I experimented with a mizzen staysail, in my case an old jib off a Javelin dinghy. Having offered it up to the boat I cut 18” off the foot, fitted a block to the top of the mizzen mast and a cleat to the bottom for a halyard for same. My crew machined nylon loops onto each of the lower corners in place of eyelets. Light nylon sheets were fitted and were fastened to any readily available point to shape the sail for off-wind sailing. I used the shackle on the centreplate up by the cuddy, and a spinny jamb-cleat on the deck, well aft. As I was just experimenting I did not want to start drilling holes all over the place in a glass boat. In action the extra push obtained was quite something. Ripstop nylon would be ideal to make a full light sail. Anyway it creates a bit of fun for the skipper, uses an old sail, is simpler than a spinny and keeps the sail plan low. We get some funny looks from the Bermudian boys as we steam along.

On the boat I now have two cleats on the foredeck, one on either side of the bowsprit. This is so as to have one free for normal use. There is no reason why this system should not be used on a boat without a sprit. With the anchor readily available, these are our brakes when needed.

This season I am fitting an inner forestay (belt and braces). This might allow me to fit a bobstay like those used on the Crabbers and Broads boats, which have a tackle fitted to leave the bobstay loose, or to tighten, and hence no real rubbing problems. Complicates matters though. We shall see… Good Sailing!