by Antony Sluce

- and high performance dinghies

I have recently sold my Express Pirate trailer sailer and replaced it with a 12 foot Highlander dinghy. I rigged this with a junk rig consisting of a fully battened lugsail of low aspect ratio as I was worried that I would not be able to handle a modern rig on a small boat. I am in my sixties and have cruised keel boats for the last twenty years - a bit of a change.

The junk rig has proved practical in a wide range of wind speeds but I have had to learn a new sailing technique. The windward performance has gone from a depressing slide sideways to actually sailing to windward. The biggest improvement came when I realised the mainsail needed to be loose footed. However having now sailed a range of modern rigs on hulls from 12 to 16 foot I really wonder if I was right to go for a junk rig.

This summer I had a Sunsail Beach Club based holiday for the first time. A number of members have done this sort of holiday I believe - but I found it very instructive and would like to share my thoughts with others. Sunsail provide a selection from the range of Topper boats e.g. Topaz, Buzz, Spice and Sport 16, as well as the classic Laser, Optimist and Dart 16 catamarans. I sailed all these over the fortnight in wind strengths up to force 6 on a gulf which was open to the south but had a three mile fetch to the north. On the days of little wind I also had a go at windsurfing. In about three sessions I could get a feel for what it was like and will try again.

The Topaz has a very simple rig. A sail sleeved onto a mast which is reefed by rotating the mast and re-attaching the boom. When reefed the sail still sets well. Like the Cruz reefing requires you to unclip the boom and kicking strap whilst you rotate the mast. Under way this could be a problem but I suppose you could use jaws at the boom end and have the kicking strap attached to a fixed point at the mast step rather than to the mast. But it was such a simple system to rig compared with my junk rig and so efficient to windward. The hull was not suitable for cruising as there was almost always some water in the hull.

The Buzz and the Spice are two handed boats with trapezes and large asymmetric spinnakers. The trapeze is a real joy. The feeling of standing outside the boat suspended in space was, I thought, as close as you could get to flying without actually flying. My daughter decided that being on the trapeze was her favourite sailing activity as once you were out you had no responsibilities except to come in if the wind dropped or a change of course was needed. But wearing the harness was not all that comfortable especially if it was for the sort of periods you would experience when cruising. Their hulls were not stable enough for cruising.

The asymmetrics came into their own when the wind was strong enough to get the boat planing on a broad reach faster then when running down wind. Len Wingfield mentions a 17 sq m. asymmetric for the Wayfarer being suggested in one of the books he reviewed. The asymmetrics on the Spice is 22 sq m. and needed the trapeze to get it set in any breeze before you were able bear away on the plane to a broad reach on the apparent wind. Really with a loaded cruising dinghy a spinnaker would be much more useful in my opinion. For example this summer on a passage along the Brittany coast in a Nicholson 31 the course was a dead run and the cruising chute (the equivalent of an asymmetric but set at the stem head not on a bowsprit) would only set on a broad reach. The gain in speed was not sufficient to justify tacking down wind. We found we could carry the cruising chute on the correct gybe with the main on the other gybe (held by a preventer) slightly by the lee and this improved our speed. But a smaller boat on the same course with a spinnaker was going marginally faster than us. So at hull speeds the spinnaker was more useful and if well cut could also be carried onto quite a close reach. The sailmakers recommend easing the tack downhaul to get the asymmetric to set down wind but we found if we did this it allowed the most awful foul ups with the chute around the forestay. Once again a bowsprit would probably eliminate this problem.

The Sport 16 is the same hull and centreplate as the Cruz dinghy but with a conventional rig with an asymmetric. I thought this could make an ideal boat for cruising. Sunsail had not had the side benches fitted which meant the boat was uncomfortable to sit in light airs. Also lockers would have to be added in some way. The centre mainsheet came to a tubular steel tower which was handy to hang onto and kept the mainsheet out of the way. I suppose it is really a modern version of the Wayfarer. It sailed very well in a range of conditions from full sail to two reefs in the mainsail and a small jib. The hull was well balanced and by accident I found myself sailing it without a rudder on two occasions. The centreplate proved a very effective rudder.

Interestingly in September in Greece I found I could get chilled on the water after an hour of being wet with spray in strong winds. I had not bothered to take my oilskins with me. But you needed them even at warm temperatures if there was any wind. Also I thought I ought to do some capsize drills as I hadn't capsized for 40 years. In the Topaz the centre plate was so close to the water when on its side that you had to pull your chest up onto it to get enough weight to right the boat. Then having righted it I could only pull myself in over the transom which was open. Despite the warm conditions I was left quite winded after two controlled capsizes and never tried a total inversion. I resolved not to capsize again and over the fortnight succeeded despite getting caught the wrong side of the sail still attached to the harness having forgotten to release myself A measure of how confident I had become.

Although it was great fun flying around in the high performance boats it does not really fit into my real enjoyment of sailing which is getting from A to B in a safe manner using the wind. Sunsail restrict the area you can sail in to that covered by their safety boats so that I was always frustrated by not being able to get to the next bay. They did have some retired flotilla cruising yachts in which you could cruise to the nearby towns. We did this on three days but as I had already spent three weeks cruising on the Brittany coast in a very well equipped boat the clapped out Beneteaus were a little annoying. We were a party of 3 children under five and eight adults and a good time was had by all.

So why do I continue with an outdated rig with significantly reduced windward performance. The following thoughts go through my mind:

I like the appearance of traditional sails. The triangle of the bermudan sail is boring. However the modern sails used on windsurfers and catamarans I find much more pleasing and my sail is really just a squashed version of a windsurfer sail.

The gear I have is all easily made at home and low cost. Most of the boats at Sunsail had some sort of gear failure and needed specialist bits to get sailing again.

I am worried about the strength of single pole masts. Every dinghy club has a stack of bent Laser masts as far as I can see. The weight of cruising dinghies would put an extra strain on the mast even if the boat was not sailed so hard as a boat used for racing.

Sailing mainly on lakes I don't want to sail too fast as you just get to the other end sooner. I am quite happy with a slower boat. Passage making is different and the more powerful modern boats must give you peace of mind knowing that you can beat out of trouble if necessary.

As a result of my summer I have returned to my Highlander with renewed pleasure. I really enjoyed trying the high performance dinghies in a nostalgic way remembering my youth in the International Fourteens. I am now determined to get the sleeping accommodation sorted. I also need to get a foredeck fitted without adding too much weight.