This is a very basic question. I started sailing in June, with a mail-order Sailboats-to-go modular sailrig on my kayak and canoe, like so:
Here the mainsheet runs through a pulley in the middle of the boom, and I sail it with one end tied to the crossbar that supports the outriggers and leeboards, and the other end in my hand, giving a 2 to 1 mechanical advantage. This works fine so far. Jim Luckett of STG says "cleating the sheet greatly increases your risk of capsizing", so I am always holding the sheet in my hand, and always ready to de-power the sail by letting it out.
Recently I acquired a Minifish, partly because somebody on this site said that centerboard boats point better than leeboard boats. I've had it in the water for a paddle test, but haven't sailed it yet. I plan to sail it first with the 45 sq foot STG/Snark sail I am used to, rather than the 65 sq foot Minifish sail, so I test-rigged it that way, using an old Sunfish gooseneck that I bought on E-Bay and adapted to fit the STG boom. (I also added a halyard pulley at the top of the Minifish mast, and another one attached to the deck cleat, to make it easier to raise and lower the sail while on the water, as I do on my other boats. This is more of me being a cautious beginner: if things get hairy, I want to always be able to just drop the sail and comfortably paddle home. That's also why my custom 10-foot kayak paddle is always part of the rig.) It looks like this:
Here I rigged the mainsheet the same way, through the center pulley on the boom and with one end tied to the crossbar that I mounted in front of the cockpit (to hold the same STG outriggers), and I expect to sail it in the same way I do the canoe and kayak, except for having a tiller instead of steering oars.
However, the Minifish and Sunfish sails seem designed for a different rigging, where one end of the mainsheet is clipped to a yoke or traveller at the stern, then runs through two pulleys along the boom, and I guess you again hold the free end in your hand. (This is just me looking at the gear, trying to guess how it's supposed to work.) My question is, what if any advantage does that have over what is shown here? Obviously if I hung the larger Minifish sail in place of this STG sail I could rig it this same way, just using the pulley in the middle of the Minifish boom and ignoring the pulley at the end of the boom and the traveller at the stern. Would I be losing anything?
More broadly, why is the Sunfish rigged that way, not this way? Why not just have a second horn cleat at the front of the cockpit, to tie the sheet to, the way I tie it to my crossbar here (which I will eventually mount some cleats on, as I have on my other boats; I just haven't gotten around to that yet). The mechanical advantage seems to be 2 to 1 with either rig. As far as I can see the traveller at the back just increases the risk of capsizing by constraining the free motion of the sail around the mast, for example by an unexpected jibe, making it harder to de-power the sail just by letting go of the sheet. Am I wrong? And if I'm not wrong, what do you gain in exchange for this greater risk?
Here the mainsheet runs through a pulley in the middle of the boom, and I sail it with one end tied to the crossbar that supports the outriggers and leeboards, and the other end in my hand, giving a 2 to 1 mechanical advantage. This works fine so far. Jim Luckett of STG says "cleating the sheet greatly increases your risk of capsizing", so I am always holding the sheet in my hand, and always ready to de-power the sail by letting it out.
Recently I acquired a Minifish, partly because somebody on this site said that centerboard boats point better than leeboard boats. I've had it in the water for a paddle test, but haven't sailed it yet. I plan to sail it first with the 45 sq foot STG/Snark sail I am used to, rather than the 65 sq foot Minifish sail, so I test-rigged it that way, using an old Sunfish gooseneck that I bought on E-Bay and adapted to fit the STG boom. (I also added a halyard pulley at the top of the Minifish mast, and another one attached to the deck cleat, to make it easier to raise and lower the sail while on the water, as I do on my other boats. This is more of me being a cautious beginner: if things get hairy, I want to always be able to just drop the sail and comfortably paddle home. That's also why my custom 10-foot kayak paddle is always part of the rig.) It looks like this:
Here I rigged the mainsheet the same way, through the center pulley on the boom and with one end tied to the crossbar that I mounted in front of the cockpit (to hold the same STG outriggers), and I expect to sail it in the same way I do the canoe and kayak, except for having a tiller instead of steering oars.
However, the Minifish and Sunfish sails seem designed for a different rigging, where one end of the mainsheet is clipped to a yoke or traveller at the stern, then runs through two pulleys along the boom, and I guess you again hold the free end in your hand. (This is just me looking at the gear, trying to guess how it's supposed to work.) My question is, what if any advantage does that have over what is shown here? Obviously if I hung the larger Minifish sail in place of this STG sail I could rig it this same way, just using the pulley in the middle of the Minifish boom and ignoring the pulley at the end of the boom and the traveller at the stern. Would I be losing anything?
More broadly, why is the Sunfish rigged that way, not this way? Why not just have a second horn cleat at the front of the cockpit, to tie the sheet to, the way I tie it to my crossbar here (which I will eventually mount some cleats on, as I have on my other boats; I just haven't gotten around to that yet). The mechanical advantage seems to be 2 to 1 with either rig. As far as I can see the traveller at the back just increases the risk of capsizing by constraining the free motion of the sail around the mast, for example by an unexpected jibe, making it harder to de-power the sail just by letting go of the sheet. Am I wrong? And if I'm not wrong, what do you gain in exchange for this greater risk?