[David R. Coller]

osteoderm (poor guy--he's all skin and bones)

I do indeed have a jackyard tops'l as you have described it (not the Cornish variety). Thank you for your advice--I'll be putting it to the test in the spring. I have "The Gaff Rig Handbook" on order.

The previous owner had no blocks mounted on her gaff nor any belaying point on the boom and if I understood correctly, simply tied the clew to the eye at the end of the gaff and raised the topsail with the main. Not surprisingly, he regarded it as a pain in the posterior. The first thing I noticed on setting it was how much better she performed to windward--the bane of the schooner rig. Consequently I'm trying to make setting and dousing easy enough to use it regularly.

True, a gaff schooner is not the simplest boat on the water, but they are arguably the most beautiful, and they do zip along on a reach....