Brian,
Certainly
Lynx is just an example of a type. The
America of America's Cup fame would be another classic example.
All of those are answers we discussed, but none of them were found to be especially satisfying.
The long luff length doesn't cut it, because there really isn't a very much longer luff! Especially since these ships were gaffers and many carried topsails which gave much greater extensions of luff length.
Since many of these early American schooners were not cargo ships the cargo loading explaination doesn't apply..
The staying seems like a "real" answer, after all a gaff rig really doesn't let you carry a modern style backstay, although it's not really needed as such. If this is true, I guess then the next question would be why aren't all gaff rigged boats raked so much?
Maybe the answer is it just looked "cool"
