Extreme mast rake in old schooner designs...

[billknny]

At the sailing school I teach at a group of instructors were discussing traditional boats when this particular old American schooner design came up: http://www.privateerlynx.org/

There were many and widely vaied opinions about why boats of this vintage has such extreme mast rake, but no consensus, and no answers that gave me a warm and fuzzy feeling of "rightness".

Can the traditionalists here help with the answer? They certainly look cool, but there must have been a more technical answer, mustn't there?

Thanks!

Bill

[Brian Duff]

Well, that ship 'Lynx' doesn't have particularly steeply raked masts, but anyway.

Most of the reasons quoted for steep mast rake have merit, and all have stemmed from some particular need. You hear ones like : to increase luff length for upwind sailing (perhaps at some time it was really thought this would help) ; to make loading of cargo onto deck easier with halyards (ok, maybe on some boats, but not really...) ;to make gybing easier on the boat and rig (boom has to lift its own weight as it crashes across the center line onto the new lee side) ; and many more...

Locally, the reason given is that a steeply raked mast can be held in place with less shrouds, as runners or back-stays are not needed because of the broad angle the 'cap' shrouds make with the mast, and the fact the mast can't go forward without lifting higher, which it cant because of the shrouds.

Now we achieve a similar end result with steeply swept spreaders, which allow the mast to stand straight (which is actually proven better for all points of sailing) without aft lead shrouds such as runners or back-stays.

thats my 2 cents...

I sure miss the puzzlers Brion.....

[billknny]

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"

[Brian Duff]

I'd say that all boats weren't rigged this way because there are so many disadvantages, and runners really aren't that bad either.

Some negatives of aft raked spars are - The boom swings to centerline in light conditions, destroying sail drive; masts so steeply raked tend to develop a bow forward as the middle of the mast falls down (aft) with gravity(no joke, look around!); masts raked so far aft harm windward performance and lessens overall sail area for a given mast legnth; masts raked so far aft are a pain to climb and work on, and step; masts raked so far aft are no so pretty to some ; i am sure there are more.

You want to see really steeply raked masts check out our Pride of Balitmore II.


thats now 4 cents....

[Brion Toss]

Isn't it amazing how old technology, or at least its underpinnings, can fade away? There are at least two major, and several more minor, reasons for heavily-raked masts, and I hereby am restarting the Puzzler with an invitation to send possible reasons to puzzler@briontoss.com. And I will start things out with a hint: square-rig.
I'll accept any remotely valid suggestion, and will probably give a nod to any sufficiently absurd ones. Drawing will be September 1. Please avoid posting further responses here.
Fair leads,
Brion Toss

[billknny]

How cool to ask the question that kick-started the puzzler!

I am really looking forward to seeing the answers.

Bill