Best Way to Rig a Main Topsail

[David R. Coller]

I'm looking for the best (read "easiest, most convenient") way to rig the main topsail on my 36 foot LOD Nova Scotia built schooner. This topsail goes up on a vertical yard that extends above the mainmast--sort of like a free-floating topmast. The halyard and tack downhaul work fine, but I am wondering what to do with the clew.

At the moment I have a block on a shackle at the distal end of the main gaff through which I am running the clew outhaul and tying it off to the boom, which allows me to get the sail up without dropping the main, but the line down to the boom chafes on the main unless I re-rig the outhaul on the windward side (not practical when tacking, obviously) or tie it off near the end of the boom, leaning out over open water to do so (ACK!). Also, it makes it harder to peak up the gaff.

I was thinking of putting a turning block at the end of the gaff and running it to another at the throat and then down the mast, but I'm afraid this might put undue stress on the gaff.

Anyway, I'm open to suggestions. I've been squinting at schooner pictures all over the internet to no avail....

Thanks,

[osteoderm]

David,

It sounds like you have a jackyard tops'l, the main benefit of which is that there is no standing topmast when the tops'l is struck. With a short masthead and long(ish) yard, the other variant is a Cornish Yard tops'l, in which case the entire length of the tops'l luff sets above the gaff, and is lashed to the yard; the tackline is then properly called a "trimminoggy" and and runs from the heel of the yard, through a fairlead on top of the gaff jaws, and then to deck level. i'm guessing that you have the other (more usual) sort of jackyard tops'l, however, with the luff extending below the gaff a little ways, and lashed to the yard only over its upper reaches.
The common and traditional way to rig the tops'l sheet (or clew outhaul, as you describe it) is as you've assumed; from the clew to a turning block at the after end of the gaff, then forward and down to a turning block on the lower side of the gaff jaws, continuing down to deck level to be belayed. Traditionally, the belay point is on the main boom, near the gooseneck/yaws, and the turning block at the gaff jaws is hung from a short pendant. With the belay point on the boom, sheet tension ought to remain constant from one tack to the other (as opposed to being belayed to a pin on deck, where the lead would change).
The reason for the short pendant up at the gaff jaws eludes me, however that's almost always the way i've seen it done, and continues to be the way i rig my own tops'l; i'm assuming that there's some good reason involved! Perhaps it's to help prevent a flogging sheet from getting caught on the jaws, or just get the block a little further aft of the mast for a cleaner lead downwards.
Running the sheet this way is probably easier on the gaff than running it from the gaff end to deck; the loads are close to straight compression on the gaff. In fact, it's unusual to have the sheet run as you have it now rigged. The only reason to run the tops'l sheet straight down from the gaff end is to use the sheet as a gaff vang to prevent the gaff from sagging to leeward. In which case, as you've noted, the sheet must be run down on the windward side of the mainsail. With the block at the gaff jaws, you lose this ability with the tops'l set.
A caution: i've played around with gaff tops'ls a fair bit, on boats of various sizes, and i've learned that on traditional boats, "easy" and "simple" are definately not synonymous. A gaff schooner certianly doesn't come all that close to "easiest, most convenient"!
As far as further reading/reference goes, i strongly reccomend John Leather's "Gaff Rig Handbook".

[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....

[Brion Toss]

Hello,
So nice to have a truly salty thread here. As you will no doubt discover, through Mr. Leather and others (you might also want to get a copy of "Hand, Reef, and Steer", by Tom Cunliffe), gaff tops'ls have a lot of fine points to them. You'll see, for instance, that there are a variety of ways to set the tack: to weather of the peak halyard; to leeward of the peak halyard; or either way, but also threaded to leeward or to weather of the gaff; and tacked or not.
You might also end up with a sheave built into the end of the gaff for the sheet, or install deck gear for a perfect tack lead, or install a jackstay for the luff, etc. The idea is to make this wonderful sail more efficient, as well as easier to use. Wheel-reinvention is the single most significant it's-harder-than-it-needs-to-be factor, so research as much as you can.
As for that throat pendant, it gets the line fairer from the gaff end, without chafing in the head lashing, and keeps the lead away from the luff lacing or hoops, among other things.
Fair leads,
Brion Toss

[Ian McColgin]

Is "trimminoggy" related to the term "timinongy" (spelling suspect) which is the term for any line rigged across something to keep other lines from foulings? The most common example of that, though modern sailors don't often know the name, is when you rig a timinongy from the mast, perhaps about gooseneck height, down to somewhere on the foredeck to keep the jib sheets from fouling a hatch cover or bow cleat or whatever.

I always fancied the word was the nautical precursor of the land word "thingamjig."

G'luck

Ian

[osteoderm]

Of all the various suggestions/possible improvements, the jackline seems the most interesting. To keep down the number of jack-things, i've always called tops'l jacklines "leaders". The leader is a line fixed aloft to a point on the masthead/topmast (depending on tops'l configuration), running down the aft side of the mast, or sometimes on the quarter, and belayed on deck. A siezed-on fairlead or hank on the tops'l luff is let onto the leader, which when hauled taut at deck level, helps set up the luff closer to the masthead/topmast.
This is usually a development for free-luffed tops'ls. With a jackyard tops'l like yours, it wouldn't help much with the set of the sail, but might help with raising/lowering. Pressure from both the wind and the tops'l sheet will tend to move the top of the jackyard aft and to leeward, which in turn pushes the heel of the yard forward and to weather, effectively keeping the luff in check. The tackline keeps things in control.
Raising a jackyard tops'l, however, is more of a hassle, as the jackyard wants to fall over; to control this, you typically have to keep the tackline tensioned, easing it out as the halyard is brought in. With a leader installed, and run through a fairlead at the heel of the jackyard, you now have hands-free way to keep the heel (and thus, the long top of the jackyard) from reeling about too drunkenly as it lays aloft.
The traditional set for a tops'l is to weather of the gaff peak halyard falls, supposedly to add support to the body of the sail. Still, it's pretty obvious to most that setting to leeward makes for a superior sail shape. With a leader rigged, you could only raise or lower the sail on one side, however, once rasied you could "horse" the tack over the peak halyard falls with another tackline... Or set up two leaders on opposite quarters, and set the sail on the side that favours the longest tack of the course to be sailed... how many lines aloft do you need?
For the sake of performance and simplicity, some non-traditional jackyards are worth considering. In lieu of wood, how about aluminium or 'glass tubing? A beautiful wooden jackyard could be made of teardrop section, with an aft-facing groove to accept a boltroped tops'l luff, instead of the more common lacing.