which rig? Bermudan or gunter?

[prv]

the trad rig will look better on the DVD covers - or will it?

I think so.

More flexible for your various rig shenanigans.

Go for it.

Pete

[lotusman]

For serious coastal sailing thought needs to be given to reefing a gunter. As reefs are taken in there is a benefit of reducing height of weight and windage aloft but the difficulty of keeping yard vertical and close to mast increases.

Two ways of keeping it clost to mast - have a higher attachment point further up yard, or slide the sail down the yard. Spoils the advantage of reduced top hamper. Both suitable for a mirror dinghy, but not a cruiser.

Agree with other comments about appearance gaff/gunter. Bolger (100 Small Boat Rigs) says gunter has only one halyard, gaff has two.

For road transport and sheltered short trips I'd go with gunter, otherwise bermudan. Or, in reality go with overall condition and availability

[dylanwinter]

For serious coastal sailing thought needs to be given to reefing a gunter. As reefs are taken in there is a benefit of reducing height of weight and windage aloft but the difficulty of keeping yard vertical and close to mast increases.

Two ways of keeping it clost to mast - have a higher attachment point further up yard, or slide the sail down the yard. Spoils the advantage of reduced top hamper. Both suitable for a mirror dinghy, but not a cruiser.

Agree with other comments about appearance gaff/gunter. Bolger (100 Small Boat Rigs) says gunter has only one halyard, gaff has two.

For road transport and sheltered short trips I'd go with gunter, otherwise bermudan. Or, in reality go with overall condition and availability

great point about the higher attachment

that should be easy enough to do with a snatch block

D

[lotusman]

yes, snatch block would work and saves the risk of detaching halliard, but don't like the thought of wrestling with a yard in reefing conditions at sea - ok as a quick set-up before departure though

[BobPrell]

That gunter looks more like a high peaked gaff to me. I think the gaff on a gunter rig should be as vertical as possible, like that on a Mirror.
.

I agree. The sail looks nicely set, no excessive creases or boom droop.
There is something called a sliding gunter which keeps the gaff close and parallel. Uffa Fox had it on at least one of his designs.

Anyway, the Bermudan will be simpler and should be more efficient.
.

Everybody is in favour of efficiency. For some reason bermudan fans get away with claiming efficiency without saying what resource they are efficient with, and what they trade off for that.

The only advantage to the gunter is that all the spars will be shorter and easier to stow.

So the gunter is efficient with space. It trades off pointing ability.

[dylanwinter]

yes, snatch block would work and saves the risk of detaching halliard, but don't like the thought of wrestling with a yard in reefing conditions at sea - ok as a quick set-up before departure though

I am a very conservative sailor

I try to reef before I get into trouble

if it gets that bad then I will just drop the lot, turn on thet tillerpilot and start the engine

not a great one for messing with flogging canvas

Dylan

[fergie_mac66]

my westerly is a sliding gunter with 2 halyards very easy to reef.

[prv]

For serious coastal sailing thought needs to be given to reefing a gunter. As reefs are taken in there is a benefit of reducing height of weight and windage aloft but the difficulty of keeping yard vertical and close to mast increases.

Two ways of keeping it clost to mast - have a higher attachment point further up yard, or slide the sail down the yard.

With my gaff, the "higher attachment point" works automatically; the traveller slides up the gaff span. Imagine in Dylan's picture the wire along the yard sliding down through the tackle near the masthead. I guess this only works if you have a separate throat halyard though, which this boat may not.

Pete

[interloper]

A Westerly Centaur is only available with a Bermudan rig.

[ditchcrawler]

I had a Minstrel and the makers say it is a sliding gunter (they might be wrong though).I fitted reefing to mine with lines through lower cringles back to the cockpit just like a bermudam rig.Ease the line attached to the span,spar slides down mast,sheet in reefing lines,tighten up, away you go.