Lug Rigging

[Aussie]

A question about lug rigs...

When you are sailing on one tack, it would seem that the sprit (?) is pressed against the mast. But what happens when you change tack, does the sprit just swing around to the other side and drive through the snotter? Or is it rerigged so it presses against the mast like before.

And if so, isn't that just a pain?

[cs]

Aussie I'm no expert here, but that never stopped me before.

I just recently changed my sail plan to a balanced lug rig. So I do have a little experiance. With a balanced lug yes on one tack the spar is up agaisn't the mast and on the other tack it is on the other side. You can rig up some preventors to help hold the spar close to the mast to prevent it from blowing to far out.

On the other hand there is a dipping lug. With this rig you "dip" the rig and swing it to the other side every time you switch tacks. This allows the sail to be downwind of the mast at all times and thus be more efficiant. But yes I imagine that it is a pain.

Chad

[Todd Bradshaw]

Chad's got it right. It sounds like it would cause awful sailshape on one tack, but in reality it doesn't seem to make a very big difference in performance. The dipping lug, where the yard's heel is dipped behind the mast on a tack so that it can be clear on the leeward side is a bit better, but not very practical for recreational sailing. Dipping lugs are at their best on boats that sail long distances on one tack like work boats dragging nets, etc.

[john welsford]

A coupleof us got curious as to the differences from one tack to the other, so rigged up a pair of my Rogue design sailing dinghys opposite handed. They have a sprit boomed standing lug set with the mast one side and the spritboom the other.
Did 5 races around a short but biased as to wind ditection course, then swapped boats and did five more, there is a tiny difference but the same skipper won all 5 races by a small margin on the advantaged handed and all 5 on the disadvantage handed boat by a lesser margin.
There is a difference but few would be able to pick it on normal use

JOhnW


Originally posted by Aussie:
A question about lug rigs...

When you are sailing on one tack, it would seem that the sprit (?) is pressed against the mast. But what happens when you change tack, does the sprit just swing around to the other side and drive through the snotter? Or is it rerigged so it presses against the mast like before.

And if so, isn't that just a pain?

[gert]

Carina (16' double ender) is balance lug rigged (thanks to Tod Bradshaw-properly rigged) I use perling beads to hold the spar close to the mast. I have noticed no difference from one tack to the other and it only takes about 15 min to rig her.

[Mike Field]

Going back to the original question to clarify a couple of points.

A lug (any lug) rig carries a yard to which the head of the sail is lashed, and which is hoisted and supported up the mast by a halyard.

A sprit rig has the peak of the sail poled out and up by the sprit, which in turn is held in place on the mast by a snotter.

(There is also the sprit-boom that John mentioned, but this is a different affair altogether, being just a different form of boom designed to hold the clew out from the mast.)

The sprit rig suffers the same fate as the standing or balanced lug by the way, with the sail bearing against the mast on one tack. But as in earlier comments, it doesn't seem to make a lot of difference.