HERRESHOFF NEREIA KETCHES...change to sloop

[CHET]

GREETINGS...
I have two great Herreshoff Nereia ketches...which you can see at www.california-Homefinders.com (http://www.california-Homefiinders.com) ...see "featured properties at the top of th page...

Does anyone have any info...or suggestions about re rigging one of these as a sloop... either marconi with a longer boon...or a gaff rig similar to a friendship sloop...

I really like the current ketch rig,,,but where we sail the wind is light most of the time...So. Cal.)
and I prefer one mast at this stage of my life...I single hand most of the time...

The Friendship gaff rig is really good looking...I would suspect a lot of weather helm...but don't hear much about it???

Thanks
Chet
949 338-1662

[Bob Cleek]

Pick a rig for its sailing properties, not for its looks! I am familiar with the Nerias, having known two of them in my day. LFH did create a marconi sloop rig for the smaller H-28, although few are aware of it. They sailed very well. Also, LFH's Araminta was also, I believe, drawn with both a ketch rig, similar to the Nerias, and a sloop rig. It also sails very well in both forms.

However... I would think that a properly sized sloop rig on a Neria would move the center of effort too high and leave her tender. Look at the underwater shapes. The Neria is wide and flat, particularly aft. I don't know if she has the keel to really stand up to a higher center of effort. A gaff rig would keep the CE lower, of course, but I suspect at a signficant loss in performance. The Neria, as with all LFH's clipper bowed ketch series, is essentially a lightly built modern hull design (relatively speaking) with classic touches, not an old "crab crusher."

As for single handing, I'd expect that the ketch rig is much easier to handle. The size of the sails on a sloop or cutter rig on a boat the size of Neria is going to be right up against the limit of what one man can hand. There will be fewer sails, but they, and the forces they generate, will be much greater. It's a lot easier to drop a mizzen and sail on main and headsails alone than it is to reef a 20'x45' mainsail single handed!

You might contact MIT or wherever LFH's papers are stored now (Mystic?) and see if there is a sloop rig for Neria. I'd doubt it, though. Remember that Neria is a very fast sailer with the ketch rig as designed. That rig is rather low aspect to begin with. Do you really want to repaint the Mona Lisa? I sure wouldn't!

[Tom Robb]

Changes to LFH's art usually degrade the look if not the performance, don't they?

[Hwyl]

Changes to LFH's art usually degrade the look if not the performance, don't they?

nope


http://www.americanshipyard.com/images/Whitehawk.jpg