Anyone ever put a sprit sail on their small trimaran? Just curious.
If so, would you let us know, in the comments area below?
I’m thinking about putting one on a kayak this coming summer. But I don’t recall ever seeing one on a multihull.
Boat designer Bernd Kohler was going to design a sprit to fit on his Little Tri, but I don’t know if he ever did it.
The boat with the sprit sail featured in this post is linked to the following article, published on SmallBoatsMonthly.com: https://smallboatsmonthly.com/article/living-sprit-sails/
Hi Joe-
I’ve never done it myself but do know of traditional Filipino double outriggers that use them…
see the mostly black sail in the photo accompanying this article-
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bigiw
the second to last pic here (“PI. XI. Banog pindang sail.”) also shows something very similar although it’s hard to tell which spar functions as the mast and which is the sprit-
http://scholarspace.manoa.hawaii.edu/bitstream/handle/10125/16980/AP-v29n1-51-88.pdf?sequence=1
Generally speaking it seems like a great option for a small kayak since it keeps the sail area and power down low where it’s less likely to contribute to capsizing…and can be kept very light at that size.
the main drawback I can see for that kind of sail shape on a tri is that anything with a separate spar aloft like a spritsail or lug or gaff headed main or lateen is usually harder to sheet in really flat- and that is at odds with a boat fast enough to begin making its own wind, that often needs to sheet in really flat even when on a beam reach and often has issues going to weather because of that apparent wind limiting how high it can point.
Conversely, square-ish sails and lateens tend to excel and generate maximum power in off the wind points of sail that are often the least optimal for multihulls both because of the apparent wind thing and because of a tendency to “trip” when (over) powered from behind the beam that way, especially with following seas.
Those probably aren’t a huge risk but it’s worth considering when selecting the size of the sail, and of the sails/rigs mentioned the spritsail is probably the most easily adaptable to a higher peak and more triangular shape that can trim more like a marconi main while maintaining the advantages of a spritsail, and can minimize the good/bad tack sail shape issue inherent to a spritsail (and lateens).
FWIW the original Star class keelboats had a gaff rig with a peak so high and such an extreme vertical gaff angle that the gaff sail could be used on the marconi mast-
” As the Star Class continued to grow and develop during the late 1910’s and early 1920’s it became clear that the rig should be modernized. The first step was to change to rig from a gaff rig to a Marconi rig. This changeover occurred gradually during the early 1920’s.
…The 1922 Log shows the Star sail plan with both the gaff rig and the Marconi rig. The caption to the plan states that the same sail can be used on both rigs.”
https://starclass.org/history/star-boat-design-and-development1
https://starclass.org/assets/images/uploads/history/Image42.jpg
Great info Ian … thank you.