Storm 15 rig

[Matz Modeer]

Hello, I am Matz from Norway and I am now building my lovely Storm 15. I have a question about the rig. The yard is to be pulled hard up to the mast (according to the instructions), which is possible as both the mast top and the yard are square. This effectively makes the rig a modified Bermuda when sailing, as long as the yard is secured to the mast also at its low end. Another way of doing it is to make the mast round all the way, and have a traditional saddle at the yard bottom. Now the rig is a traditional Gunter, where the yard will rotate a little around the mast when under pressure. My question is, which is the best performer - the modified Bermuda or the traditional Gunter? One advantage with the Gunter is obvious, it is much easier to reef (I can imagine myself taking down a wind tormented yard in the boat, undo the knot on the halyard with cold fingers, redo the knot in the upper hole in the yard and finally raise the sail again ..). The Swallowboats I have seen all have the modified Bermuda, and maybe that means it’s a much better performer. You have all a lot of experience, what do you say?

[Craic]

... The Swallowboats I have seen all have the modified Bermuda, and maybe that means it’s a much better performer. You have all a lot of experience, what do you say?

Matz,
I think you make a difference where in practice there is none. In practice we all aim for what you call 'modified Bermudan', but for that you do not require a square profile mast.: When you pull in the round gunter yard really hard against a round mast, the combination becomes practically a modified Bermudan too.
In my case, I achieve that through a drilled yard (so there is no gap between mast and yard) and a Dyneema halyard.

Hope this helps.

[Matz Modeer]

Thank you, Claus!
I didn’t even know about the Dyneema ropes. How do you handle the really thin ones, they have to be hard to the hands? Maybe you shackle on a friendlier diameter at the end?
About the mast, why should I bother to round it (above the kingplank)? Just a small rounding off at the corners should be enough, or am I missing something? A square mast ought to be a better mate for a square yard, when the yard is pulled hard to the mast as you do (and which seems as an excellent idea).
Matz

[Paul Cross]

Matz
Claus is right,I think there is very little difference in practice.

Our Storm 15 has a rounded mast until the final 10cm (approx) where it remains a square section. This fits very well up against the drilled yard. The bottom of the yard is secured loosely to the rounded mast with a pair of plywood jaws and piece of shock cord.

In light winds, the rig is very efficient upwind. (I doubt a single piece, carbon fibre, bermuden mast would do any better.) When the wind increases, the rig flexes around the pivot formed by top of the mast and the yard, depowering the rig and allowing gusts to spill from the top of the sail. This makes the boat very forgiving and fun to sail in more challenging conditions and is IMHO a major strength of this rig.

Reefing is a pain...Matt will tell you to drop the jib first..this is easy to do (especially with roller furling)..but IONA feels so much better balanced with the jib and a reefed main. We intended to modify the boat this spring to include 2 main halyards, hopefully allowing us to reef more easily on the water.

As for not rounding the mast off.......it looks better rounded....will flex in a more even way (or so i've been told) and will save weight.

Hurry up and finish the boat.....you wont be dissapointed with its performance.

Regards
Paul