Junk rig

[1][2] While relatively uncommon in use among modern production sailboats, the rig's advantages of easier use and lower maintenance for blue-water cruisers have been explored by individuals such as trans-Atlantic racer Herbert "Blondie" Hasler and author Annie Hill.

The word originally referred to (with or without junk rigs) the Javanese djong, very large trading ships that the Portuguese first encountered in Southeast Asia.

After the disappearance of the jong in the 17th century, the meaning of "junk" (and other similar words in European languages) came to refer exclusively to the Chinese ship.

They were originally made from woven mats reinforced with bamboo, dating back to at least several hundred years BCE.

They may have been adopted by the Chinese after contact with Southeast Asian traders (K'un-lun po) by the time of the Han dynasty (206 BCE to 220 CE).

[8]: 191–192  However, Chinese vessels during this era were mostly fluvial (riverine) while others were made to cross shorter distances over the seas (littoral zones); China did not build true ocean-going fleets until the 10th century Song dynasty.

The ship has protruding deck beams, a single mast (not a bipod or tripod), and a square sail that has a yard and boom.

[12] The oldest depiction of a battened junk sail comes from the Bayon temple at Angkor Thom, Cambodia.

This is due to the inability of the battens to bend and create shape and lends credence to the reputation of a junk sails poor abilities against the wind.

[22][31] Without a spinnaker, downwind sailing in a Bermuda rig can be problematic and may require skilled handling to maintain adequate speeds, especially in light winds.

Likewise the sheet can be released to cause a stall at any point of sail to slow or stop, should conditions require.

Slowing or stopping while reaching or running would require a Bermuda rigged boat to turn and head into the wind.

Some junk sails may be pre-balanced and simplify the control lines down to a halyard, sheet, and lazy jacks.

It can be as simple as heading the boat into the wind with the sails close hauled and putting the helm down when the forward speed is spent, which is where hull design plays a large part.

[34] When short handed a junk sail has a clear advantage for many reasons, especially because of the rigs simplicity and dependability.

This means that typical sail handling can be performed from the relative safety of the cockpit, or even while the crew is below deck.

Blondie Hasler finished second in the 1960 OSTAR from England to the USA in a junk rigged self steering boat named Jester and claimed to have only handled the tiller for one hour.

[36] Other sailors such as Annie Hill testify to the junk sail rigs great ease and success.

From a cruising perspective, almost any junk rigged boat is fast, easy to use, and inexpensive to set up and maintain.

A deck stepped Bermuda rigged boat would require hull modifications and possibly a new one part mast in order to carry a junk sail.

[39] Bill King sailed the junk schooner (i.e. junk-rigged boat with two masts) Galway Blazer II in the Sunday Times Golden Globe Race.

Joshua Slocum and his family built and sailed a junk-rigged boat Liberdade from Brazil to Washington, DC after the wreck of his barque Aquidneck.

"[40] Herbert "Blondie" Hasler sailed a junk-rigged modified Nordic Folkboat to second place in the first trans-Atlantic race and was the author of Practical Junk Rig (ISBN 1-888671-38-6).

Kenichi Horie sailed across the Pacific Ocean in 1999 aboard a 32.8-foot (10.0 m) long, 17.4-foot (5.3 m) wide, catamaran constructed from 528 beer kegs.

The Keying was a Chinese ship that employed a junk sailing rig .
Scale model of a Tagalog outrigger ship with junk sails from Manila , 19th century
Early European illustration of Southeast Asian djongs and other smaller craft ( D'Eerste Boeck , c. 1599 ), note the junk rig and the double rudders which distinguished Southeast Asian ships from the Chinese chuán which had a central rudder [ 3 ]
A bronze mirror of Tang , Wudai , or Song era, shows a ship with a square sail. Shaanxi Provincial Museum, Xi'an.
A Southeast Asian ship with battened sails, Cambodia, 12–13th century CE.
The Colvin rig: a modified schooner which combines a fore-and-aft jib sail with junk-rigged main and fore sails using minimal standing rigging. It is sometimes asserted that this foresail design can improve the rig's ability to sail to windward. [ 14 ]
The modern junk sail assembled: showing the 4 corners and the 4 sides necessary to understand sail trim .
Components of the modern junk sail: including the spars , standing rigging , and sailcloth .
The running rigging for the modern junk sail can be divided between the "pull ups" ( halyard and topping lift ) and the "pull downs" (yard hauling parrel, luff hauling parrel, and sheets ). Not shown are optional downhauls for the yard , battens , and boom .
The points of sail: A. In irons (head to wind); B. Close hauled (against the wind); C. Reaching (across the wind); D. Broad reaching (downwind); E. Running (with the wind).