Bill-
I have one of the four lateen rig Potters that I know of. Mine was an early
gunter rigged Potter, and my primary reason for building the lateen rig was
to reduce rigging/derigging time.
To save time I'll quote some questions and answers from previous posts:
_________________________________________________________
>I just acquired a 1994 P15. It has the standard rig. I am curious
>about the lateen rig. We had a Sunfish for a while, so I am generally
>familiar with the nature of the rig.
I'm using a Sunfish sail and spars. Others have used Aquafinn sails.
From one of your recent posts, it
>seems that you have both the standard and the lateen rig. Is that so?
Yes. The mast socket for the lateen rig has to be all the way forward at
the cabintop, about 11 inches forward of the standard Potter mast step.
>If so, can you use either. If you do use either, what criteria do you
>use for a choice.
I can use either, but I just did the lateen conversion last year and
haven't reverted to the original since.
Is the lateen rig an unstayed rig?
Yes. My primary goal was to reduce rigging/derigging time.
>I would imagine
>that the pointing ability of the lateen rig is inferior to the standard
>rig with jib?
I think that's true, but the pointing seems quite adequate. Off the wind it
seems to be as fast as the new P-15s.
[Since I wrote that, some P-15 sailors have said that I outpointed them
with the lateen rig. It definitely holds its own.]
Was the lateen rig an original equipment option, or an
>after market deal? If after market, where did you acquire the rig?
I did the conversion myself. My 30-year-old gunter-rigged Potter is
cosmetically disadvantaged; the decor is more tugboat than yacht, so I
don't mind experimenting with it. But Steve Barnes in San Diego has
converted a later model successfully. There have been four lateen Potters
that I know about. Larry Brown, author of Frugal Yachting, had one custom
built by International Marine, and there are photos of it in Frugal
Yachting. IM actually offered the lateen rig as an option at one time, but
I think the only other one they built was for Lars Mulford. It wasn't
designed/constructed quite right though (it started to come apart), and
Lars had the Potter dealer in Annapolis rebuild it. Lars was completely
satisfied with the final product. He took it out in heavy winds and even
had the boat on plane a couple of times. He sold it because of a family
emergency but is planning to get another one.
See the lateen rig articles and photos on the West Wight Potter Web Page
http://www.lesbois.com/wwpotter/
and there's also a lot of info in the archives of the e-mail group. My best
sail to date was at Lake Tahoe in August [1997]. My GPS was indicating a
steady 5 kn for a while, which exceeds the theoretical hull speed. All four
lateen riggers have been enthusiastic about the rig. Steve Barnes and Lars
Mulford are also in this e-mail list.
_________________________________________________________
[And here are some more Q&A. The questions were from Lars Mulford, who had
sold his lateen Potter some time ago.]
_________________________________________________________
>Also, how much time have you saved in setup and breakdown?
Major improvement! I bought an aftermarket Sunfish spar bag with a
full-length zipper, so I can just enclose spars, sail, and lines in the bag
and either stuff it in the cabin or tie it on top. It has a large strap so
I can carry it over my shoulder comfortably when necessary.
>How do you
>feel the boats point with the rig?
Better than I expected, and quite acceptable, but I haven't really tested
it against other Potters. I think the sloop rig will point higher. But not
having a jib to adjust gives an edge, I think, except against the best
sailors. The sail is easy to read. But then who's racing? We just Potter,
right?
>Have you ever felt the need to reef
>and if so, have you installed the radial reefing that Larry Brown had on
>his lateen rigged P15?
I intend to install jiffy reef cringles at the leach and reef as Brown
describes, but haven't done so yet. Surprisingly I haven't felt overpowered
so far. I've been quite comfortable under conditions where I would have
reefed the gunter rig, which actually has less sail area.
>(Did you know that his lateen rig was markedly
>smaller than the ones on your boats and on my former boat?)
I didn't know that; I presumed it was equivalent to an Aquafinn sail since
it was a sleeve type, although it was obviously custom made.
>Do you feel the rigs strengths are in beefier sailing or light air sailing?
>(I found that the rig stood up well in heavier air sailing. In light airs,
>standard rig P15s have the advantage.)
It was better than expected in light air also, but I'm comparing to my 72
sq ft standard gunter rig. My lateen sail measures at about 80 sq ft,
although Sunfish and Aquafinn are both nominally 75 sq ft.
I expect the light air performance could be improved with the Sunfish
racing sail, which is a fuller sail made by North for one-design Sunfish
racing.
________________________________________________________
That may be more than you wanted to know. I'll sum up my current observations.
1. The lateen is easier to rig and also to sail. Eliminated are the mast
stays, jib, jib sheets, jib halyard, jib downhaul (or jib furling). The
mast is only 10 ft long and easily dropped into its socket. I find, with
only one sail to trim, I am more inclined to potter casually into small
coves and such. It's more relaxed sailing. If a puff hits unexpectedly,
there is only one sail to release, and there are no stays to interfere with
the swing of the boom.
2. The sail, spars, and mast are off-the-shelf Sunfish type - inexpensive
and readily available. Other lateen rigs such as the Aquafinn have also
been used. (I removed the Sunfish emblem and added the Potter emblem and
numbers.) I paid $150 for a new orange and white striped sail from Sobstad.
3. The boat is stiffer with the lateen rig because of its lower aspect
ratio. Without reefing, I've been comfortable in winds where I would have
reefed my gunter rig (with its smaller total sail area). Recently on a
small, windy lake my unreefed lateen rig was faster on all points than a
reefed Mk II Potter I was sailing with. I was singlehanded; there were two
on the other boat. But I would have liked to have been able to reef.
(Afterward, I found a hairline crack in my gelcoat around the top edge of
the cabin, indicating the cabin was flexing under the load, so I'm going to
add a shelf in the cabin that will transfer much of the mast load to the
decks, rather than have the cabintop carry it all.)
Another factor that contributes to the stiffness is the flexibility of the
spars. The mast and spars visibly bend and apparently spill air when a
strong puff hits. When I bought the spars at a Sunfish dealer, the salesman
raised the question of whether the spars would be strong enough,
considering the fact that the Potter is much heavier than the Sunfish and
would offer more resistance when a puff hits. But no problems so far. I
suspect it is no worse than a Sunfish with its crew hiked out. Should I
ever find that the Sunfish spars are not strong enough I can always go to
carbon fiber or some other stronger material.
4. The lateen rigged Potter seems to be faster off the wind than a
conventional Potter. Even on a run it seems about as fast as a sloop-rigged
Potter sailing wing and wing.
5. Upwind, I was surprised to find it seems to point as well as the sloop,
and is almost as fast. A well-sailed sloop-rigged Potter will have the edge
upwind; however, in practice, in a typical situation where the fleet is
tacking up a channel, I can often get ahead because it is so much easier to
make precise tacks with only one sail to trim. I can stay ahead of some
P19s also in those conditions. An experienced racer will do better with the
sloop but will have to work harder.
I also find that it is not so important that I sit all the way forward in
the cockpit when sailing the lateen rig, so I can be more comfortable
without sacrificing performance. That may be due to the mast weight being
further forward or because the forward mast location tends to leverage the
bow down, generally desirable in a Potter.
6. The helm is well balanced. I designed the mast socket so that I could
adjust the mast rake but found my initial setup (mast vertical) was perfect
and I had no need to change the rake. The mast socket is at the forward
edge of the cabintop, about a foot forward of the normal mast step. I can
still use my gunter rig but haven't been inclined to so far.
The next three items could be considered cons.
7. Steve Barnes, who sails his lateen rigged Potter in the generally light
air of San Diego, became dissastisfied with the lateen when the wind was
light. I sail in the San Francisco area, where there is more often too much
wind. However, even in light air, I have been satisfied with the lateen
performance, perhaps because I was used to the smaller sail area of my
gunter rig. But I could use a genoa and/or the later (larger) type main on
my gunter rig when the wind was light
8. I haven't attempted to heave to with the lateen rig, and I don't know
how or if it can be done. Larry Brown , in _Frugal Yachting_, stated that
the boat can be hove to with the reefed sail.
9. Larry Brown describes reefing his lateen rigged Potter. His description
leaves some questions in my mind, but I intend to try it. I haven't added
reef cringles yet, and so far I haven't needed reefing, but the ability to
reduce sail is important.
Larry, Lars, Steve, and I have all been enthusiastic about our lateen
rigged Potters, except for Steve's disappointment in the light air
performance.
Harry Gordon
P14 #234, Manatee
Gunter or Lateen Rig
Mountain View, CA