Re: "Heaving To" with a Lateen Rig?

Lars S. Mulford (mulford@bellatlantic.net)
Wed, 10 Mar 1999 17:42:40 -0500


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West Wight Potter Website at URL
http://www.lesbois.com/wwpotter/
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Gordon wrote:

> that a gaff-rigged cat can be hove to. It involves lowering the gaff to
> some extent. Something similar may be possible with the lateen.

Harry:

You are right. It is called scandalizing, and it is done by dropping the peak
halyard on a gaff-rigged cat. For the lateen rig, you'd drop the spar to
reduce the sail area by approximately half (you need reefing points radially
set in the sail for this, which is what Larry Brown was driving at..) and then
cinch it off. Since you have no jib to backwind, you need to cleat the boom
off not tightly, but not loosely either.. With "Always" I cleated it off with
about a foot of play to either side of center line.. After having done that,
lash off the tillar so that the handle points to the opposite side that the
wind is blowing.. Raise the centerboard so that you have the board arm at
about 45-50 degree angle pointing up.. That should hold you for a bit.

Keep in mind though that the lateen rigged P15 won't hold station as nicely as
a standard rigged P15 this way, but it will hold a REASONABLE station for
short periods. I never let it go more than about 5 minutes this way, but then
again, I never needed more time than that either. For obvious reasons, I
would not suggest that you do this in any sustained strong winds.. I did it
three times with "Always" and the beefiest winds I encountered when doing it
were perhaps 15 or slightly more..

So in short, the lateen rigged P15 can do it, but you must pay more attention
and realize from the beginning that you'll make more forward motion than the
standard rigged P15..

--
"Sea" ya!

--Lars S. Mulford, President East Coast Potter Association (ECPA) Come visit us at http://members.tripod.com/~SpeedSailor "Forgive, and live. Life is worth the challenge of living." --LSSM