The Gaff Rig Page

Detail Pages Overview of the Gaff Rig Revised 06/30/00

When I first saw the gaff rig, I was excited about the "new" sail.  While an indication of just how ignorant I am about sailing, it also speaks to the beauty of the rig to the uninitiated.

The sail is striking in its difference, a trapazoid rather than a tall and thin triangle, the gaff sail has a feeling of old-world character.  You'll never be reminded of hypontenuses again.  Here, from John Leather's The Gaff Rig Handbook,  are the two basic main sails seen on gaff rigs.  The shorter side of the sail, along the mast, is the luff, and working counter-clockwise, we find the head at the top, the leech along the longer side and then the foot at the bottom.  "A" has the sail laced to the boom, while "B" is loose-footed. The sail is supported at the head by the gaff (with lacing),  and is laced to the boom along its length as in "A", or has its clew, the lower left corner of the sail in these illustrations, attached to the end of the boom as in "B."
 

The rest of the Detail Pages continue to show details on the elements of the gaff rig.  For the purposes of this overview, I will mention the running rigging for the main sail only.  More details are available on the pages devoted to each of these topics.

The halyards, or "ropes" that control raising and lowering the sail, are the peak halyard and the throat halyard.  The peak halyard is attached to the gaff, toward the end away from the mast, and is used to adjust the angle of the gaff upward to trim the sail.  The throat halyard attaches to the gaff near the jaws, and raises that portion of the gaff until the luff is straight.

The main sheet, or rope that allows the sailor to swing the boom from side to side to adjust to the wind, is much like the main sheet on a bermudian or marconi rig.  The detail pages will show some provisions to finely tune the gaff sail.