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SAILS & RIGGING: Junk Rigs For Cruisers

I HAVE ALWAYS been very attracted to junk rigs, first, I suppose, because they seem so very strange and archaic. As one early Western proponent, a British cruiser named Brian Platt , who sailed from Hong Kong to California under junk rig in the late 1950s, once wrote: “Nobody could have designed the Chinese Sail, if only for fear of being laughed at. A device so elaborate and clumsy in conception, yet so simple and handy in operation could only have evolved through trial and error.”

Junk rigs are in fact safer and much easier to operate than Marconi rigs, hence they probably deserve more attention as a modern cruising rig than they currently receive. As far as we know, the rig was first adapted for use on a Western vessel when Joshua Slocum installed three junk sails on the 35-foot boat Liberdade he built in Brazil in 1887 after he and his family were shipwrecked there. Liberdade performed quite well, covering a total of 5,500 miles (from Brazil to the United States) in 52 sailing days, with daily runs as high as 180 miles. Afterwards, Slocum pronounced the junk rig “the most convenient boat rig in the whole world.”

Joshua Slocum and family aboard his junk-rigged dory Liberdade

In spite of this stamp of approval, the junk rig remained mostly a unique creature of the East for another 70 years. It wasn’t until 1960, when retired British army officer Colonel H.G. “Blondie” Hasler took second place in the first singlehanded transatlantic race aboard a 25-foot junk-rigged Swedish folkboat named Jester , that Western sailors again took a serious look at this eclectic apparatus.

China Blue , a junk-rigged replica of Blondie Hasler’s famous folkboat Jester

Since then it has remained persistently attractive to a very small minority of cruisers who desire an easily handled rig above all else. At least two American yacht designers, Jay Benford and Tom Colvin , both of whom favor traditional craft generally, have specified junk rigs on a number of their designs. Of these, Colvin’s 42-foot junk schooner Gazelle , designed to be built in steel or aluminum , is certainly the most popular. Junk rigs are slightly more prevalent in Great Britain, and there have even been a small number of junk-rigged British fiberglass production boats built over the years. There is at least one British specialty broker and builder, Sunbird Marine , that deals primarily in junk-rigged boats.

In essence, a junk rig consists of a fully battened balanced lug-sail (the Chinese describe it as “an ear listening for the wind”) that is hoisted on a mast that is either freestanding or only lightly supported by a few shrouds. Unlike a conventional Western sail, which has a simple unitary airfoil shape, a junk sail has a more complex scalloped shape. As such, the aerodynamics of the two sails are entirely different. Where a Western sail depends on a smooth laminar flow of air across its surface, a junk sail is believed to rely on turbulent airflow to operate effectively, although no one is exactly sure how this works.

On a Western sail, battens are used only to expand the area of the roach and to help maintain a shape that is inherent to the sail itself. They are very flat and are built into the sail so as not to disturb the airflow. On a junk rig, battens are integral to the rig. They are more tubular and stand proud from the sail, in effect acting as small booms that separate the different panels of the sail from each other. They also disturb the airflow over the sail, creating a series of vortices across its surface. Each batten is attached separately to the mast by a rope parrel and is controlled by a separate sheet, or sheetlet. These are gathered together in series through crude friction blocks known as euphroes. In some cases, if there is not room on deck to lead a single set of sheetlets aft of the sail, two separate groups of sheetlets control the battens from either side of the sail.

This sounds complicated, but in practice the rig is simple to operate. A junk sail can be a bit cumbersome to hoist, due to the weight of all its battens and the many bits of line that can snag on something, but once up it is easy to manage. Because the sail is balanced, with area both forward and aft of the mast, there is no risk of power-jibing, since the sail brakes itself as it pivots about the mast. It never flogs in a breeze, but instead flutters quietly. Because there is no headsail to bother with, tacking the rig is effortless. Best of all, when it comes time to reef there is no drama or anxiety. You simply release the halyard and the sail drops neatly down into its lazyjacks, panel by panel, no matter how hard the wind is blowing. There’s no need to luff up or ease sheets to spill air from the sail, nor is it necessary to tie down or secure the reefed portion of the sail.

A Jay Benford-designed dory with a junk rig reefed down in a brisk breeze

A junk rig is also inexpensive to create and easy to maintain. It requires little or no standing rigging, and the sail itself is never heavily loaded, so almost any material can be used as sailcloth. The Chinese literally build sails out of rags and old canvas sacks. Some modern junk-rig sailors like to use Sunbrella, the UV-resistant acrylic material normally used to make sail covers and dodgers, so that they never have to worry about covering their sails. Because the cloth is cut flat with no shape to it, rank amateurs can build their own sails. And if a junk sail ever tears, the hole can be safely ignored, as it does not otherwise decrease the sail’s efficiency and the battens normally prevent it from spreading from panel to panel.

Battens for a junk sail likewise can be made from most any convenient material. The Chinese have traditionally used bamboo and most modern Western rigs employ fiberlgass rods, but anything with an appropriate shape and weight can be pressed into service. So it is with the entirety of the rig. No specially made fittings are required. Most anything found laying about that looks like it might serve most likely will.

Here again is Brian Platt on the issue of maintenance:

The materials and workmanship that go into a Chinese sail, if applied to a Western rig, would blow to pieces in the first serious wind. The sail cloth is poor quality shirting-material, bound together with huge “homeward-bound” stitches. The battens are attached to the sail with a few strands of wire. There is no reinforcing in the way of the battens and no grommets. The wire is simply pushed through the cloth and round the batten a couple of times. The Chinese operates his boat on a very tight budget but he would use better materials if he thought they were necessary. In fact, the strains on a Chinese sail are so much less, due to the absence of flogging and slatting, that such materials are perfectly adequate. As for the workmanship, the Chinese sees no point in making it out of proportion to the materials.

This creatively rigged Wharram catamaran has “biplane” junk sails flying side by side

Performance-wise it is hard to compare a junk rig to a conventional Marconi rig, as the principles involved are so different. Any sailor familiar with a Marconi rig probably won’t be able to hop aboard a junk-rigged boat and sail it well without first practicing for a while. For Western sailors used to sails with a lot of draft it is hard to know when a junk sail is properly trimmed. Reportedly, even a little over-sheeting will instantly stall a junk sail and kill its drive. Those with a light touch on the helm and a strong intuitive sense of when a boat is pulling along at its best usually achieve the best results.

A junk rig generally does not sail to windward as well as a Marconi rig. Some claim, however, that though junks can’t point as high, they can sail faster closehauled. Others believe junks can point high if the panels in the sail are nicely cambered and are not kept too flat. On a reach a junk sails well, since the many sheetlets allow exact control of twist; on a run, at least in a moderate to strong wind, it is nearly ideal, as the entire sail, like a square sail, can be presented to the wind at a perfect right angle. A junk rig is weak downwind in light air, however, as usually there is no way to increase sail area by flying spinnakers and the like. A rig with multiple masts–two-masted junk schooners are a popular Western variant, while three-masted rigs are common in Asia–can, however, be flown goose-winged, with sails plopped out on either side, which helps to some extent.

The real deal. A Chinese junk with its rig splayed out on a run

Truth be told, of course, no sailor who is very interested in performance is likely to take a junk rig very seriously. Really it is a rig for lazy cruisers, which is the other big reason I find it attractive. The older I get, the lazier I often feel when it comes to sailing, and sometimes I am fairly certain I will end up owning and sailing a junk of my own before I am done with this sport.

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Such an useful blog on SAILS & RIGGING: Junk Rigs For Cruisers detailed explanation with snaps. . cruising spinnaker.

Here's why to sail in an engineless junk-rigged schooner

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The pros and cons of junk rig

Generally thought to be the preserve of cranks, junk rig has some great qualities, and should not be overlooked

Junk rig is thought to date back to about 300AD, when it propelled Chinese craft with sails of woven bamboo fortified by battens of bamboo or pine. It has been in use in China ever since, although it has also been appreciated by yachtsmen over the years, not least Joshua Slocum, who chose a three-masted junk rig for his 35ft (11m) ‘canoe’ Liberdade, in which he sailed 5,500 miles in 1888. Slocum considered it “the most convenient boat rig in the entire world”. The real champion in the western world, however, was Blondie Hasler, who commissioned the heavily-modified, junk-rigged Nordic Folkboat Jester in 1953 and sailed her in the first OSTAR in 1960. Other notable junk rig sailors have included Bill King (Galway Blazer) and the ascetic Roger Taylor, who sails his junk-rigged Corribee Mingming to extreme northern latitudes. It’s also known as ‘Chinese lug rig’ and generally thought to be the preserve of cranks. It is, in fact, a singular rig with great qualities, particularly to the short-handed cruising sailor, and is overlooked only by the ignorant. The ‘bible’ on the subject is Practical Junk Rig by HG Hasler and JK McLeod.

1 Very easy raising, lowering and reefing

2 Soft gybing due to the sail area before the mast

3 No flogging as the sail is rigid

4 No standing rigging, meaning no whistling in the shrouds, and greater simplicity

5 Great all-round visibility

6 Good ability off the wind or before it without need of extra downwind sails

1 More expensive and complex to build/retrofit

2 Not great to windward in light airs

3 To some, the unusual appearance

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What’s in A Rig? The Junk Rig

By: Pat Reynolds Sailboat Rigs , Sailboats

What’s in a Rig Series #3

There’s probably no rig more fascinating than the junk rig. Long before Columbus’ time, early as the 10 th century, the Chinese were making their way through the oceans with a rig that has amazingly stood the test of the time. There are many who feel that this very old but very innovative sail plan is superior to the more popular and ubiquitous sloop rig and others.

The junk is predicated upon sails that are fully battened, a characteristic associated with more modern racing vessels and they typically lack any standing rigging (stays and shrouds). They are a completely different looking sail plan and in practice it’s clear the early Chinese engineers and designers were way ahead of their time. A thousand years later, there are advocates ready to point out the many areas where the junks reign supreme.

Due to the full batten set-up, the sails maintain an efficient consistent shape and are fast, especially downwind. In a big breeze junk owners will attest that they’re extremely easy to reef and, as an added bonus, are inherently self-tacking. There are obvious cost benefits to not having any standing rigging – no maintenance, replacement or (costs aside) anxiety about sudden failure. Because of the full battens, there’s also no flogging or flapping of sails and there’s fewer blind spots, like what you might experience with a large genoa on a sloop or cutter rig .

The main disadvantage that’s cited with junk rigs is there upwind deficiency. Although there are theories as to how to improve this, most junk owners will concede that the best they can do is come closer to how well a sloop travels upwind.

Like everything when it comes to choosing a rig, it’s about where you want to compromise. But junk rigs are definitely rife with attributes and many modern hull designs are candidates for retrofitting. And, you must admit… they’re pretty cool looking.

What's in a Rig Series:

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Practical Boat Owner

Digital edition

Winning ways with a junk rig

David Harding
November 16, 2023

David Harding looks at some of the latest developments in junk rig and meets the owners of different types of boat who are all convinced of its merits

Junk rigs are an attractive options due to their inherent simplicity and ease of handling. Credit: David Harding Credit: David Harding

Much has been happening in the world of the junk rig since PBO last took a close look at it.

Junk-rig enthusiasts are an innovative bunch and some of them never stop experimenting with ways to make their favourite rig simpler, faster or more efficient.

They love this particular sail boat rig for all sorts of reasons. It’s simple to sail with and can be controlled entirely from the cockpit.

Let the sheet go, and the sail swings out without flogging. Sheet in to go again. Drop the halyard and the whole lot comes down in a trice.

Need to reef ? Lower the halyard to reduce a panel – or two. Time to tack? Put the helm down.

The junk rig is unstayed so there are fewer stress points

Because the rig is unstayed , there’s no standing rigging to worry about: no bottlescrews, terminals, chainplates or lengths of wire.

That means fewer stress points and less chafing.

The yard and the multiple full-length battens mean that the panels in the sail are lightly loaded so there’s no need for high-tech, low-stretch fabrics.

Long-distance cruisers like the rig because of the low stresses and ease of repair.

Performance is good downwind because you can let the sail out to 90° so its entire area is projected to the wind: you don’t have to fly a spinnaker or even pole out the headsail and you can sail at any angle you choose.

Annie Hill’s FanShi can be easily reefed, a real benefit of the junk rig when sailing solo. Credit: Annie Hill

Gybing is a much gentler and safer operation too.

With all these points in its favour it’s easy to understand the junk’s popularity.

Traditionally there has been just one big problem: going to windward.

Junk sails have mostly been flat, and flat sails don’t generate much lift.

Even worse, they start to get fuller at precisely the wrong time, as the wind picks up and the battens start to bend.

Little wonder, then, that few sailors serious about performance have had any time for the junk rig.

However, a great deal of development work has gone on over the past 15 years or so.

Continues below…

Sail boat rigs: the pros and cons of each popular design

Peter Poland looks at the history of popular rig designs and how the different types affect boat performance

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You see a yacht with a mast, or masts held up with no rigging and think: ‘What’s going on? Why…

There are junk-rigged boats out there now that can give Bermudan-rigged equivalents a run for their money upwind and leave them for dead off the wind – assuming the Bermudan rig doesn’t fly a spinnaker .

The reason they have rarely made the headlines is that people are generally attracted to the junk rig because of its inherent simplicity and ease of handling, so the rigs tend to be found on comfortable cruising boats rather than those designed for speed.

With any sort of development, different people pursue different approaches and one great thing about junks is that there’s room for an incredibly diverse range of views.

While some are experimenting with wishbones and soft wing-sails, others are happy to stick to the tried and tested and to create their own rigs out of sticks and string – almost literally.

What they have in common, however, is an unshakeable belief in the concept of the junk rig.

They’re happy to share ideas between themselves and, just as importantly, with the yet-to-be converted.

To see where the junk rig is heading, I sought a range of views and approaches on an assortment of boats owned by people with varying budgets and ambitions.

I made the junk rig myself for less than £200 using a builder’s tarpaulin

This Bolger Micro epitomises the budget boat: just 4.6m (15ft) long and built of plywood, she sports a rig that the owner made himself for less than £200.

Like many designs by the American Phil Bolger, the Micro was conceived for simplicity of construction and is unlikely to be seen at the front of a racing fleet.

Nonetheless, as I found when watching her sail among a fleet of other junk-riggers, which included such known performers as the Varne 27 and Etap 26, she’s impressively slippery given her diminutive size.

Applecross sporting her new, home-made jumk mainsail and original mizen. Credit: David Harding

Applecross is owned by Martin Roberts and originally carried the cat yawl rig with sprit booms for which she was designed.

The trouble, explained Martin, was the length of the main boom: trying to manage a piece of wood 4.3m (14ft) long when trying to reef was awkward to say the least. ‘It was all a bit unwieldy in my view.’

After reading Practical Junk Rig by Blondie Hasler and Jock McLeod, Martin decided that a conversion was in order.

Calculating that the new rig would be about 1.5m (5ft) shorter than the original, he started by buying a second-hand solid wooden mast for £40.

Battening timber appropriately made the battens, which were stiffened after some experimentation by some sections of bamboo to remove the S-bending.

Martin Roberts finds that Applecross will mizzen and a tiller-line. Singlehanding is often sail herself with the help of the easy; a crew is an optional extra. Credit: David Harding

The sail itself was a £15 builder’s tarpaulin. Martin did the necessary stitching on a sewing machine at home and secured the sail to the battens with cable ties.

His biggest expense apart from the mast was the blocks, from Classic Marine, which cost £40.

Martin has simplified the Hasler/ McLeod rig by removing some of the control lines.

He accepts that some efficiency might be lost but reckons that, for his sailing on the East Coast rivers, working the tides is far more important.

He has kept the original mizzen . It works as a trim tab to balance the boat, which will happily sail herself for lengthy periods with a little help from a line around the tiller.

His only concern about the mizzen is the vulnerability of the bumkin to being knocked by other boats.

With the new rig, Martin finds Applecross much easier to handle.

Originally, if it looked as though reefing might be called for, he would either reef before setting out or decide not to go.

Now he will go out – and reef under way if need be.

He reckons that any loss in performance is minimal and is more than offset by his ability to carry the right amount of sail for the conditions.

I bought the original rig second-hand from Germany

John Dinnin’s love affair with the Liberty started when he owned a Montagu whaler – a boat to which he had been introduced during his time in the Navy and which provided the inspiration for David Thomas when he designed the Liberty for Hunter Boats.

‘I was on the way out of Faversham in the Whaler when I passed a Liberty going the other way,’ said John. ‘My words at the time were, ‘When I grow up, I want to be like you.’

When the old Whaler started leaking and calling for more maintenance, John decided it was time to move on and buy the boat he had been longing for.

He found a Liberty called Alouette and got on well with her in every respect until the masts broke – first the mizzen and then the main mast.

John Dinnin’s Hunter Liberty, Alouette , has twin masts and new cambered-panel sails

Liking Alouette but wanting a rig that would give him no concerns, John found himself in a quandary: did he sell her and buy something else, or re-rig her as a Minstrel (the same hull with a gunter rig)?

His mind was made up after he met Hans Schaeuble, a junk-rig enthusiast from Germany who has travelled far and wide in his own Liberty: junk was the solution.

The problem was that conversion would cost around £7,000 if he had a new professionally-built rig.

That was the same as he paid for the boat.

John’s meeting with Hans resulted in more than just a decision to convert to junk.

Alouette’ s owner John Dinnin

Hans had sold his first Liberty, with both its original cat rig and the twin-masted junk designed by Sunbird Marine, to a new owner in eastern Germany.

The new owner had re-fitted the original rig, so John got in touch with Hans who negotiated the re-sale of the junk rig, with its flat but distinctively coloured sails, for a very reasonable price.

That was in 2006, and since the sails were ‘getting a bit holey’, John decided to replace them with new cambered-panel sails made by Sails and Canvas in Topsham.

Like jointed battens, cambered panels increase the efficiency of the junk rig by putting some shape into the sails.

The battens are rigid but each panel is cut with some fullness in it.

The pros and cons of each approach have been widely debated in junk circles.

John finds that the new sails provide appreciably more drive than the originals and is delighted with the junk rig.

‘I wouldn’t dream of setting out in a Force 6 with the original Liberty,’ he told me. ‘It’s much more forgiving like this and shortening sail is so much easier.’

We have ways to get the best from a flat sail

One of the more performance-orientated boats to sport a junk rig, Taimen was bought new by her French owner and sailed with her original rig before being converted in 1998 by the late Robin Blain, who ran Sunbird Marine, designing and fitting junk rigs as well as acting as secretary of the Junk Rig Association.

Philip Corridan and Martin Lloyd knew the boat from when she had sailed across the channel to take part in a JRA rally, and didn’t hesitate when they heard she was for sale.

Philip has a long-standing association with junk rigs and had already converted an Iroquois catamaran, which he sailed around the world with her original rig in 1991-1993.

The Iroquois, with a mast in each hull and a recently-added mizzen, is based in Greece, while the Etap remains in the UK.

Martin too had junk experience before the Etap, having owned a Kingfisher 22.

The Etap 26 Taimen was given a conventional junk-rig conversion in 1998. Credit: David Harding

He wanted something bigger and reckoned that a fast hull with a junk rig should be a good combination.

Philip and Martin accept that the rig, with its conventional flat sail and flexible battens (in GRP tube of a section selected by computer program) is less efficient than the later jointed-batten or cambered- panel types, but they have found ways of overcoming its limitations to a certain extent.

They bring the traveller fully to windward in light airs to induce camber and twist into the sail.

As the sail becomes fuller in a freshening wind they drop the traveller down.

Offwind in fresh conditions they slide the sail forward over the mast – a technique regularly employed in junk-rig circles – to move the centre of pressure forward and inboard; otherwise the bend in the battens and increased fullness encourages the boat to round up.

Were they starting from scratch, neither Philip nor Martin would have the rig that’s fitted to Taimen , but they’re both experienced sailors who know how to get the best out of what they have.

One thing they have found to make an enormous difference, below the waterline this time, is their feathering Maxprop, which has added a good knot to the boat’s speed under sail.

After years with a junk rig I would never go back to Bermudan

An engineer with sailing experience in a wide range of boats, from the Tornado catamaran and Flying Dutchman to barges and fishing smacks, Bob had always wanted a Hunter Liberty.

He sailed Liberty for seven years with the yacht’s original unstayed cat-ketch rig.

Then he met the late Robin Blain of the Junk Rig Association, read Annie Hill’s book Voyaging on a Small Income , and the die was cast. ‘After we had started talking about junk rigs, that was it – I just did it.’

Bob decided to make his own rig but adopted a relatively high-tech approach.

He enlisted the help of Philip Corridan (see above), a structural engineer, builder of his own junk rigs, to calculate the section needed for the mast (he opted to have one rather than two).

A man sailing a junk rig yacht with a red sail and blue hull

Orlando , a Hunter Liberty with a single, jointed-batten sail. Credit: David Harding

He found two sections of aluminium tube of the right diameter and, with the help of some machining and a two-ton winch, joined them together.

Keen to avoid the performance compromises associated with a traditional flat junk sail, Bob also decided to make his own jointed battens.

Unlike conventional battens, these are tubular with joints (usually two) along their length that allow them to curve to a shape determined by the angle of the joints.

On Orlando , the jointed battens help induce camber into the sail…..

The joints were machined from Delrin plastic, each having a shoulder in the middle and a cone at each end with angles of 4° for the forward joint (giving a total of 8°) and 3° aft (a total of 6°).

Flexible, non-jointed ‘keep’ battens support the sail on the other side.

Bob bought the cloth for the sail, laid it out in the local village hall, marked and cut it and took it to his local sailmaker with instructions about how it should be joined together.

….while flexible battens on the other side provide support and smooth out the curve. Credit: David Harding

The total cost for the mast and sail came to around £1,000.

Three seasons on, Bob is delighted with the new rig. ‘It’s so forgiving and so interesting,’ he says. ‘I would never go back to Bermudan.’

He does, however, have reservations about the term ‘junk rig’.

He maintains that, strictly speaking, it should be called a fully-battened lug rig and that the junk is the type of boat to which it was originally fitted.

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Sailing a junk rigged schooner in Greenland

Tom Cunliffe
February 28, 2023

A resourceful single-handed sailor overcomes obstacles while sailing a junk-rigged schooner in Greenland. Introduced by Tom Cunliffe

Dave Leet’s Nomad is a junk-rigged schooner which he sails mostly single-handed . He certainly puts the miles in, because although this article is about his experiences in West Greenland, when I wrote to him about his work he was in Martinique where he’d been waiting out Covid.

The account here is edited from three articles written from his blog ( svnomad.blogspot.com ) for the magazine of the excellent Junk Rig Association. Talking with Dave makes crystal clear his view that remote places like Greenland should only be cruised by sailors with a totally self-help attitude, and the way he rebuilds his gearbox to replace the seals from spares which he ‘just happens to have on board’ says a great deal about this modest man.

Leet also notes that the Greenland and Canadian authorities give yachts no hassle so long as they clear in, keep a low profile and stay out of trouble. His cruise to the top of Disko Bay at 70° North, where ice conditions slip him the wink that it’s time to turn south, is exemplary. To be alone on one’s boat, sharing the bay with only icebergs in the Arctic twilight as the aurora blazes above you is an experience granted to very few.

Dave Leet’s blog articles were published in the Junk Rig Association’s magazine

Dave Leet’s junk rig adventure

Well rested and with a full load of fuel, Nomad headed toward the source of all the ice floating around Disko Bay. Icebergs became more numerous as I approached the shoreline, and this was my first experience navigating close-up to them in bright light. They are a brilliant white that stands out against the blue sky, quite unlike their usual near-invisibility in foggy overcast conditions.

Approaching Quasigiannguit late in the day it was easy to work around a number of bergs in the harbour entrance and head for the far end of the bay. Anchoring in water as shallow as possible limits the size of iceberg that can run into your boat.

Leaving the harbour and steering around an ever-increasing number of bergs I headed up towards what looked like a solid wall of ice in the distance. Sailing closer revealed there was space to get between the bergs, where many were grounded near shore. Two rocks noted on the chart were hidden in the ice field, but no soundings are given in this area. Carefully working through the ice I found that the Nordre Huse anchorage was clear.

A strong breeze began blowing down the fjord late in the day so I felt it was safe to spend the night behind the icefield. It was a surreal experience with ice coloured by the twilit arctic night and the sounds of the glacier moving, clearly audible through the hull. Outside, an occasional sound like thunder could be heard as pieces of glacier broke off.

It’s only a few miles around the glacier face to Illulissat, so I spent a fascinating morning motoring between the gigantic icebergs at the front of the glacier. Entering the tiny inner harbour I found it extremely crowded with no convenient place to tie up Nomad . With some difficulty I got her turned around and out of the harbour. The three cruise ships in town supplied enough encouragement for me to clear off and head instead for the tiny village of Oquaatsut with its sheltered bay for the night.

Sometimes the best planning doesn’t help in the remote areas of the Arctic. After carefully working my way into an unsurveyed area I was greeted by the sight of a small berg grounded in the cove and the shallow areas full of bergy bits. It was obvious where the local fishermen tied to the rock wall in 40ft of water, but I was not comfortable with the amount of ice coming in with the wind so I retreated to a cove with a sandy patch showing at low tide.

The north entrance to Smallesund appeared closed by ice, but getting nearer I could see there was space enough to get through by the rock wall. Torssukkatak was full of ice, but navigable. Here at 70°N looking down the ice-choked Vaigat channel north of Disko Island I reluctantly decided it was time to head south towards the deep water around the islands on the west coast of Arve Prinsens Ejland.

It was no problem navigating the uncharted channels between them to the abandoned settlement at Ritenbank where I found a large shallow shelf allowing good anchorage with some current.

Close ice encounter.

Ice and smoke

Early in the morning I was awoken when a resounding thump shook the boat. Sitting up, all that could be seen out the portholes was a wall of ice. Nomad and an iceberg had collided in the tidal current. The berg had run aground, so I pushed Nomad clear of it and the current kept us apart.

Pulling up the anchor chain eventually brought the boat against the iceberg again, but fortunately the iceberg had just missed parking on top of my anchor so I was able to get underway without having to wait for another tide to float it clear. It was another beautiful sunny arctic day as I motored across the bay bound for Qeqertarsuaq on the south shore of Disko Island, intent on doing some hiking.

I was dodging large icebergs and enjoying the otherworldly scenery of Disko Island when smoke started coming out of the open hatch. Expecting a fire, I was relieved to find the gearbox had overheated and the only thing burning was its seals. Hoisting full sail, I was able to coax Nomad another mile away from shore in the faintest breath of wind while the gearbox cooled enough for me to touch it. It was still full of oil, but this was very burnt so I changed it. Back in gear, the shaft turned slowly but would not speed up even at full throttle.

Ruined Norse village of Hvalsey

I worked every breeze that came by throughout the night keeping Nomad away from the icebergs and attempting to head across the bay towards Aasiaat where I could attack the machinery in a safe berth. Making less than four miles overnight I was considering all manner of possibilities when troubleshooting revealed that the gearbox would provide full power in reverse.

Problem solved! I’d be able to back all the way to Aasiaat, 24 miles distant. I hurriedly dropped all the sails, eager to get moving after a long, unproductive night, but in my sleep-deprived state I forgot to check both sides of the boat for lines in the water. With the sails lowered I promptly backed over the junk rig’s port main ‘sheetlet’, stalling the engine. After spending some time trying to clear the prop from on deck I realised there was only one solution. I retrieved my diving gear stored in various places around the boat and set up my scuba tank on deck. With my dexterity impaired by wetsuit gloves and ice cold water I was unable to free the line from the propshaft, so I returned with a knife and cut it clear.

After wriggling out of my wetsuit I took a moment to warm up before throwing the dive gear below and starting the engine. I then began the tedious task of backing across the bay steering from one iceberg to the next as my course was too erratic to follow the compass. As I closed the coast near Aasiaat, a large cruise ship went by with a number of tourists standing on deck watching me. I can only wonder at what they thought, watching a schooner zigzagging backwards between the icebergs.

The ice is constantly on the move

Having failed at several attempts to back between the rocks guarding the inner passage to Aasiaat, I felt a faint breeze near shore. Up went the jib and foresail, the main being out of service with its sheetlet cut. This proved enough combined with the propeller turning slowly ahead to get the boat moving. Nomad made it between the rocks without incident and slowly crawled into the harbour, reaching speeds of up to two knots.

Dismantling the gearbox the next morning I quickly found the problem. By pure chance I happened to have the spare parts on board to repair it, but it cost five days of the short Greenland sailing season and I was still 600 miles from the southern tip of the land.

Some days later, well down the coast with a good sailing wind, I departed Paamiut bound for the inside passage at Nunarsuit, the large island at Kap Desolation.

The shimmering lights of the Aurora Borealis provided a magical display

Northern lights

Numerous icebergs were floating around as I made my way into the tiny, ice-free anchorage at Tunulliatsiaap Nunaa. The sunset was magnificent, illuminating the rocks and icebergs with reds and golds reflecting on the still waters. I ducked below to make dinner as the temperature plunged below freezing without the sun. Opening the hatch to toss out some onion skins I was awestruck by the sight of the sky shimmering in the green waves of the Aurora Borealis. Dinner forgotten, I sat on deck watching the aurora until they faded away.

There were numerous icebergs to dodge crossing the Braedefjord but I was able to get through to Tugtutoq island without a lengthy detour offshore. Sildefjord is at the east end of Tugtutoq island with a well protected basin to anchor in at the end of the fjord. Climbing the mountains, there were many patches of blueberries and the ice cap was clearly visible from the top across the berg-studded Braedefjord.

Article continues below…

The sun was setting in the canyon to the west as I made my way back to sea level. A few reindeer came down, and as the light faded grey streamers appeared at the mountaintops and slowly developed into a brilliant display of the aurora covering the entire sky above the fjord.

In the morning the boat was surrounded by fresh ice and my wet laundry was frozen solid on the lifelines so I reluctantly decided to move on before I got frozen in.

Qaqortoq has a busy harbour and is the largest town in southern Greenland. Nomad was comfortably rafted up to a fishing boat on the far side of the harbour where I changed the oil and topped off the fuel tanks again. Ten miles up Qaqortoq Fjord lies the ancient Norse village of Hvalsey, the best preserved Norse ruins in Greenland. I spent two days anchored at Hvalsey, hiking and examining the ruins in an absolute windless silence before returning to Qaqortoq.

Spectacular sunsets are a feature of high latitudes cruising in Greenland

After studying the weather beyond the bottom of Greenland for a few days, the possibility of finding a gap between the storms off Kap Farvel to reach the Azores did not look good. This being the second week of October and not wanting to risk being stuck here for the winter it was time for Plan B. There was a depression passing just to the south, so I backtracked to Kap Desolation and sailed across the Labrador Sea just above 60°N to avoid the west winds from the low. Nomad passed the last iceberg of the trip at the edge of the continental shelf near Nain and made her way into Makkovik Labrador as the wind began blowing from the south with the approach of the next storm system.

Arctic essentials

Careful preparation paid off for this Arctic voyage and there were no serious problems. There are, however, a few things to change on deck and some more equipment that would make life much easier before returning to the north. Top of the list is a pilothouse or at least some shelter for steering and watch-standing. Reels for the 122m shore lines would greatly aid deploying and retrieving them. A bus heater plumbed into the main engine would enable the Refleks cabin heater to be shut down when motoring, saving quite a bit of fuel. A Navtex receiver and an Iridium device to receive weather reports and ice charts would be extremely useful. I couldn’t receive weather-fax charts on the shortwave receiver at all. And a forward-looking sonar would be a big help navigating the many unsurveyed areas on the charts.

If you enjoyed this….

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Voyager explains junk rig choice

My decision to buy a Chinese junk-rigged schooner was shaped by several factors. Foremost was the certainty that I would be voyaging and not racing. The second important consideration was the rig’s simplicity. Made up mostly of lines and knots, this feature guaranteed less maintenance time and far less maintenance and replacement costs. There would be no expensive stainless fittings, winches, or high-tech sail materials. The third consideration was ease of handling. I knew that I would probably sail by myself or with inexperienced crews. Therefore, I wanted a boat I could handle safely and comfortably from the cockpit with a minimum of sail handling on the foredeck. Last, I was won over by the design and voyaging exploits of several well-known sailors who experimented with modern interpretations of this almost 2,000-year-old rig.

Back in the 1970s, Thomas Colvin designed and built several junk-rigged boats in Chesapeake Bay. One of his most popular designs, an aluminum schooner called Gazelle, can still be found occasionally in classified sailing magazine advertisements. He extolled the unique charm of the Chinese junk rig in a book called Cruising as a Way of Life.

Englishmen Blondie Hassler and Michael Richey made history by sailing the junk-rigged folkboat, Jester, in 13 successive Atlantic singlehanded races. It was the first singlehanded Atlantic race in 1960 that pitted Chichester against Hassler and his junk-rigged sloop. Chi-chester’s Gypsy Moth won that race, but Jester, captained by Michael Richey, subsequently established a record for the most race attempts. The fact that the boat and rig held up in this most inhospitable North Atlantic Ocean race is a testament to the boat and sail designs. In 1988 Hassler teamed up with Jock McLeod to write a definitive book on the junk-rig called Practical Junk Rig.

A dedicated group of British sailors has adapted this ancient sail plan for modern Western craft. They also formed the Junk Rig Association to further the study and exchange of ideas toward improving the rig. One of my all-time favorite sailor-authors is Bernard Moitessier. This Frenchman was born in Vietnam and acquired much of his early sailing experience in traditional junks. Although he changed to a more modern Bermuda-rigged boat for his many sailing exploits, he wrote nostalgically about those early sailing days in junks.

Almost everyone’s first sailing hero is Joshua Slocum. His greatest exploit is being the first singlehander to make it around the world in 1895 and write about it in a book called Sailing Alone around the World. He accomplished this awesome feat in a boat called Spray, a traditional gaff-rigged schooner. However, later in life he built the junk-rigged Liberdade for a trip from South America back to the U.S. This adventure is described in his book The Voyage of the Liberdade. The writings of these famous sailors made a deep impression on my choice of boat. Admittedly, I was also drawn to the uniqueness of the sail design. I wanted to be different and not have a boat that looked like every other boat in the harbor. I finally settled on a 32-foot Sunbird schooner made in England. It has a traditional Western, fiberglass hull and a pair of tan-bark, Chinese junk sails.

Almost everyone who stops to stare at my rig admires the unusual design but quickly turns the discussion to her poor light-air windward performance. I don’t disagree with this assessment, although I get a little frustrated and defensive having to explain that there is much more to voyaging than going to windward. I feel that the positive qualities of the rig far outweigh this concern.

Over years of coastal cruising I have learned to live with the fact that anywhere from 20% to 40% of passage time is spent under engine power or motorsailing. On my two transatlantic crossings, the engine was used more sparingly, and the sailing was slow but kindly. Even after an unfortunate dismasting of the foresail in mid-ocean, 1,500 miles from the Canaries, the remaining sail provided a safe, albeit slower, passage to the Bahamas.

In his wonderfully illustrated book, Ships of China, Valentin Sokoloff writes, "A hand-crafted sailing ship is a living thing with its own character and charm. A Chinese junk is even more so, and no wonder, as it was invented by an offspring of a nymph and a rainbow. His name was Fu Hsi, the first great ruler, who, they say, was born in 2852 B.C. Then Lu Pan, founder of the art of carpentry, greatly improved the original design. Further generations of Chinese shipwrights gave junks their final seaworthy and practical shape."

The evolution of sailboat design in the West has taken place over a much shorter period of time and a much different tack than in China. Today the epitome of Western boat design is represented by America’s Cup contenders and similar high-tech racing boats. Variations of the Bermuda rig (also known as Marconi rig, for the inventor’s tall radio transmitting tower) is seen on virtually every racing and voyaging boat to come off the showroom floor. For the most part, the emphasis in these designs is speed and, particularly, performance to windward. But there are obviously other aspects of sailing, especially voyaging; that is where the Chinese rig comes into its own.

The distinct advantage of the Chinese balanced-lug rig is in shorthanded, comfortable voyaging. Modern junk rigs have married the ancient designs with new materials, replacing bamboo and grass mats with fiberglass and Dacron. The resulting modern rig can be easily handled with less strength and endurance and without leaving the safety of the cockpit. Sailing with this rig can be relaxed, enjoyable, and safe without the high working loads of more popular triangular sails with their taut sheets and strenuous winching. The junk rig is easily reefed in strong winds and easily balanced for self-steering vanes and for lower loads on the tiller or wheel.

At first sight the rig’s unusual appearance is confusing to Western eyes. However, it is extraordinarily simple, clever, and easy to handle. The balanced-lug sails have full-length fiberglass battens that are laced across the width of the sail from luff to leech, as shown in the accompanying illustration. Each of the battens divides the sail into separate panels. The top batten is the yard, a heavier batten than the others because it carries the full weight of the sail. The bottom batten is the boom. It carries very little load and, therefore, needs to be no larger than the other battens.

The head of the sail is laced to the yard, which is hauled up by the halyard. The halyard is a multi-part block system to reduce the effort of hauling the sail. No winches are needed with this system, and the halyard can be hauled from the cockpit. The sail is held against the mast by a series of batten parrels. The sail always lies on one side of the mast and extends a short distance forward of the mast. This is what makes it a balanced lug rig, similar to a balanced rudder with a small area in front of the rudder stock. On one tack the sail lies directly on the mast. On the other tack it is constrained by the batten parrels. Multiple topping lifts, or lazy jacks, are tied off at the boom and create a cradle for the sail when reefed or completely lowered.

Two additional parrel lines are led back to the cockpit to control the fore and aft position of the sail. The yard parrel is used to hold the yard snugly to the mast. This is most important when the sail is reefed and would have a tendency to swing aft of the mast. The yard parrel brings the sail forward. Similarly, the luff parrel is used to prevent the sail from going too far forward and maintains moderate tension on the luff of the sail. Between these two parrel lines, the sail is kept in correct position, especially when reefed.

Simply lowering the halyard any distance reefs the sail. The more the halyard is lowered, the more panels are reefed. It acts like venetian blinds that are easily raised or lowered. As the panels are reefed, they and their battens lie in the cradle formed by the lazy jack system. The weight of the lowered battens prevents the sails from billowing out between the lazy jacks. The sails are automatically held in check no matter how many battens are lowered. This makes it unnecessary to tie reefing points or bundle the sail with sail ties.

As soon as the halyard is slackened, the sheets become loose, and the sail begins to spill wind. However, unlike other sails, it will not flog and damage itself if the sheet is loosened. The full-length battens make the rig much quieter without the loud banging associated with flogging sails. In light, downwind sailing, the battens also prevent the sails from collapsing periodically, thereby reducing sail wear and noise. A single sheet system controls the boom and all the other battens through a series of spans (sheetlets). This provides control over the entire leech of the sail, unlike a Bermuda rig where sheet control is only over the boom or clew of the sail. Therefore, the load on the tail end of the multi-part sheet is light and easily handled without a winch. The portion of the balanced-lug sail forward of the mast performs an important function, contributing to the safety and comfort of the crew. When wind and boat direction conspire to create an accidental gybe, the small portion of sail before the mast counters the wind’s effect on the remaining sail area and dampens the motion of the sail. This slows the otherwise violent tendency of the sail to flip to the other side of the boat. Both intentional and accidental gybing become much less hair-raising. The free-standing masts of a junk-rigged boat are typically designed to be somewhat flexible. They bend when winds get too strong, and spill the wind in the process. This bending reduces the heeling of the boat and acts as an automatic shock absorber in sudden gusts that would otherwise severely heel a conventional stayed-mast boat.

The Chinese junk-rigged boat is not for everyone. For most people, the Bermuda rig, with its conventional triangular sails, is more popular, either for the look or the windward performance. However, for those seeking a more effortless sailing experience with a unique traditional rig, the junk sail plan is an interesting alternative. n

Michael L. Frankel is a freelance writer who lives in Orange Park, Fla., when he isn’t voyaging aboard his 32-foot Chinese junk-rigged Sunbird, Sabra.

By Ocean Navigator

Messing about in boats since 1975. Online Since 1997.

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What About the Junk Rig...? The 32' Junk Rigged Tahiti Ketch - Click for Larger Image Copyright 2001 - 2016 Michael Kasten Is the Junk Rig Suited to Modern Cruising...? The junk rig shares many of the virtues of the gaff rig. The junk rig or "Chinese lug rig" is easy to handle, very easy to reef, easy and inexpensive to build, easy to rig, has no complex hardware, requires no winches, is easy to maintain, involves very low rigging stresses, provides a low center of effort so requires less beam or depth of keel, and at least in my view, looks great! That is quite an impressive list of positive attributes... The following is not intended to be a comprehensive guide to the junk rig. It is however a good introduction to a few of the advantages offered by the Chinese lug, or junk rig. Due to its excellent qualities for blue water voyaging, I believe the junk rig has much to offer. Some Advantages Specific to the Junk Rig Reefing: The ease of reefing a junk rig is legendary. Perhaps it is best illustrated with a brief story about sailing one quite windy day off Port Townsend on Migrant , sister ship to Colvin's Gazelle. This was in 1979, when I was considering the junk rig for my own boat, then under construction. Naturally curious, I asked the skipper about reefing the junk rig. He had just passed around fresh mugs of hot chocolate, so I expected a brief discourse on the subject. Instead, without saying anything he walked over to the main mast and with one hand released the main halyard just enough to let it slip over the belaying pin, paying out about half of it and then belaying it again. The boat was reefed. He did not put down his mug of hot chocolate... and he did not spill any. Suitability to Cruising Boats: Many hull forms will handle the junk rig very nicely. As we are now seeing, fully battened sails are the "state of the art" on high performance sailing craft, for example on the America's Cup contenders. Given proper design, there is no reason the junk rig cannot be adapted to performance oriented cruising boats. An excellent combination is also the use of a fairly traditional hull form with the junk rig. As with any rig, there must be correct balance, and sufficient sail area, with an efficient plan form given to the sails. In my view, there will ideally not be any "western" sails such as a jib, and the rig should approach that of a true ocean going Chinese junk. Among our designs that are able to make good use of the Junk Rig are the 44' Valhalla and the 42' Zephyr . That said, the Junk Rig can be adapted to most of our sailing designs, and even to a few of our motor yacht designs. 32' Tahiti Junk Schooner - Click for Larger Image Suitability to Motor Sailors: A motor sailor can make excellent use of the junk rig. A motor sailor can be 100% sailing vessel, as well as being 100% capable under power, as we see in the 48' Jasmine . There are many other approaches as well, such as that taken by the Gulliver 46 , the Greatheart 48 , the 50' Renegade and the Greatheart 60 designs. These types have an emphasis on sail that is more on the order of around 60% or so. In other words, the sails are provided primarily for the purpose of auxiliary propulsion, rather than primary propulsion. The sails serve the function of being the "get-home" motive power in the case of engine failure. In addition, the sails provide extra boost while motoring when the wind favors. As a bonus, the sails and rig provide excellent roll dampening. For this purpose, the junk rig is ideal. Simplicity: With a schooner or ketch configuration arranged in true Chinese junk fashion, therefore not having a western jib, there would be just two junk sails, therefore just two halyards total. For a larger vessel, a small mizzen or small fore sail can be used, or both, also ideally a junk sail. Ease of use: On any cruising vessel, be it a sail boat or a motor sailor, it seems particularly advantageous to have the ability to instantly reef the sails, or to lower them completely without any fooling around. Sail and battens collect neatly in the lazy jacks. Once down, you can go to the sail to throw a line around the lowered battens if necessary. With proper lazy jacks, there is absolutely no drama to this. Flogging / Luffing: There is no sail flapping and flogging when passing through the eye of the wind, either while tacking or jibing. Safety: Individual "sheetlets" are lead to each batten, a full set of sheetlets on each side, so the sails are self tending. The sail shape can be controlled very effectively. This is quite a safe arrangement as well. The multiple sheets, one to each batten, make jibes very gentle, so there is no drama if someone inadvertently puts the helm too far over. This "soft jibe" effect is augmented by there being a fair sized portion of the sail forward of the mast, as a counter force. This makes the junk rig very forgiving for family sailing. Sail Stress: Having multiple battens, the sails can be made of somewhat lighter material. Sail "cut" is not usually regarded as being critical, and most often junk sails are built "flat" rather than being cambered. Appearance: In my view, the junk rig looks "right" on many vessels, especially so with a somewhat "traditional" hull form. Given the right match to the hull form underneath, in my eyes the junk rig is very handsome. This can be applied especially well to motor sailing types. For example, the junk rig would be a perfect companion to a vessel like the 50' Renegade . Sheet Schematic - 5 Batten Sail Spars & Rigging Spars: Spars can be solid wood as is quite traditional, or, without much fuss hollow wooden spars can be made. Alternately, as with the gaff rig, the junk rig can take excellent advantage of welded aluminum tube or pipe for spars. When painted properly the aluminum spars are nearly indistinguishable from traditional round wooden spars. Compared strictly on a strength to weight basis, aluminum spars are much better. When compared on the basis of maintenance, the aluminum spars win again. In terms of longevity... aluminum is far and away the best choice. In terms of first cost (the cost to fabricate the rig), again aluminum wins hands down - all fittings being fully welded and therefore integrally a part of the spars. 48' Junk Rigged Schooner JASMINE Standing Rigging: Most often, there are shrouds and stays to support the mast, as in the design shown above. However... the junk rig gains a terrific benefit from free standing spars, as can be seen in the Jasmine sail plan shown above. The reason for this is to simplify; to eliminate or greatly reduce chafe; and to allow the sails to have a much greater range of trim - highly useful for running downwind when the sails can be set at nearly 90 degrees to the centerline. Battens: Many types of battens have been tried, varying from the obvious use of wood (easy to make but somewhat heavy for the required stiffness), to the use of ABS pipe (cheap but brittle when cold and limp when hot), to the use of fiberglass rods or bars (strong but somewhat heavy for the stiffness, and fairly expensive). Each material has an advantage and a disadvantage. Although fiberglass battens are a bit heavier and more costly, they will usually outlast the others listed by a substantial margin. Bamboo though is likely to be the ideal for battens: light, flexible, strong, relatively unaffected by heat or cold, inexpensive... and - big surprise - it is the preferred traditional material aboard Chinese junks...! Running Rigging: The junk rig is friendly to use. For example, just as with a traditional gaff rig, one will be handling soft Dacron lines and multi-part tackles rather than harsh stainless wire and mechanical winches. Proportion: The drawing shown below is very generic, and is intended only as a schematic to illustrate the approximate layout of a four batten junk (upper yard and boom not included in the batten count). In most applications, and especially for the optimum windward performance, the sail's proportions would be stretched in order to be somewhat taller and less wide. In other words, the rig would ideally have a somewhat higher aspect ratio, very much as can be seen on the 48' Jasmine . Generic Four Batten Junk Sail Plan - Click for Larger Image A Few New Terms... A minor advantage of familiarity with the junk rig is being able to impress dock side wags by knowing all about lizards , sheetlets , euphroes , snotters , and bowsing tackles ....! Sail shape is controlled by each of the individual sheets. Each " sheetlet " runs through a " euphroe " which acts as friction block to keep the tension set as intended. In the drawing above , I've made use of a simpler arrangement using a fiddle block and separate " lizard " eyes in order to allow the sail to self adjust when it is reefed. Once the sail is raised, if it is desired to tension the sail vertically, it is hauled downward by a " bowsing tackle ." If it is desired to move the sail forward or aft, it can be done by controlling the " out haul " which in this case leads forward to the leading edge of the battens. The top yard can be controlled via a line called the " snotter " to move the spar forward or aft, or to snug it against the mast, as needed. The Double Ended Cruising Yacht - VALHALLA 44 - Click for Larger Image Converting an Existing Western Rig to Chinese Junk Rig...? Is it worth it...? That is the fundamental question. Although the junk rig has many benefits, those benefits are realized most dramatically for actual voyaging. For day-sailing, the Western rig is likely to perform better to windward – and on smaller sail boats, reefing Western sails is no big deal. That said, if big water sailing over long distances is being considered, especially on a larger boat, there are definite benefits with regard to safety and peace of mind with the junk rig. The rig is after all very simple and easy to build. There are also the practical aspects of there being considerably lessened forces on all parts of the rig, in particular with free standing masts. Outside those specific justifications, I’m less convinced of the benefits of converting to junk rig - mainly due to the effort required to effect the change. But if voyaging is in the cards, then a much stronger case can be made for effecting such a change. For that process, the best source of information on the junk rig is within the book ‘Practical Junk Rig’ by Hasler & McLeod. It is well worth the price. There is also 'The Chinese Sailing Rig' by Derek van Loan, a book which I've seen but not studied. If you can find it, there is a very good guide to building junk sails by Tom Colvin, to my knowledge only available from the Colvin family, or in a good used bookstore. DESIGNING THE RIG For a variety of reasons, I don't favor mixing Western sails with Junk sails (for example, adding a jib, etc.). As for the shape of the junk sails, Hasler & McLeod seem to prefer a rectangular shape to the junk sail profile, with the battens more or less parallel. However I favor a fan shape to the junk sail as is more common in China. In other words, a fan shape similar to the the ‘Reddish’ rig in the H&M book, or like the sail shapes in the images shown above. Regarding the best location of the mast and sail, the junk rig's CE and overall sail area should be approximately the same as the rig that is being replaced. Cardboard cutouts of the existing sail profiles can be made and balanced on a straight edge in at least two directions in order to find their common center. Alternately the CE can be calculated. Ditto for the proposed junk rig. With that information in hand, the mast location (assuming a single sail and no jib), will be automatic, assuming a vertical mast. If multiple masts and sails are required, there are more options with regard to sail size and mast location. ‘Practical Junk Rig’ has all the information one will need for calculating the mast dimensions as well as the rest of the rig, plus good instructions for how to build a free standing wood mast. NOTE : One caveat however is that in calculating the mast diameter I prefer to use a first principles approach, treating the mast as a uniformly loaded cantilevered beam, then secondarily as a point loaded cantilevered beam (with the point load at the halyard), both with a safety factor of 4 acting against the vessel's maximum righting moment. In so doing, I have found the Hasler & McLeod mast diameter calculations to be a fair bit under-sized for free standing masts. H&M do not consider the vessel's righting moment (only mast length) therefore no attempt is made to actually determine the maximum load imposed on the mast. Because of this, I'm not too surprised to read that a few of their mast designs have 'carried away' in rough conditions, which Hasler & McLeod attribute to glue joint failure. In my view, since the H&M calcs yield masts of a relatively smaller diameter than a first principles calculation will require, their masts are simply more highly stressed. H&M do make a good point however regarding preserving a certain amount of flexibility in the masts. Deflection at the masthead should be limited to no more than 2% of the panel length (partners to halyard attachment). Using a first principles approach with a safety factor of 4 does bring the masthead deflection into compliance with that limitation. I submit that the cutter & ketch rig divisor of 7.1 used by H&M in their mast diameter equation is too aggressive. In my view, the more conservative divisor of 6.3 should be used (the same as H&M use for a schooner's fore mast). Doing so will yield a mast diameter much closer to a first principles approach. In my experience, the result will still be slightly under-sized, but that very much depends on the vessel's actual righting moment... INSTALLING THE RIG With the above information in hand, two remaining questions arise… How much more will the junk rig weigh than the original rig, and how will that affect stability and sailing stiffness…? How should you support the mast (mast step, partners, shrouds if any, etc.)…? The first question can be addressed by simulating the added weight by hauling a weight equivalent to the difference in mass between your existing rig’s mass and center up to the centroid of the new mast & rig and test it (securely please..!). This test is simple to do and involves very little if any cost. Such a test is empirical rather than theoretical, and if performed in a variety of conditions, as long as your calculations are correct you can depend on the results that you obtain. One caveat is that the 'distributed mass' of the heavier junk rig and sails will behave somewhat differently than a 'point mass' as described for the above test. For an explanation of why this is so, please see our Beam vs Ballast article under the heading Roll Moment of Inertia . As for the second question… its answer depends on where the new mast position is located with regard to surrounding structure. If part of the ballast keel is available on which to place the mast step, the main task is then to provide adequate support for the heel of the mast laterally , there being relatively little compression involved if the mast is free standing. This can be done using built-up floors and fore and aft webs, with a secure means to hold the mast in place. Then do the same at the deck penetration with reinforcements of the structure locally; a secure means of holding the mast (slightly oversize tube); and cabin knees or deck knees outboard as needed… All of this can probably be accomplished on one's own by a process of trial and error . However if the above described process leads to a point of uncertainty with regard to the centers, the loads, or the structure, please feel free to contact me as needed for assistance. It is worth mentioning that 'rig conversions' can be relatively time consuming for me to specify (therefore potentially costly) since I do not have the actual boat to experiment with. I must therefore 'model' the vessel's form, its CG, and its structure in order to derive reliable information, and then specify and illustrate structure that will stand up to the calculated loads. On a larger boat, or if cost is not an overriding concern on a smaller boat, the cost of involving formal design will be much more easily justified. A Junk Rig Testimonial... This letter was received from the current owner of Migrant , one of the vessels mentioned above. Dear Michael, It was nice to come across your piece [above] on the Junk Rig and immediately see Migrant named and another story about Dick Johnson told. I bought Migrant from Dick in 1991 after having sailed on her a number of times since meeting him in 1971 when he first sailed into Bellingham. In 1994, with the same sails that Dick Johnson had used to go to Australia, New Zealand, Pitcairn, Mexico, and back to Bellingham, I sailed Migrant from Bellingham once again, bound for Mexico. I spent a year and a half in Mexico before sailing onward to French Polynesia, Samoa, Tonga, Fiji, the Marshalls, Micronesia, down to the Solomon's, Vanuatu, New Caledonia, and Australia. By then I had put four more years in the tropical sun on the same sail cloth, and it had become very fragile. On the way up the Barrier Reef, the top panel started developing tears. By the time I had crossed the top of Australia and gotten to Ashmore Reef, the top panel was in shreds and only the bolt rope around the perimeter was holding the sail and yard together, yet the sailing performance did not suffer in any noticeable way. By that time the sun damage in the lower panels was severe enough that a careless push with my hand would go right through the sail. Even in bad squalls, the rips did not propagate because of the low stress on the cloth. I continued onward through Indonesia, Singapore, Malaysia, and Thailand. I finally replaced the sails in July of 2000 when they became too disreputable looking, even for me... What other rigs exist where a rip in the sail is not of any great concern, or that you would be able to continue onward for that many miles using sails with cloth so old and fragile? William Servais Aboard the junk rigged schooner, Migrant

In Conclusion

There are many excellent resources for more information on the junk rig. Tom Colvin has written many good articles and a few books on the subject, as have Hasler & McLeod, among others.

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Reply # on

Deleted user

A corner is the strongest most rigid part of a structure. The space in the cabin could be increased simply by angling the longitudinal bulkhead on it's port side, which would widen the aft end of the cabin as compared to the forward end. The mast could of course be offset well beyond center, leaving just a walkway between the cabin wall and the port hull.

H.W.

Deleted user

I had never imagined myself as a sewer, but having gone through a very rapid apprenticeship with David Tyler when making sails for our two boats I found I quite enjoyed sewing. I bought myself a semi industrial walking foot sewing machine a few years ago and have since made two sail covers and numerous other canvas projects for my boat, and so have certainly gotten back the investment in the sewing machine. If I want to know how to make a cover of some sort I look online for instructions, and also go and look at finished products on other boats.

(Administrator)

has a sound enough argument for his method. On his long voyages, he must deal with any problems without any help. In case a panel rips (that doesn’t happen) or a batten breaks, it will be quite doable to lash together two ‘fresh’ battens and thus reef away a broken batten or a ripped panel.

’s yard, when a weld broke. The rig was still usable and we returned to base under sail.

’s sail decides to rip in a panel, I will most probably complete the trip without doing anything to it. The oversize boltrope will ensure the integrity of the sail. However, if the trip is to last for several days, I guess I would tie the ends of the battens above and below the rip together. If the weather eased and allowed me to, I might ‘sew’ the battens together on 3-4 places to secure the slack panel (.. using needle and twine...).

carries a spare halyard...

(Administrator)

Deleted user

’s sails, where the batten panels are joined with ‘hinges’, are easier to make at home than for instance my sails, assembled the way I do it (..barrel cut panels, assembled using ‘Amateur Method B’...)?

showing the construction of ’s sail, will confirm this.

(Administrator)

....... Even more so would be Roger Taylors "hinged panel" sail, so his builders could make a cambered sail at home on an ordinary sewing machine easily. ’s sails, where the batten panels are joined with ‘hinges’, are easier to make at home than for instance my sails, assembled the way I do it (..barrel cut panels, assembled using ‘Amateur Method B’...)?

showing the construction of ’s sail, will confirm this.

(Administrator)

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Junk Rigged Trimaran

Discussion in ' Multihulls ' started by Owly , Oct 14, 2016 .

Owly Senior Member

I'm interested in anything on cruising trimarans converted to an unstayed mast with a junk rig. So far I've found only one converted to a junk rig, and it's a 3 meter Marples. There several cats with two masts, and they are quite elegant flying wing and wing. Junk rig appeals to me for a number of reasons. Unstayed mast / no standing rigging, balance area on the sail, light sail loadings and sheet loadings, instant reefing, and.....

Oops: My links didn't work ;-( I haven't figured out how to past a link to my files on my own computer. Let me try this.......... H.W. /home/howard/sailboat stuff/wing_and_wing_Junk.jpg

sorry about all this experimentation....... I'd edit these attempts out if I could. Looks like my only option is to past links from the net.......... H.W.

Boat Design Net Moderator Moderator

That's correct -- to use IMG code it has to be on a web accessible space/website. Or you can use the manage attachments feature to upload and attach with a post (click on go advanced or the blue post reply button and then click manage attachments.)

cavalier mk2 Senior Member

Heads up, even James Wharram decided junk sail weren't good for multihulls because of the increased turbulence caused by higher speeds and closer apparent wind angles. The unsupported luffs tend to shake a lot.

Thanks for the suggestions. I'll try again. A picture is worth a thousand words they say. H.W.

Attached Files:

Wing_and_wing_junk.jpg.

And the other one hopefully ;-)

3-meter-trimaran-junk-rig-6.jpg

cavalier mk2 said: ↑ Heads up, even James Wharram decided junk sail weren't good for multihulls because of the increased turbulence caused by higher speeds and closer apparent wind angles. The unsupported luffs tend to shake a lot. Click to expand...

trijunk.jpg

Richard Woods Woods Designs

Owly said: ↑ The junk rig has come a very long way since Wharram reached that conclusion. H.W. Click to expand...

Richard Woods said: ↑ And so of course has the fully battened conventional mainsail. No longer do we have heavy wood battens and a jamming sail track. Even on a 40ft catamaran you should be able to hoist a mainsail pretty much to the top without winching. And single-line reefing into lazy jacks means you can reef a sail singlehanded in seconds (well certainly in under a minute) I have seen both Jesters sailing and also Badger, incredibly slow boats. The junk rigged boat I sailed was just about the worst boat I have ever sailed. It wouldn't go to windward (we had to start the engine) reefing was really hard, there were lots of lines in the cockpit. Horrible. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=29QabdOcXwA&index=26&list=PLT7PbPvOm8lzsFDoSIUv_Fumvr_Zquicc You have to ask "if the junk rig was so good, so cheap, so easy why does no race boat use it?" Richard Woods of Woods Designs www.sailingcatamarans.com Click to expand...

You misunderstood me. You said "...and driving upwind with the best Bermuda rigs..." Which to me meant rigs used on racing boats - which exclusively use the "best Bermudian rigs". Thus your comment implies you think the junk rig is as fast as a bermudian rig. therefore my comment "why don't racing boats use them?" is reasonable Even if you yourself don't want to race you probably want to get off a leeshore in a gale, or get home before the pub closes, or get past a tidal gate. There are very few people who actually want a slow boat. Most want a boat that is easy to sail and has a predictable behaviour. You don't have to have a junk rig to get that RW

I'll stay with Richard on this one but it's nice to see someone trying something. Those pictures certainly look corrugated with vertical camber between battens and double horizontal camber induced by the mast. This makes things less efficient for a given amount of sail area, low area with easily driven hulls means less work sailing. My suggestion for the junk rig would be to go with wishbone battens and sail cloth on both sides of the mast for a true foil shape with the advantages of junk rig control. Freestanding masts in tris are nothing new. Newick designed cruisers that way using a rotating lungstrom rig. The advantage there is the sail can roll up on the mast for reefing and being a double sail it allows you to open it up to double the off wind area. Far less expensive to get that donor monohull though, plus with that displacement wave train you'll seem just as fast as the conventional rig in a breeze. Light air sails are a bit of a head scratcher with a junk but I imagine something with a free luff could be hoisted to the masthead.

Of course doubling the sail cloth area will hugely increase the price of the sail and the weight you must lift when hoisting All the junk rig sailors I have met and read about complain that the sail slaps and bangs in light winds. Pitching can't be good either with all that weight aloft RW

This is true. For low cost and simplicity it is hard to beat a conventional sloop rig with a furler jib. Monohull gear and sails are readily available 2nd hand and light air sails are easy to rig. Conventional main reefing is easy, even if you skip battens. We cruise this way, the boat sails very well and handles fast changing conditions easily. Our late season cruise took us into the Central Johnstone Straight area and we didn't return till late September, easily shortened or increased sail area keeps it fun. In the PNW good windward ability is important as most of the time you are either going to windward or downwind because the islands and mountains channel the wind. Going up we had some great tailwinds where the chute would be up all day, great to be able to take advantage of the speed to cover more ground. If you can't sail well to windward you'll use lots of gas.

There are lots of ocean cruisers new to sailing who say "I'll go where the wind blows". What they don't realise is that means they eventually end up on a lee shore - then what? Cav, I didn't do much sailing this year in the PNW, apart from the R2Ak, I write this at home in the UK RW

Sea Trials and a cruise, Proa WHY NOT? Junk Rigged, very pleased...

Pacific proa junk rigged.

Anyone know anything about this..... (Swedish junk-rigged proa Akka)

How junk rigs work, and why they are better than rm, pacific proa, shunting junk rig, the details...., a junk rig for a pacific proa....

26 foot catamaran for junk rig

junk rig catamaran made from plastic bottles?

1981 52' CSK ketch rigged catamaran

18' Trimaran built for camping. Cutter rigged.

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08-04-2019, 03:02
Boat: Minicat 310 Sport	around one thing, monosail , like here: I mean I'm leaving a site the insane skills this has to sail a Achiles 24 in high arctic sea, that is a whole another story, but what really caught my eye is the jung rig. Since that is rare to see, what are the benefits? I mean if someone goes for voyage for months especially in the arctic, there must be absolutely strong benefits for this type of rig. So I thought why not to start a discussion here, really interested to know what you think?

08-04-2019, 05:10
Boat: FP Belize Maestro 43 and OPBs

08-04-2019, 05:24
Boat: B24	thinking several years ago that Jester’s legacy was a bit spotty – the vane caught on and almost became a status symbol (even for queens), but the seemed to tweak few designers other than Hasler, Colvin and a few others who weren’t IOR types. The junk rigs seems to have remained the hallmark of those skippers (usually short-handed) who hear a different drummer – but folks like Taylor keep it alive… I'd once thought to rerig our B24 al'a Ming Ming. Like those fifty+ “reasons…”

08-04-2019, 18:03
Boat: 1979 Bristol 35.5 CB	and generally scorned. The junk may have its day.

09-04-2019, 00:56
Boat: Minicat 310 Sport	based on conditions, he just lowers or rises it. This system really is appealing to me.

09-04-2019, 01:06
Boat: Herreshoff 36

09-04-2019, 02:49
Boat: Timpenny 770 7.7m	but you need a very strong and heavy . Great on a run bout you can't point very well. Easy to reef. There is a bit of a demo on reefing in this video (yacht Teleport):

09-04-2019, 03:06
Boat: Volkscruiser	to Keppel island and back. Some handed other times with the wife. Cannot say I was overly impressed, coming from sailing a standard rig I really missed not being able to fly a kite or MPS. The best bit of junk rig is the ability to raise or lower sail easily. But thats irrelevant since we now have mains and headsails. The worst bit is the weight of the and all up so high. I only ever owned one Junk Rig and that was enough for me. Cheers

09-04-2019, 06:53
Boat: Sabre 402	weight up too high. This reduces overall sail area, so the is slower. Newer junk rig designs may be lighter and more aerodynamic, but upwind seems to still be a big hurdle. Modern slab reefing or r/f provides the same ability to adjust sail area but avoids the heavy and windage associated with it while providing better performance on all points of sail. Gentlemen may not sail to windward, but sometimes getting off a lee shore is a requirement. "1421"( ) brings up what might have happened to junks that didn't go upwind well. They seem to have left pieces of themselves on Africa's , in and . Shipwrecked crew might have settled in and . Rigs have improved since then.

09-04-2019, 08:14

around one thing, monosail junk rig, like here:

09-04-2019, 08:34
	is on a and is used mostly for pointing and light air. The has a marconi shape, full batten main, similar to a junk type rig. I'm an older sailor and I really like the ease of matching the sail area to the speed all from the . When done sailing the full batten main folds neatly into the lazy jacks. The weight of the battens helps the sail fold neatly on the boom.

09-04-2019, 09:41
Boat: a sailing boat	on other points ... So it all depends. One must think about how they are going to use the boat. b.

09-04-2019, 14:40
Boat: Cape Dory 31	Met Shirley Carter and Speedwell in back in 2015. She has a fascinating blog.

09-04-2019, 14:58
Boat: Tom Colvin Gazelle 42ft	is full of this very question. And some of the comments so far are right on, some not so much. We sailed our Tom Colvin designed Gazelle GAIA around the world over the last 24 years so have some first hand opinions on the matter. GAIA was launched in in April 1995 and from there sailed down the St Lawrence to the Canadian Maritimes, down the to and the and from there did a three year of the . After the back to then over to and via west to . From back to Florida and from Florida through the , across the Pacific to with too many stops to mention. From via PNG, Pulau, Phillipines and , etc to , back to , to the , back to Malaysia. And then via Sumatra, Rodriquez, Mauritius and Reunion to and . From SA to Brazil via St Helena and Ascension followed by French Guyana, Suriname, and Guyana to Martinigue etc to Great Inagua and the rest of the and Florida. From Florida we returned to the Bahamas this year and are now in the Berry Islands waiting for suitable to return once more to Florida. This little summation is of course far from complete as we prefer to stop everywhere and anywhere but the list of countries visited is already longer than required for this post. The point of the list is to underline the ability of a junk rigged boat to sail anywhere in . and comfort where priorities when GAIA was built. She boasts a unstayed rig designed for us by Sunbird rigs of , so losing the rig because of failure is not possible. She has high solid life lines so falling is difficult. She can be handled from her pilothouse reducing the chance of accidents. She has no winches because she has no heavily loaded lines. She has no through hulls using standpipes instead so cannot sink due to a hose failure. She has two masts and three sails. Colvin added a non-Chinese to his designs to aid upwind performance. She is with a and protected all aiding safety as does her . She is so stable and well protected that we seldom use our safety harnesses. GAIAalso has a autopitching Autoprop to aid sailing to windward. Sailing to windward is not her strong point but it is equally obvious when watching other cruising that sailing to windward is not the preferred option of Marconi rigged boats either. We often see them motoring while we are still sailing. And she is fast! It always annoys me to read someone opining in total ignorance about the performance of junk rigged boats. As if they are all equal. Are all marconi rigged boats fast? Of course not. Off the , and the vast majority of circumnavigating sailors do so off the wind, she will equal and more often beat boats of a similar line length. We have proven that numerous times since we all know when two boats are within sight of each other the is on. On several occasions we have, while 'racing' with friends in the Pacific, actually gone back, circled them and raced again. And have the testimonials to prove it. If a cruising boat of similar size has no spinaker, and after all should a short handed cruising boat carry one? then normally when sailing off the wind we will be faster. In the last week we made five short passages from to the Staniel Cay area, from there to Green Cay on the Tongue of the Ocean, from Green Cay to South Bight in Andros and when the ruled against a transit of the bank south of Andros to Florida we sailed yesterday from Lisbon Creek to . Then today we sailed from Nassau's west bay to Frazer's Hog Cay. We had a quartering wind on two of those passages. The first had variable winds and we did not our averages. On the second, from Sampson cay near Staniel cay to Green Cay , a distance of fifty miles we sailed on the foresail only as the easterly wind was far aft and we were in no hurry. We averaged close to six knots. From Green Cay to South Bight, a distance of 25 miles we again averaged six knots in a quartering easterly and from South Bight to West Bay in , a little over 50 nm in a 15 ese breeze using the jib, foresail and half reefed we averaged 6.5 knots. On occasion, in gusts, we got up to nearly 8 knots. And then today with winds again of 12 to 15 kts from the SE we ran downwind on the foresail only and averaged 5 kts hitting 6.5 on occasion. We have learned to sail conservatively as damage on long passages are far worse than arriving a little later but in stronger winds GAIA easily reaches her waterline length limit of just over 8 knots and we have often done much more while surfing. In the we hit speeds of 11 knots while surfing. GAIA's maximum one day run was achieved in the Mozambigue Channel where we covered 200 miles. When we first left to cross the Atlantic from the Bahamas to Bermuda we sailed in ideal conditions for GAIA, i.e. 15 to 18 kts on the aft quarter, 960 nautical miles in six days with a maximum daily run of 185. And you know the most remarkable thing? We did not get the decks wet! And from Bermuda to the , with a half a dozen boats all sailing Herb Hilgenberg's magic Lat 34 deg line if memory serves, no one changed position and we saw no one either although we did get a net going. I remember a particularly fine run in off of New , where i woke up from my turn to sleep wondering why we were going so slow. When I came up top with Helen on watch, we were doing 7 knots! Today we ghosted into the Frazer's Hog cut to pick up a on two of the foresail while still doing 4 knots. Slow? What poppycock. Stubby masts so small sails? Nonsense. One glance at a junk rig will show you all that sail area up high where the wind is. Who needs masts reaching up into the stratosphere to gain another measly little triangle of three square feet? Tall masts are a macho thing. In fact what is more amazing is how difficult it is to go slow when the wind blows! We left the more or less at the same time as 14 other boats in light winds from aft headed for . Often we ghosted at four knots with the sails goose winged. We were the first to come in. Often, when sailing downwind in rough seas but not too strong winds we set the foresail in the middle aided by the fact that our junk sails are double sheeted, i.e. they have port and starboard sheetlets and . We then sail on the only and the foresail almost completely stops the rolling that can be so annoying when sailing exactly downwind. When we left from Mossel Bay to with six other boats we were the second to arrive in boisterous conditions. And in our pilothouse we were comfortable and well rested on arrival. And all that brings out the best argument for the junk rig when considering a cruising rig to faraway places. GAIA's two junk sails have six reef points each. If one down one full batten at a time. And that is without expensive and prone to disastrous failure complications like in the boom or mast . We just drop a panel, tighten up the that connect to each batten and continue on our way in minutes. We almost never go to windward to raise or lower sails. We just do it. All from the pilothouse. We bought new gear">foul weather gear in 1995 and wore it for the first time while a FP across the Atlantic last summer. We crewed on her to see if we would like sailing a with all the creature comforts that that entails and came away realizing how lucky we are to have an easily handled boat like our junk rigged GAZELLE GAIA! Catamaran sailors are justifiably paranoic about getting caught with too much sail up. Particularly the main sail.When it happens to us we hit standby on the , the fully battened sails weathercock without a flutter and we deal with it. Easy peasy. And in an ? One release of the spinlock on the and the whole thing thumps down into its lazy jacks. Gone! And finally we broke our bottom battens while crossing the South Atlantic just after leaving . The bottom battens are our booms! We simply tied those booms up to the next batten and sailed all the way back to Florida thus. The rigs are amazingly forgiving, just what one needs while in the boonies �� I could go on and on. Jim and Helen sv GAIA

09-04-2019, 15:47
Boat: None at present--between vessels. Ex Piver Loadstar 12.5 metres	, and they can be dropped in an instant, and are a "Soft" rig which is easy on the vessel and on the rigging. They can also be used in many configurations, biplane, schooner, ketch--all sorts of possibilities. If they asked me, I could write a book--

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Incredible service and very friendly. Joseph was a great communicator and got the job done to exactly what we needed. We couldn't be at the house when he was there so he was great at sending photos to make sure everything was done correctly. We were in a pinch and needed someone asap and he came the very next day. Incredible service would highly recommend!

The reviews here for JFT are 100% accurate- last minute apartment clean out in Pullman. JT promptly responded to all inquiries. gave accurate estimates. came on time. and went above and beyond in accommodating a 2 day load out and haul away (up 3 flights of stairs). Great to work with - HIGHLY recommended. Lifesaver.

Bottom line, up front: You will never regret hiring JTF Hauling! Back story: My daughter was in school at WSU, interrupted by Covid. She came home to Connecticut for the duration and, as often happens, a new plan evolved that didn't include returning to her apartment in Pullman. Like many her age, she let things slide until we were faced with a hard, short deadline to empty the place. I was fortunate to find Palouse Habitat, who took what they could from the apartment, but was up against it for the rest. Turning to the internet, I found JT Fountain of JTF Hauling. I reached out in with a phone call, and JT promptly answered, and quickly became my lifeline there. In all things, he was responsive, flexible, and responsible, coordinating with the Habitat team and the landlady on timing (which was super short), staying in contact and keeping me informed throughout. After emptying the remaining apartment items (and checking with me on what stayed and what went), he offered to vacuum the place (no extra charge) to help get my security deposit back. Then, just to be sure, he photographed each room, documenting their end state and sending me the photos (which I hadn't even thought of). Finally, he came in on the lower end of his estimate, a real bonus! Note that all these things happened without any money changing hands, not even a deposit. I've never met JT face to face, but in my book, he's amazing. Honest, straightforward, kind, considerate and thorough. I recommend him for all your hauling needs without reservation! You'll never be sorry.

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Dan’s Stove & Spa

We are proud dealers for quality hearth lines such as Avalon, Lopi, Blaze King, FirePlace Xtrordinair, Scan, ToyoStove and Jotul. Whether you need a freestand stove, an insert or a fireplace we can meet your needs. read more

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Pointe Pest Control

22.3 miles away from JTF Hauling

Brent R. said "Adam was professional and timely. This is our first appointment but things are going in the right direction. Pointe was able to service us in less than 24 hours from my initial call." read more

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