Opposite: weight vs drag… for his first Endeavour challenge in 1934 aircraft manufacturer Sopwith focused on drag reduction with this slender welded steel mast rather than fit the slightly larger but lighter aluminium spars of his rivals. Note how Endeavour’s boom is still well above the black band – the big cotton mainsail has yet to be fully stretched for the day. In 1937 Sopwith would return to Newport with Endeavour II (centre) but he kept faith with the now fashionable large genoa while defender Ranger committed (left) to a full inventory of quad headsails. To add to Ranger’s edge her aluminium mast was stiff enough for her crew to clear the foredeck of the inner forestay upwind; Vanderbilt considered Ranger to be the slower accelerating of the two designs but faster through the water (shades of Stars&Stripes vs Kookaburra in 1987) so being able to tack the headsail much faster neatly redressed any deficit
store and retrieve and bend on another sail… (Of course the irony is that, like Rainbow
but rods could not be made in time for Ranger’s next race and the only swage machine in the world big enough to do J boat rigging wire was in Wilkes Barre Penn… a long drive from the east coast. But rigging wire was found, marked up, loaded on a truck to Wilkes Barre where conven- tional swages were employed before the whole lot was returned to Bristol, Rhode Island. Eight days after Ranger arrived with only the bottom third of her mast standing they stepped Enterprise’s re-rigged mast. Rod and Olin Stephens – neither yet 30 – led the entire operation. They earned Vander- bilt’s thanks which he recorded in his wonderful book, On the Wind’s Highway.) The British boats in 1930 and ’34 were
seemingly still rigged with 7x7 galvanised wire as photos clearly show spliced rigging. Splicing 1x19 is almost impossible but it
is worthy of note that the first batch of Concordia yawls built by Abeking and Rasmussen and shipped to the US in the early 1950s were indeed rigged with spliced 1x19. I think by the time Endeavour II was rigged she too used 1x19, but now the wire was inserted into a galvanised socket, splayed out, and the socket filled with molten zinc. (Those familiar with modern carbon standing rigging will recognise the process instantly – just substitute the three materials with a stainless or titanium socket, carbon rods and epoxy resin.) Running rigging of the time was primarily
wire only, led to below deck spool winches of tremendous power. This was nothing new – in 1914 the giant Resolute had her halyards and mainsheet all led below decks. All other running rigging except for the mainsheet was galvanised 7x19 wire spliced to light linen tails. Sailing gloves did not exist – it was said that if an amateur grabbed a galvanised wire he lost the palms of his hands, whereas when a prof essional grabbed a galvanised wire the galvanising came off the wire! The mainsheet was large-diameter linen
line but on Ranger they had a specially made mainsheet that was tapered. When sailing
downwind in light air the heavy part of the mainsheet was pulled onboard while the main was trimmed with the small section so that the sheet did not drag in the water pulling the main in. On all the Js the main- sheet was six-part Italian hemp/linen. To flatten the main further upwind, an
additional four-part tackle was secured to the mainsheet using a clamp designed by Nat Herreshoff back in the 1890s. This gave a 12-part purchase on the
mainsheet; Olin Stephens pointed out that while only four men could operate the stan- dard winches of the time (winches will be covered in a later article) 10 men could work this tackle, each pulling probably 100lb. So with 1,000lb on the end of even a relatively primitive 12-part tackle they could still add an extra three or so tons on the sheet. Sails were cotton-canvas made from the
best Egyptian long staple cotton, all hand- sewn and with a mainsail weighing more than three-quarters of a ton. Vanderbilt insisted that at the end of a day’s sailing Ranger’s main would always be unbent and carried to the store room. This was not just about weight gain and shrinkage. Vanderbilt always had a choice of mainsails for different wind conditions, and he felt that if the sail was left on the boom he might be tempted to use the wrong sail rather than unbend it, take it to the
‘When the helmsman on a big cutter realised the mast is going to go, he puts the helm hard down dropping the rig and the main boom off to leeward. Since the crew were to windward usually there were few if
any serious injuries’ – yachting correspondent John Scott Hughes, writing in 1930
before her, Ranger herself was again built on the cheap as in 1937 Vanderbilt found himself unable to assemble a syndicate so paid all the bills himself – as far as we know, many of her mainsails were taken from Enterprise and Rainbow!). During the J boat era the all-wire main
halyards were tensioned on huge captive winches down below. In 1930 Enterprise’s ‘black gang’ winding these winches had been some 17-strong. However, defence rival Weetamoee
carried two early coffee grinders below decks, each driven by four men, which were connected to large-diameter winch drums up on deck. Enterprise copied Weetamoee’s coffee grinders but also led her running backstays below decks. This too was nothing new as Resolute, built for the 1914 defence that took place in 1920, had all her wire halyards on spool winches below decks. To hoist the main it was all hands on the
end of the halyard. The 1930 rule limited the height of the masthead from the deck but this was changed in ’34 to measure the height to a black band. This allowed the main halyard sheave to be well above the head of the main when hoisted. On Rainbow and Ranger the halyard
lock could also be engaged and disengaged without sending a man aloft. All other Js required sending a man aloft to engage the halyard lock which was a difficult and very dangerous operation in anything of a sea. To adjust the luff tension on the main the
boom was on a sliding gooseneck. Once the main was up and stretched with some sailing, especially in rainy or foggy weather when it would shrink more, the luff tension was adjusted by raising or lowering the boom. If you look carefully at old photos of the J boats of the day, you will sometimes see a boat sailing around with its boom well above the black band – as the sail had not yet been stretched. Headsails were also initially hoisted by
hand but to tension the luff a six-part tackle was attached to the tack and led aft to either the anchor windlass or a winch. In the 1930 series all the boats were triple w
SEAHORSE 55
BETTMAN/GETTY
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48 |
Page 49 |
Page 50 |
Page 51 |
Page 52 |
Page 53 |
Page 54 |
Page 55 |
Page 56 |
Page 57 |
Page 58 |
Page 59 |
Page 60 |
Page 61 |
Page 62 |
Page 63 |
Page 64 |
Page 65 |
Page 66 |
Page 67 |
Page 68 |
Page 69 |
Page 70 |
Page 71 |
Page 72 |
Page 73 |
Page 74 |
Page 75 |
Page 76 |
Page 77 |
Page 78 |
Page 79 |
Page 80 |
Page 81 |
Page 82 |
Page 83 |
Page 84 |
Page 85 |
Page 86 |
Page 87 |
Page 88 |
Page 89 |
Page 90 |
Page 91 |
Page 92 |
Page 93 |
Page 94 |
Page 95 |
Page 96 |
Page 97 |
Page 98 |
Page 99 |
Page 100
