January 21st, 2022

Clover's Original Sail Plan vs. Current Dimensions

Clover ​circa 1947

Clover circa 1977

True to our vision for her restoration, Clover is returning to a gaff-rig.  In the 1970's she was converted to a Marconi masthead rig; 14 feet of Douglas fir was added to her mast, and 3 feet was taken off her boom.  

Her original sail plan as shown in a 1938 issue of Britain's Yachting magazine looked like this: 

Her resultant plan today, given that we have shortened the mast and retained the boom as altered in the 1970's, would look like this:

A number of issues present themselves.  First, the resultant sail area is 100 s.f. less in the mainsail.  This has the combined effect of driving the lateral Center of Effort farther forward and slowing the boat down, giving her a large amount of weather helm; how much is difficult to project.  The boat has a 50 ton displacement, which requires the sail area to drive her.  On the other hand, she has a long full keel to counteract a large amount of lead in the Center of Lateral Effort, and may do just fine with a reduced sail area.

Also of interest is the difference in the staysail stay, which results in a loose footed staysail with an offset between the tack and the forward end of the staysail boom.  Clover's samson post came later in her life, which accounts for the shift in the position of the staysail.

What to do? It will be interesting as we look into this further to decide whether to take the current dimensions of the boat or to make further adjustments to get her closer to her original configuration.