La Novia
World Cruising Yacht
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Tuamoto Archipelago Society Islands Palmerston Atol Niue Tonga New Zealand Australia Christmas Island Thailand...
The Aerorig 360 which powers La Novia is a completely unstayed, balanced, rotating rig, built by Carbospars in Southampton. Her carbon fibre mast is 90 feet tall and she carries 1650 ft.² of sail. The jib is stored on a manual furler and the mainsail is managed with lazy jacks and a stack pack.
The Aerorig is a fusion of a Chinese junk rig and modern materials technology, designed by Ian Howlett. The rig is made up of a mast, a main boom and a fore-boom. The booms are rigidly fixed to the mast. The mast is totally unstayed and is mounted in two bearings - one in the bottom of the hull and one in the deck. These allow the mast - and therefore the whole rig -- to rotate freely. The jib is completely self - tacking on a traveller mounted on the mast.
As long as more sail is set behind the mast than in front of it, the rig will weathercock into wind if left to its own devices. The whole rig can therefore be controlled and the sail angle set by restricting the angle of rotation using a single mainsheet.
This is amazingly easy to manage and trim compared with a conventional rig. Furthermore, the mainsheet loading is only about one third of that on an equivalent stayed rig because the rotational force of the jib offsets that of the mainsail - hence a "balanced" rig.
The Aerorig was an unusual choice, but we have no regrets:
Shorthanded passage making is so easy, there are major safety advantages with children on board, there is no standing rigging to maintain, the visibility and space on deck are improved, sailing downwind ceases to be a dangerous nightmare, jibing is a breeze, short tacking to windward up a narrow channel is effortless and above all, it is so distinctive that La Novia creates interest and makes friends for us wherever we go.
The Aerorig is a fusion of a Chinese junk rig and modern materials technology, designed by Ian Howlett. The rig is made up of a mast, a main boom and a fore-boom. The booms are rigidly fixed to the mast. The mast is totally unstayed and is mounted in two bearings - one in the bottom of the hull and one in the deck. These allow the mast - and therefore the whole rig -- to rotate freely. The jib is completely self - tacking on a traveller mounted on the mast.
As long as more sail is set behind the mast than in front of it, the rig will weathercock into wind if left to its own devices. The whole rig can therefore be controlled and the sail angle set by restricting the angle of rotation using a single mainsheet.
This is amazingly easy to manage and trim compared with a conventional rig. Furthermore, the mainsheet loading is only about one third of that on an equivalent stayed rig because the rotational force of the jib offsets that of the mainsail - hence a "balanced" rig.
The Aerorig was an unusual choice, but we have no regrets:
Shorthanded passage making is so easy, there are major safety advantages with children on board, there is no standing rigging to maintain, the visibility and space on deck are improved, sailing downwind ceases to be a dangerous nightmare, jibing is a breeze, short tacking to windward up a narrow channel is effortless and above all, it is so distinctive that La Novia creates interest and makes friends for us wherever we go.
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© 2003-2007 M Boyd Maunsell