Moored to a dock along the Guadiana river, we saw this yacht, it is weird and simple at the same time.
It is a schooner, but it has no staysails. Why? What is the idea behind it?
We met the skipper. Sebastian said: “You know, I don’t like sailing. I like motoring. But when at sea, one makes a lot of miles and I don’t want to spend all diesel. And this is the simplest rig you can ever get.”
He showed it. You simply roll the sail out en in, like a furling jibb. Next to the halyard, the whole running rig consists of one sheet and one furling line. Easy! When you want to reef, you just furl it in a bit. OK, the shape is shit, but that is a concession. And you can not hoist other sails, but that is the KISS idea: keep it simple, stupid!
The masts stick through the deck and they rotate simply on a bearing on deck. The extra beauty is that there is no weight on deck other than the weight of the mast and sail. This is much much lighter than the compression forces that our shrouds and stays are making.
With an invention like carbon fiber, Bob’s your uncle.
The boat is for sale now. See https://www.leboncoin.fr › c › nautisme