Gunter rigged sailboat. Gaff or Gunter rig? What works best?

Gaff and gunter rigged sailboats look similar, but which rig works best on a cruising dinghy? In this video, I show you how I rig my cruising dinghy moonlight, and talk about some of the pros and cons of different traditional sailing rigs. I go into a fair bit of detail about the origins of the gunter rig, how I go about lashing the sails onto the spars, raising the rig, and making reefing quick and easy. I hope you are enjoying these videos. Part of my mission is to inspire more people to enjoy and sail classic wooden boats.
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The main difference between a gaff and a gunter rig is that the sail has 3 sides. The Gaff rig was originally developed in Holland. The upper yard, or gaff, lays away from the mast, making the forth side to the sail. This gives the sail a low aspect ratio, meaning the center of effort is low compared to a mast-head rig.
The Sliding Gunter rig was used on many whaleboats. The top yard slides down the mast when the sail is reefed, again, reducing the aspect ratio, and also reducing the weight suspended from the top of the mast. Stepping and unstepping a shorter mast is easier. You have the same size and shape of the sail found on a Bermuda rig with its "bendy " mast, using the gunter setup. Wind-tunnel tests by Jeremy Howard-Williams found the Gunter was just as fast as a Bermuda rig on the wind, and faster off the wind.
In my experience, when faced with a stiff breeze, say 20 - 30 knots, the top yard of the Gunter lays off the wind. Spilling excess load, and this is even more exaggerated when the Gunter yard is dropped without changing the point at which it is hitched to the halyard. In fact, this is the way I always reefed the sail, and only now as I have made this video have I set it up properly to lower the point of attachment to allow the hitch to come right up into the sheave block at the top of the mast. I am looking forward to trying that out the next time I am out in a bit of a blow.
The gunter rig is a tremendously flexible design, giving the owner the ability to vary the setup according to sailing conditions and preferences. It is estimated that there are as many as 60,000 mirror dinghies sailed all over the world using the Gunter rig.
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[@randykaminski6214]

I absolutely enjoyed everything about your video-all descriptions of the rigging, wood history, and location. My son and I like the song Men at Work also. Also, completely admire the shape and workmanship of you hull-incredible design! I am from the upper peninsula of Michigan and will be acquiring a Peabod shaped dinghy 13’ with a Gunter rig. Many pieces of hardware are missing or lack proper design aspects, so I hope to structure the hardware/rigging in good fashion. It is not the beautiful wood as found in your craft, but aluminum bits.. Thank you again, I will be exploring some of your other posts, as I greatly enjoyed this one!

[@SmallSailboatCruising]

Thanks for your uplifting comments. As we enter spring I’m anticipating the launch of my 18 footer after an extensive refit. I’ve been so busy working on her I haven’t had time to post a video recently. But there are several earlier videos about her history and design. Check them out and let me know what you think of her? I’d like you to connect with me on Facebook @sailingmoonlight or Chris Joseph. You can post some pictures of your new craft there. Excellent father and son project. Warmest greetings from down under down under (Not so warm Tasmania but improving daily)

[@SmallSailboatCruising]

I was just sharing with my wife how encouraging your comments are. I was thinking you are up over up over northern states. As we are down under down under. Southern state. I imagine you are well prepared for the Fall as we are preparing for summer. Blessings from Chris n

[@randykaminski6214]

Thank you! We are entering the end of our season and I always try to run the balance between enjoying the last inkling of warm, and putting things away before the cold. We are north of the 46th parallel. If you know where the Great Lakes are, we are on the peninsula in the middle of Lake Huron, Michigan, and Superior. I found and am following the fb page-thank you for this-and will try to write up a little bit about my boat-sorry it is mostly fiberglass, but I believe the design origins are from wood design.

[@SmallSailboatCruising]

@@randykaminski6214 I checked your location. Very interesting history there. My last two boats were fiberglass trailer sailers. They have their place! I’m launching Sarah Ann tomorrow. Big day out on the river.

[@randykaminski6214]

I have not figured out how to post on the fb page? I have working on and figuring things out in my boat, I might try to get it in the water at least once before the weather changes.

[@johnevans7389]

Great to see a traditional rig, just how it used to be. My dinghy is also gunter rig and it's very forgiving. Thanks for sharing.

[@SmallSailboatCruising]

That rig comes from the original John Philip boat. I’m estimating it would be nearly 80 years old.

[@Pocketfarmer1]

I work on seagoing tugboats in the eastern United States. One technique we use for our rope work is to cut it with an angle grinder with a thin cut off wheel. Cuts and melts in one go. Ive done it on small stuff 1/4inch up through 9 inch hawsers. Lovely boat. Fair winds.

[@SmallSailboatCruising]

That is one of the best simple little ideas I have heard in a long time. What a time saver, and neat as a pin. Thanks for sharing regards Christopher

[@quatsi212]

Lovely work. Something to aspire to.

[@SmallSailboatCruising]

Thanks that’s what I’m setting out to do.

[@leadsocks]

Fascinating and valuable knowledge, thanks for sharing. Moonlight is a beautiful boat, well done "early twenties" you!

[@SmallSailboatCruising]

Thank you kindly!

[@17trevord]

Thank you, very informative.

[@SmallSailboatCruising]

Glad it was helpful!

[@jasonstork9606]

I just love your boat. The attention to detail and the special selections of wood are fantastic. We lived in Tassie for a while and love the smell of those timbers. We should go sailing sometime, I have some videos of my boat. It is nothing like yours in terms of traditional design but she came up really nice and it was a big learning experience.

[@SmallSailboatCruising]

We sail on Great Sandy Strait with Fraser Coast Small dinghy Cruising. There is a group on FB. Glad you like it, I appreciate the kind words.

[@MoneyPitBoating]

@@SmallSailboatCruising We just watched the documentary "Untold: The Race of the Century" about the 83' America's Cup race. It was awesome!

[@stuartirvine-brown3942]

Hi Christopher, I’m ever more enthralled by your videos and given I live in your local vicinity and have seen Moonlight on occasions navigating the Maroochy river I’d be ‘over the moonlight’ to learn more about the fundamentals of trailer sailing. What are your 3 tips to launching and retrieving

[@businesspilot5933]

Good to hear from you Stuart. If you ever see me on the river in either Moonlight or Mozart, give me a wave and I will come over and have a yarn. I'd say, number 1 is getting your trailer set up properly. There is a video on that subject on the channel. Don't put your bearings in the water if you can avoid it. Carefully take note of the wind and current before attempting to launch and try to imagine what will happen to your boat once these forces take hold. I am just about to post a new video on self-steering you might be interested in.

[@SmallSailboatCruising]

I just noticed I had replied using my Business Pilot persona!

[@stuartirvine-brown3942]

Thanks Chris, I didn't actually notice myself, but those pointers are great advice plus insights from previous videos.

[@Tony-ot4mh]

Wonderful, Thanks from south africa....but the loud music ????

[@SmallSailboatCruising]

+Tony Thanks for the feedback. I’ll work on that. Others have also made the same point.

[@santierindel3159]

Great little boat! I like the way you set up your gunter. I have learned bit today watching your video. I love that you built the boat so long ago and she still looks so good! like a distinguished member of the family. Quick question - Do you only sail with a main sail or is there a jib as well that you just did not put on this time?

[@SmallSailboatCruising]

Yes there is a jib. I wish I had a bigger one though! The earlier versions had a bowsprit as well. Maybe one day.

[@novoross53]

Душевно . Попутного ветра.

[@SmallSailboatCruising]

Thank you. Seasons greetings. I’m thinking you may have snow. We are in the midst of a warm summer. I’m hoping it will indeed be a season of fair winds. 😊

[@msf60khz]

Great video, thank you. For a given mast length, and assuming two halliards, a gunter will set more sail area than a gaff. But the gaff is very nice to sail with and can be reefed down further, because the yard does not hit the boom. I can also use a yard topsail above the gaff sail to increase area. This uses a telescopic Aluminium tube. Both sails have the advantage over a Bermudan that they come down very quickly and, if necessary, when off the wind. So they are more seamanlike. I also find that the gaff can be a little shorter than the gunter yard, and so it is a light spar to raise. In my case the gaff is a cut down Mirror spar, so the sail is in a groove.

[@SmallSailboatCruising]

Thanks for the insights. It sounds as though you have a wealth of experience. What are your thoughts on adding a bowsprit to Moonlight and increasing the sail area by making her a cutter rig? Light wind performance is very poor with just a tiny jib.

[@msf60khz]

@@SmallSailboatCruising The present jib looks to be not setting quite right as it is flapping the whole time. I think the foot of the sail is not tensioned enough, so maybe move the sheet position a few inches aft. If you go for a bowsprit you can use a jib but it might not have the good luff tension that you have now because your forestay goes to the stem head. It might also give you some lee helm. I can't see on the videos what position the tiller is normally in, whether to windward or leeward. Another issue is that you will have to pull the jib around the forestay when tacking. I do know however that on a real cutter, the jib brigs the vessel to life and is much better than the staysail alone.For downwind work I have a spinnaker which I use in light airs. It is non standard, so it is tacked down to a cleat by the foot of the mast and it is poled out from the shrouds.

[@rlb96]

Talk soft and play music. Makes it great to hear what you're saying.

[@SmallSailboatCruising]

Thanks for the feedback

[@57ezrider]

She is so Beautiful,,Thank you for the walk through..PS; I'm Jealous HA HA

[@SmallSailboatCruising]

Just wait until you see her big sister I recently acquired. 😀

[@SmallSailboatCruising]

Life disrupted. I'm now the custodian of an amazing wooden boat with an incredible story to be told kzbin.info/www/bejne/i3e0h5ype85pnac

[@BigFiveJack]

I suspect a great advantage of a GUNTER over a GAFF is that the former can be set up with just one halyard.

[@SmallSailboatCruising]

True. Apart from being a more efficient sail.

[@msf60khz]

But if you want quick and easy reefing the the Gunter I use two halliards, one on each of the two attachment points on the yard. Having created two halliards, you can use both Gunter and Gaff sails with no rigging changes.

[@Helliconia54]

how different ,gunter V's Marconi ?

[@SmallSailboatCruising]

The Marconi (or Bermuda) is a mast-head rig. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bermuda_rig

[@mikefule330]

"Marconi" is an "unofficial" or "jokey" name for the type of rig that has metal stays and spreaders and therefore resembles a Marconi radio mast. The term is usually associated with the Bermuda sloop which has a tall mast (hence the need for stays and spreaders) and has a triangular mainsail and a jib. (Often, the sail is not perfectly triangular because the top part of the triangle is widened with the use of battens.) Point is that the Bermudan has a tall mast and the sail is attached to the mast along the luff and is attached to the boom, meaning it has only two attached edges. The gunter rig has a shorter mast (which is usually stayed) and an upper spar which lies parallel to the mast and can be considered to be an extension to the mast. The sail is still basically triangular , but the leading edge is not perfectly straight because part of it is attached to the mast, and part of it is attached to the yard. There is usually more confusion between gunter and gaff as they have the same number of components. However, the gaff rig is unlike the gunter because the upper spar does not act like a continuation or extension of the mast, but hangs out at an angle making the sail very definitely 4 sided.

[@Helliconia54]

@@mikefule330 I guess i should have been more careful with my question.My bad.What i meant was,The difference between the gunter and bermuda/marconi rig,in performance. sorry about that

[@SmallSailboatCruising]

Mikefule excellent summary. I learnt the origins of Marconi- makes sense.

[@richardrichard508]

Great vessel and video. Shame about the irriatating and totally unnecessary music.

[@SmallSailboatCruising]

I can’t help but agree. Fortunately time is a good teacher. 3 years on now.

[@adzehill]

Found the music interfered with hearing what you had to say.

[@SmallSailboatCruising]

Thanks for letting me know. I’ll be mindful of that. Cheers Chris

[@davidprocter3578]

nice little boat but I have to disagree with your definition of the gunter rig, gunters can have up to five sides. This is why they are some times called leg of mutton

[@SmallSailboatCruising]

That is interesting, I hadn't heard of that before. Do you have some pictures or more information.

[@davidprocter3578]

@@SmallSailboatCruising try tom cunliffes series on boat restoration utube sharpie restoration, also one or two good books on rigs sorry no longer remember their titles but I think the 5 sided sails generally used on race boats between the wars but go back much further. to give you an idea the first side on the boom second on mast third on the gaff forth and fifth on the luff supported by a batten.

[@davidprocter3578]

sorry over tired meant leach not luff.

[@davidprocter3578]

Just been trawling through the internet and found a gunter rig with six sides although it was very low peaked for a gunter more like a high peaked gaff also very old black and white of what is described as a leg of mutton on wiki which is little more than a fore sail from a larger vessel hanked onto a yard and supported by a short mast in a form of a corrupted lateen. As an aside check out Maria a racing boat built in 1817 as a 21st birthday present built on a cast iron keel this boat dominated the broads racing scene for sixty years still in stunning condition had no restoration she is located in the museum of the broads uk used to be much content on the internet but seems to have disappeared , first rigged as a lateen schooner but rerigged lateen fore and gaff main

[@davidprocter3578]

classic boat printed an article now on utube entitled the last broads lateener details vary depending on source. but strikes me built as a light weight ply clinker on a lead keel this boat would still be competitive today

[@janmuylllaert4266]

from 3.45 to 4.15 showing an important knot ...all hidden from camera ? pity

[@SmallSailboatCruising]

Good question. I’m not quite sure I understand what you mean there? If you were talking about joining the Downhall to the tack end of the sail it’s a Bowline. The rest of that just depends on how the holes in your boom are configured

[@SmallSailboatCruising]

If you can let me know where the hidden one is I will add a short vid to explain.

[@Rb5241]

@@SmallSailboatCruising .