Gizmo said...
The Optimist is a VERY popular water yacht class for kids around in Europe, all they are doing is using the same rig for winter sailing....
The optimist rig is an asymetrical gaff rig and works better on one tack than the other.
It would probably work quite well as a landyacht by replacing the skates with wheels its sort of Mini size.....
Hey come on Giz, you have to take some stick for calling this "an assymetrical gaff rig" it's a spritsail
The reason for using it is simple, there are literally 100's of thousands of Optimists, and they are riding on the back of that.
Efficiency? 2 ways to look at that I reckon.
1) Who cares, everyone has the same.
2) as I mentioned when I posted this, if you read their speeds (40 to 45mph) it's working! Not broke, so don't fix it!
Edit (does this make 3?)
There is another thought re the efficiency, my dear old Dad who sailed at pretty high level way back when, always reckoned that when they went from gunter rigs (sort of like a gaff but more vertical) to the new one piece masts, they were MUCH slower on the off wind legs. Aero books nearly always have some stuff on this, and what are the "new" square top rigs emulating???? Twist in the rigs is now considered to be a good thing, and the sprit is a damned good way of achieving that.
Is an Americas cup rig a bit like a gaff? I do know that the problem the AC boats discuss most is that they are struggling to make the top of the mast as STIFF as they would like!
) would more like a DN (with less or no mast bend). Original question answered though, thanks 
