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Yawls
What is a Yawl?
Boats with two masts, one in the middle or forward and one
at the back are often called yawls, ketches or even luggers.
So what is the correct definition. Well, language is constantly evolving, the other day a reader commented that a
brigantine picture I had printed wasn’t a ‘true’ brigantine,
that is, a brigantine along the lines of what you’d expect
to see in Nelson’s day. He’s right, and wrong. Brigantines in
Nelson’s day didn’t look like the rig I had shown, however,
by the late 19th C modern brigantines were rigged like the
vessel I showed and have been known as ‘brigantines’ since,
whereas the older style is usually referred to as a ‘brig’…
see what I mean…it is all rather complex and depends on
historical context as well as where you live in the world.
With two masted boats this becomes very confusing indeed. Most of us are aware of the lovely Drascombe Lugger,
a two masted boat that has a main mast with gunter rigged
footloose sails. So why is it called a ‘lugger’ when none of
its sails are lugsails? Technically it is a Drascome Yawl. If it
had lug sails it would be a Drascome Lug Yawl. However, the
word ‘lugger’ has come to refer to a two masted boat since
sometime around 1830 and I, for one am not going to get
into a pedant’s conversation about this with an owner of a
Drascombe Lugger. The 50 tonne herring boats of the east
coast of Britain were referred to as ‘luggers’, they did have
lug sails but technically they were lug yawls.
More complicated – when is a yawl a yawl and a ketch a
ketch? Erroneously, many think it has to do with the position of the mast in relation to a helm ie. If the helm is in
front of the mast it is a yawl and if the mast is in front of the
helm it is a ketch, this is wrong, it has nothing to do with
the position of the mast relative to the helm. Phil Bolger,
the late great boat designer summed it up like this – a ketch
is a two masted boat where the mizzen, the rear mast, is
designed to hold sails to increase the speed and sail area of
the vessel whereas a yawl is a two masted boat with a mizzen, the purpose of which is to assist in the manoeuvring
of the boat. *This is especially common in working boats of
Northern Europe and especially the British Isles, with yawl
rigged boats being used until well after the second world
war as motor fishing boats, the sail allowing the boat to
heave to without burning fuel as well as allowing it to manoeuvre when laying a pot or a complex net. Yes, the mizzen on a yawl is typically right at the very back of the boat
but it needn’t be. The Waterman 16 I am taking on (the ex
Osbert boat) is a ketch despite having the mizzen behind
the helm, the mizzen is there to add power to the boat first
and foremost.
So, why would you want a yawl and how do you work it?
boat designer Clint Chase sums it up:
1) to hold the boat into the wind while the sail is raised, lowered, or reefed while single-handing or sailing with my kids.
2) to hold the boat into the wind while rig is un-stepped and
stowed and oars are rigged for rowing
3) to be able to hold the boat to windward or to heave-to
while underway for taking short breaks to move people, restow gear, or go to the bathroom without getting blown
off course.
4) to be able to back off docks and beaches and control
steering in tight spaces
5) to be able to ‘tune’ any weather helm felt by the helmsman by trimming the mizzen
The ability to ‘heave to’ is critical in a working boat where
all hands, including the helmsman are often needed to pull
in nets, haul up pots etc. Modern recreational yawls are ideal for ‘parking’ on the water whilst you brew up a cup of tea
or get the rod out or maybe put the feet up and take out a
book. Many very well balanced boats will ‘sail themselves’
with a yawl rig, this can be especially attractive on a long
distance trip and is possibly why you see so many yawls on
the Texas 200.
right: The Drascome Lugger retains
huge popularity around the world
* In Baden-Powell’s treatise on canoe
sailing rigs (1871)he makes mention of
the dandy rig. This is a t erm that is no longer used and describes a rig between a
yawl and a ketch. In a ketch the mizzen
is typically half the size of the main, in a
yawl it is typically 1/4 the size of the main,
a dandy rig has a mizzen 1/3rd the size of
the main. Rigs falling into the dandy category these days are typically referred to
as yawls
Photo: Drascome Boats