junk rig

junk rig. The word junk is derived from the Portuguese junco. The traditional Chinese unstayed rig which is essentially a fully battened balanced lugsail rig set traditionally on a completely unstayed mast, supported only at the partners and step. The sail lies permanently on one side of the mast and a proportion of it, known as the balance, lies ahead of the mast. The sail is hoisted by a halyard from the masthead and is divided into a series of panels by full-length battens which keep the sail stretched from luff to leech. Through a series of rope spans secured to the aft end of each batten that spread the load, the single sheet controls the whole of the leech, so that the sail sets with little twist. Rope parrels secure each batten to the mast. A system of lazyjacks gathers the sail as it is dropped and supports the boom and sail when furled. The forward end of the boom is supported by a separate mast lift. Both lift and lazyjacks are adjustable. Only one sail is set on each mast but there seem to be no set limits on the number of masts, and as many as nine were reported by early travellers.

The Chinese rig is the earliest of the fore-and-aft rigs in which the wind blows either side of the sail, and for many centuries it will have been the most efficient. The traditional sail was made of bamboo matting stiffened by bamboo battens. By western standards it could be extremely heavy, of the order of 5 tons for a large vessel, which required expert crews to handle it. On the other hand, because of the subdivision of the sail by the battens, each panel is controlled by its own system of battens and parrels, and the loading on the sailcloth and sheets is much less than with western rigs. The rig is not close winded in comparison with western fore-and-aft rigs such as the Bermudan, but sheeted correctly, with the sheet slacker than it would be with the Bermudan sail, the junk will make up well to windward with very little leeway.

Since 1960, when the junk-rigged Folkboat Jester took part in the first Single-Handed Transatlantic Race (see yachting: transoceanic racing), there has been a revival of interest in the use of junk rig for cruising yachts. Larger junk-rigged vessels are also still being built. For example, in 2004, the 34.5-metre (113-ft) 200-tonne junk Jockey Club Huan was constructed in Guandong for the Adventure Trust of Hong Kong as a sail training ship. Like those belonging to the Jubilee Sailing Trust, she is specifically designed to be crewed by the disabled as well as the able-bodied.

According to Joseph Needham the origins of the junk rig in China go back to about ad 300. By 1430 ships of the Ming dynasty appear to have been considerably larger than anything in the western world. In large fleets these treasure ships, as they were called, sailed at least as far as the Red Sea and East Africa.

Bibliography

Hasler, H. G., and and McLeod, J. K. , Practical Junk Rig (1988).
Ronan, C. , The Shorter Science and Civilisation in China, abridged from Joseph Needham's text (1986).
Worcester, G. , The Junks and Sampans of the Yangtze (1971).

Mike Richey