Bermuda Rig - Description

Description

The rig consists of a triangular sail set aft of the mast with its head raised to the top of the mast; its luff runs down the mast and is normally attached to it for its entire length; its tack is attached at the base of the mast; its foot controlled by a boom; and its clew attached to the aft end of the boom, which is controlled by its sheet.

Originally developed for smaller Bermudian vessels, and ultimately adapted to the larger, ocean-going Bermuda sloop, the Bermuda sail is either set as a mainsail on the main mast, or as the course (the principal sail) on another mast. The Bermuda rigging has largely replaced the older gaff rigged fore-and-aft sails, except notably on schooners. The traditional design as developed in Bermuda featured very tall, raked masts, long bowsprits and booms (or omitted booms), and vast areas of sail. This is still seen, today, in the Bermuda Fitted Dinghy, which is raced in Bermuda, but elsewhere the design has omitted the bowsprit, and otherwise become less extreme (Bermuda sloops, especially the single-masted ones, were demanding vessels that required large, experienced crews. This fact was the reason the Bermuda Sloop Foundation chose a three-masted, rather than a single-masted, design for its newly-built Spirit of Bermuda, which is intended as a training ship for inexperienced youths).

A Bermuda rigged sloop with exactly one jib is known as a Bermuda sloop, Marconi sloop or Marconi rig. Bermuda sloop can also refer to a more specific type of vessel, small sailing ships, traditional in Bermuda, which may, or may not, be Bermuda rigged.

The foot of a Bermuda sail may be attached to the boom along its length, or in some modern rigs the sail is attached to the boom only at its ends. This modern variation of a Bermuda mainsail is known as a loose-footed main. In some early Bermudian vessels, the mainsails were attached only to the mast and deck, lacking booms. This is the case on two of the three masts of the newly-built Spirit of Bermuda, a replica of an 1830s Royal Navy Sloop of war. Additional sails were also often mounted on traditional Bermudian craft, when running down wind, which included a spinnaker, with a spinnaker boom, and additional jibs. This can still be seen today in the vast sail areas that can be carried by the Bermuda Fitted Dinghy.

The main controls on a Bermuda sail are:

• The halyard used to raise the head, and sometimes to tension the luff.
• The outhaul used to tension the foot by hauling the clew towards the end of the boom.
• The sheet used to haul the boom down and towards the center of the boat.
• The vang or kicking strap which runs between a point partway along the boom and the base of the mast, and is used to haul the boom down when on a run.