20241021

Hatseflats Rig Details

Revised 23-10-2024

Here are some details of the current Hatseflats rig with the Tirrik sail.

Instead of following the traditional setup for the Tirrik rig I based my setup on the following decisions:

• use spars from anodized alumninum (no stains on sail): lighter than solid wood and minimum maintenance.
• use the best hardware because it makes sailing easier and my life may depend on it some day.
  Examples: Harken 4:1 tackle for the downhaul, Harken blocks for extra strength and minimum friction, Wichard carabiners to take the stress of the downhaul, stainless steel belaying pins.
• use Dyneema to mimimize stretch in halyard, downhaul, reefing system and any load-carrying lines
• minimize the number of fittings, use dyneema loops and Prusik knots instead.
  The only fixed fittings are the halyard fairlead and halyard cleat on the mast and clam cleats on the boom for the reefing lines. These fittings were riveted to the spars with 5mm rivets.

When I first tried to sail upwind in June 2018 I found that Hatseflats could not point upwind. Adding a bleater did not work, probably because I still sailed with too little downhaul tension.
On the eve of the 2018 RaidNL, Joost fixed the problems by setting up the rig just like a Goat Island Skiff.
First, the bronze traveller for the yard and bleater at the boom level were ditched. Rerouting the halyard like a GIS and pulling the downhaul very tightly helped to pull the entire rig much closer to the mast. With the new simplified setup, Hatseflats was finally able to point upwind.

I have sailed with the Tirrik rig during 7 seasons during which I covered thousands of miles. In 2018 and 2019 we had mostly moderate conditions which suited the Tirrik rig and Hatseflats very well. Since then we had either very little wind (<F2) or too much (>F4). I am not ruling out that this comes from climate change but I am not the weather man. We found that Hatseflats was underpowered in light conditions, especially when sailing two-up or with camping equipment.
On a sailing trip I usually switch from sailing to rowing when the speed drops below 1.5 knots. But rowing for more than 4 hours is hard work, especially if you are rowing against the current.
For a while I thought I should add a gennaker for light conditions but I decided against it because I find it adds too much complexity.

A couple of weeks ago I discussed the options with Marten-Jan Giesing of Oars en Sail. I decided to order the Minahouet sail which is used by Joost and Sebastiaan on their new Silmarils.
During the weekend I sailed with Joost and we evaluated the current rig to finalize additional requirements for the new rig:

• The halyard fairlead has noticeable friction when hoisting the Tirrik sail. This is going to be worse with the larger Silmaril sail.
  Remedy: fit a low friction ring or soft attach block (Harken or Ronstan).
• The head of the sail is tied too tightly to the yard which results in a crease along the yard.
  Remedy: keep some tension on throat and peak but relax tension on the eyelets between throat and peak.
• The sail is very flat and does not provide enough power in light conditions.
  Remedy: add depth to new sail.
• In 2020 I had the eyelets in the luff and leech replaced with big 25mm eyelets so that I could reef the sail using alloy toggles.
  The reefing mechanism with the toggles and oversized eyelets works fine for me, so I would like to stick with the 25mm eyelets.
• Four reef points for each reef works ok, no change needed.
• The placement of the sail battens to support the rounded leech is not ideal for rolling the sail.
  Remedy: slightly flatter leech will allow better placement of sail battens.
• The 10mm mainsheet has become too thick from use and does not run smoothly through the blocks anymore. I am happy with the Harken 40C and Harken 57C mainsheet block but with the increased friction, the sail may not be sheeted out quickly enough. We found this out the hard way in 2021 when we capsized after a bad gybe.
  Remedy: replace with 8mm sheet.
• The aft block on the boom can creep forward and then interferes with the outhaul.
  Remedy: fix the aft block to the end of the boom (combine with the bitter end of the sheet).