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Lateen Xebec style rig vs Square Rig


Destraex

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Just curious.

I know lateen rigs are a little better sailing into the wind (tacking) than square rigs.

But I imagine square rigs are faster directly before the wind.

 

Have never really looked into it though. 

 

I mean in the end. Why square rig?

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Nothing is as good as a square rig downwind. Sailing before the wind in a lanteen vessel is a nerve-wracking experience. You have to constantly watch it like a hawk, or you will have the worst jibe imaginable.

The square rig is the oceangoing rig of choice because it is 'safe.' To put any other sort of rig on a large vessel, the sails have to be enormous. Square sails may be no picnic to handle, but it would be worse if they were bigger. If you have just two massive sails and a squall hits, you really have very few options on how to save both the ship and the sail.

You would have to have one gaff or one lanteen sail replacing five or six 'little' square sails. The square rig has an elaborate collection of smaller sails that all have their particular characteristics, with smaller yards that aren't in danger of thrashing and swinging about so much as most fore-and-aft rigs. You can reef all that canvas down to nothing, and the arrangement of spars allows for very sturdy standing rigging in all directions, which a large swinging gaff of lanteen boom does not. The flexibility and built-in redundancy provide safety, convenience and maneuverability.

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Another thing that may be worth noting is that, in order to change tack, the lateen yard has to be brought down and re-hoisted at the other side of the mast. For big dhows, the yard is 'dipped': the sail is pulled to the yard and the yard is then pulled in, and 'pushed around the mast', after which the sail is loosened again.

 

Either that, or the sail will be in non-optimal form because the mast is preventing it from taking on its ideal 'wing' shape (which is not all than uncommon a sight either). On the upside, the lateen rig can handle quite significant changes in wind direction.

 

~Brigand

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Why square rig? 

 

By this period, because you've got a heavy, strong hull for carrying some impressive tonnage thousands of miles and you want a rig that will be able to power it around the world thrice over, stand up to the rigours and stresses of long ocean passages making use of the known and predictable winds and currents and do so with comparative ease with little wear and tear.

 

You need power, so you need sail area. You need to be able to handle it, and you want it to optimal in 'usual' conditions (downwind), and you don't want several tons of gear swinging round 150ft up in the sky being a menace to itself and anyone sharing personal space with it :) 

 

...then people go and put it on coastal craft...but then people are idiots :)

 

Baggy

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I think its a bit more complex then lateen or square rig - everything depends of the region . Lateen has advantage when you are put in situation where you don't have much room to maneuver with rapid changes of the wind , on other hand the square sail is better when you have long route with constant wind.

The simple way to understand me , ask yourself - why lateen rig was popular in the mediterranean zone ?

 

P.S. And don't make mistake full-rigged ships are not square-rigged ones only !!!!

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Apparently (and this just from listening to the Aubrey/Martin series on audio book) xebecs and lateen rigged vessels still had the option of raising square sails to sail with the wind -- but it was a much lengthier and more involved project to do so than on a square rigged vessel. I think a xebec would be a great addition to the current ship rotation -- add some interesting dynamics... mainly grief-boating upwind I suppose... but still :P

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I don't know much about sailing but in Mediterranean still quite popular. The main aspects that made this kind of ship bad for open sea could be:

 

A) Big Lateen (Latin) sails needs a lot of crew and a lot of work to "optimize the wind"

B ) Flat hull compared with any Nao/Caravel    // A+B --> Even with small ships its easy to flip the ship if the wind is strong enough

C) Less cargo space 

-----

Clasical fishing boat: San Juan  (Museu de la Pesca de Palamos// Palamos fishing museum) http://www.museudelapesca.org

9.jpg

 

1940's Llaüt style boat: Nova Catalina  http://www.voltamallorca.com/?p=283 

NC1.jpg

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