no standing rigging?

[timangiel]

I've seen boats without backstays before but today I seen something I have never seen before. There is a boat docked a couple of slips down from me that seemed to have no standing rigging at all. It had to be at least a 30ft sailboat, and the mast was up. It had a boom with a mainsail that appeared to be held up by lazy jacks. There was no headsail or forestay. There was no backstay. There were no shrouds or spreaders. It did not even seem to have a place to attach shrouds even if you wanted to ( no chainplates). I wish I had a camera, I could have posted a pic. The mast seemed to be rounder and of a larger diameter than most other boats of a simular size, but I find it hard to believe there is no standing rigging.

[CaptainForce]

Yeah, it's the wierdest thing,- and it reminds me of an airplane that I saw recently. There were no supports on the wings! I don't mean just a single wing instead of a biplane with all the supporting cables between the wings, but a plane with wings that stretched out from the fuselage with no other supports! ..........So, why are the sailboat designers eighty years behind the aeronautical engineers? Take care and joy, Aythya crew

[HDChopper]

Search "Freedom" boats on the net and see if you find it there

[overbored]

Most likely a carbon fiber mast by TPI used in many of the Freedom Yachts the Freedom 25 and 28 uses a stayless mast.

[JimsCAL]

Or a Nonsuch.

[brak]

nonsuch or freedom, as others said.
Personally, I like the idea of stays. If nothing else, they give you something to grab as you are going forward.
I think psychology and demand is the main reason for stay-less rigs relative lack of popularity. That and cost. Consider that you still probably need at least a forestay to attach a jib. Now that you do - what's a couple of shrouds?

[BubbleheadMd]

I also recently inquired about these boats. Wylie also makes a line of them. Wyliecat Performance Yachts: Homepage The Freedom boats do have a forestay for a baby jib that I think puts enough effort forward of the mast to balance the helm.

Much to my surprise, anyone I've talked to had good things to say about them. If you think no stays is weird, I believe the masts themselves rotate also.

[tomandchris]

Your description is a Nonsuch. Great boat, loved by their owners. The lazy jacks you are looking at is a wishbone boom.

[puddinlegs]

Or this one:

Rodger Martin Design Gray Wolf Sailboat Review | Cruising World

Rodger Martin Yacht Design

It's for sail... amazing boat. phrf is around 20 plus or minus a couple. It's one of the boats in the area that's a joy to see on the water. Hope it stays local.

[BarryL]

Hello,

What you saw was a 'catboat'

Catboat - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Catboats have been around for a long time (before 1840) and typically have unstayed masts (the original ones were obviously made of wood. The one you saw was probably a Nonsuch, as the wishbone boom is distinctive.

Anyway, like other rigs, catboats have advantages and disadvantages. They are simple to rig and sail, tacking is very easy, but they don't sail very close to the wind.

Barry