Sail Far Live Free

I'm sure at least of few of you, like me, have been patiently waiting for Bob Perry's sequel to the guest post he provided here a month or so ago about sailboat rigs (If you haven't read it yet, check here ). What follows is the sequel where Bob focuses on split rigs (i.e., rigs with multiple masts). A big "thank you" goes to Bob Perry for his continued guest blogging here on SailFarLiveFree.com. Bob has provided a lot of really great design perspectives and experience that help me better understand the cruising sailboats that I love so much. Maybe more importantly, it's been a lot of fun interacting with one of my sailing heroes. Split Rigs According to Perry , by Bob Perry I use the term “split rig” to describe any boat with more than one mast. It’s important to keep this discussion in historical context. There was a time when dividing up the big rig of a sloop was a practical matter. It was done to break the sail area down into smaller individual compo

Arrival - Coming back to the dock after one of the first sails on our new boat last summer

" The price of anything is the amount of life you exchange for it. " -Henry David Thoreau I remember as a kid occasionally hearing adults mention the term "mid-life crisis".  Usually it was in reference to some 40-something balding male who just purchased a Corvette or quit his stable white-collar career to try his luck at professional fishing. I never knew what the term actually meant and I couldn't seem to identify any particular crisis. Corvettes are cool and fishing is fun, so what's the problem?  It finally hit me just the other day: A mid-life crisis begins the moment you realize the value of time. The REAL value of time, not the monetary value of time. That sounds simple, right? It's not. Let me explain. You see, I've known for a long while that society has trained us to trade our time for money. You've known that most of your adult life too. For example, if you're a skilled craftsmen, you know you can get X dollars for

Bow Spray by K. Walters

"I hate those cute names like “slutter” and “cutter rigged sloop” or the worst one, “cutter rigged ketch”. We already have all the terms we need to describe rigs that have been around for 200 years.  A sloop is a sloop. If someone chooses to add a staysail it’s still a sloop."  - Bob Perry (see below) Sailing can seem pretty intimidating if you're bound to learning it from a book. All of the rigging jargon, varieties of sails, and especially the rig types can feel overwhelming. Luckily, once you're on the water ghosting along on a summer zephyr, none of it seems as complex. But if you insist on figuring it out through reading, Bob Perry's words can fill your intellectual sails.  Once again, it's my pleasure to welcome Bob back as a guest blogger here at SailFarLiveFree.com. Recently I asked Bob to share his insights into sailboat rig types. What follows is his thoughtful response. [Thanks, Bob! If you haven't read Bob's previous guest posts