Rigging S/ Blue Flower

  Awhile ago there was a rash of rigging posts on the wooden boat sailing blogsphere. Not to be left out  I posted one for the tiny sprit rig of S/V Trudy C. It was not impressive. But with a new boat and many stings to pull I figured I'd update my rigging post for those of you who may be interested.
  Blue Flower flies a gaff mainsail and a jib. The rig is fairly conventional but there are a few tweaks that the vessel has undergone that I'd like to point out.

  Here she sits on the trailer. You'll notice the mast is of a tabernacle design. This idea an design comes directly from the Stevenson Project's Weekender.

  How did a Bolger Teal end up with this mast you ask? The previous owner of the boat owns a Weekender with a gaff and many of the ideas were directly imported into this boat. The idea, and it's a sound one, is she is stored on the trailer ready to go.This makes rigging and de-rigging much less of a hassle! On with the trailer sailing!
  There is only one piece of standing rigging, a forestay. This balances the load with the dolphin knocker below. Simply pull the pin, put the mast up, make sure to put the pin back in and that bit is done.

   Then apply slight upward pressure on the bowsprit and hook the forestay into place.

 Now because the rigging of this boat is fairly self contained the rest is straight forward and simple. Simple if you follow the maxim "A place for every item and every item in it's place". With the mast up and forestay in place I check my halyards and sheets for twists or obvious binds. Below the mast partner is a belaying pin block. I'm sure there is a technical name for that but I've not learned it yet. If we look at it left to right the six pins are: Jib Halyard, Bungee Spot, Empty, Empty, Peak Halyard, Main Halyard. Jib comes up first with the sheet left loose but in place. The pins are under over, under, twist. And then coiled properly on the pin!

  And if people are in ear shot it's a rousing chanty to get the main and peak up together.

  Those are given good tension and a final check to make sure dagger board is down, rudder in place, cockpit clear and in good order. Then it's cast off and sheet home. But for this post my boat simply has her wings out on the trailer.

Total time to rig is about five to seven minutes. The fact it's all self contained is great for a single handed sailor. They say a boat the size of a Teal has limited utility. But I think the utility is what you make of it. Right now this boat for me is a sail trainer in the classical sense of the word. Training muscle memory, observation, and general seamanship in a handy easy to manage package. Now to get it on the water and work the rest!

A lot of people ask me if I were shipwrecked, and could only have one book, what would it be? I always say 'How to Build a Boat    Stephen Wright