Small Catboat Rigs

Duckworks BBS has a new lightweight 10-foot camp-cruise kit dinghy called "Scout" that's now in development. They have designed a sporty 70-SF square-headed, full-batten, loose-footed cat rig for it, produced by Neil Pryde (duckworks-boat-builders-supply.mybigcommerce.com/scout-sailing-package/). It is sleeved to fit onto a two-part windsurfer mast (chinooksailing.com). The price for the rig is listed at $1,050. I'm guessing that just the sail will sell for around $500, without the battens. 

I saw the boat in the photo below a few years ago at CBMM's Labor Day auction. The mast is aluminum. And instead of the usual aluminum tube boom, the boat has a wishbone boom, which looks like it's directly off a windsurfer. 

It also had a very interesting method of attaching the the wishbone boom to the mast. The wishbone uses some jib T-track and a pinstop shackle instead of a the usual sprit rig's snotter. Presumably it carries a sleeved sail with a cutout for the sail track. Fascinating...

The clew end of the wishbone was supported with a light line to a block at the top of the mast. The multi-part sheet suggests a large-area sail, but it looks like overkill. The foot of the sail must cleat off at the foot of the mast -- a la Hobie Wave -- where the boom lift was cleated. 

Today, in spite of searching the internet, I can't determine the maker or the model of this boat. Is is a shrunken "Naiad 18," which was designed by Mark Ellis of the iconic Nonsuch yachts (nonsuch.org), who was a strong proponent of wishbone booms? Maybe it's a Puffin (www.puffinboatcompany.com)? Maybe it's something off the board of St. Michaels' most famous designer, Jay Benford, who penned Annie Hill's world-cruiser, "Badger" (anniehill.blogspot.com). Maybe it's a one-off. At the time I saw it I was only interested in the rig, and there were too many people crowded around to investigate more closely or get a full-hull shot. I took these photos, and then it was "sold!" and gone. 

A crisp sail. Beautiful foils. Harken hardware. Shaw & Tenney oars. The whole shebang probably went for a few hundred dollars...somebody went home with a great deal.

I'm going to duplicate this wishbone rig on a small boat someday just to see how it works. And if you know more about this particular boat and design, please contact me.

[photos in 2014/15 archive, CBMM auction 2015]