'bad tack' -- that's where the sail is smushed up against the mast?
I did notice in the clip from Connections that after the sail is mostly brought around, the far edge of the triangle has to be tied down. It comes that close to getting away from the sailor, though. I guess that would count for one way to make your life interesting.
That older style of junk wouldn't have done much heading to windward, but they weren't working in waters where that was important - once it becomes important to have that you see modern gaff rig develop on the junks, with the yard set nearer the corner.
Ahhh, so that's why in the older chinese ships (up to about mid-Ming dynasty) the mast is anywhere from center to just a little off-center? The majority of the shipping was river or canal, and some coastal. In the Qing dynasty you start getting into the Zheng clan and deep-water trade coming out of Hong Kong -- so the harsher waters/winds of deep ocean is the reason (or at least a possible major factor) for the way the sails seem to slowly drift farther and farther off-center of the mast?
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Date: 5 Dec 2012 04:27 am (UTC)I did notice in the clip from Connections that after the sail is mostly brought around, the far edge of the triangle has to be tied down. It comes that close to getting away from the sailor, though. I guess that would count for one way to make your life interesting.
That older style of junk wouldn't have done much heading to windward, but they weren't working in waters where that was important - once it becomes important to have that you see modern gaff rig develop on the junks, with the yard set nearer the corner.
Ahhh, so that's why in the older chinese ships (up to about mid-Ming dynasty) the mast is anywhere from center to just a little off-center? The majority of the shipping was river or canal, and some coastal. In the Qing dynasty you start getting into the Zheng clan and deep-water trade coming out of Hong Kong -- so the harsher waters/winds of deep ocean is the reason (or at least a possible major factor) for the way the sails seem to slowly drift farther and farther off-center of the mast?