The intent of The Gaff Rig Page is to provide information about doing individual tasks. I assume the reader is already working from an existing boat with a gaff rig, or a set of plans showing how to rig their boats. If you are designing your own sail plan, from scratch, then two of the resources listed should be obtained:

• Hand Reef and Steer by Tom Cunliffe
• The Gaff Rig Handbook by John Leather

Using these pages:

The Detail Pages are linked on the left. Most are self-explanatory, as they cover main components of a gaff rig. If you have specific questions, you can ask on the messing-about.com's Main Forum, or by email. Since the beginning, I've been gratified with the response from the Internet community. Early on, however, The Gaff Rig Page encountered its first controversy.

The "Great Peak Halyard Controversy"

A designer emailed me with a concern about some of the illustrations on these pages. These show various techniques that may not work together and, in one case, he says will not work at all. His promise of follow-up hasn't been fulfilled, so I suspect he's busy with real, paying work. But I think I've resolved some of the questions, at least. As often happens with these kinds of things, the strong opinions are not always justified, and in some cases, I have to say they are not persuasive enough to over-rule recognized experts in the field of rigging. Comments from the rest of you are welcome, of course.

Since I am a neophyte in these matters, I have to rely on those who know more to clarify the issues. I have included more illustrations on the Halyards page to compare the content of Knowing the Ropes by John C. Taylor, Hand Reef and Steer by Tom Cunliffe and The Gaff Rig Handbook by John Leather to resolve the controversy. Several participants on The Wooden Boat Forum helped by critiquing the illustrations, and I've recapped their comments as well.

The net result of the controversy is the Introduction at the top of the page. Seems like common sense to me, but I would hate to read about an intrepid soul who took these pages as a reference to build his 9' sailboat for a circumnavigation!

The Gaff Rig Page and messing-about.com is supported by its association with the leading Internet retailer, Amazon.com and our own Gift Shop. When you click through a link on this site and purchase any item from them, they pay a small commission that helps fund this site (the rest of the support, alas, comes from me.) It is my intent to keep the site free from pop-up ads and banners.