Gaff Rig - How We Hoist Our Gaff Rig 

You're a natural born teacher. Well done mate!

As an artist I've always been fascinated by anything related to ships and sailing, and your instruction gives me an amazing insight into how some basics work and how those components on a boat are called (because when I read these things in novels or reports many things are just not so clear). Also, I find it hilarious how your dog takes interest in your sailor's routine. Thank you for this amazing video, good sir.

Matt, you're a bloody natural. Sailor, obviously. We all know that. What this film shows is how natural a teacher you are too. Wish I'd had someone like you to learn from when I was young. If ever you and Paige were to take an apprentice on Morna I would envy them their experience and education. Good work, mate!

Traditional gear is such a joy, so easy to see understand and see how it works.

Outstanding Gaff instruction, thorough and detailed, including other hoist options. I'm sure Tom Cunliffe would absolutely agree. Brilliant, many thanks.

That is very beautiful sailcloth.

What a cool boat! I really enjoyed learning about your gaff rig. (My first sailboat was a 12 foot gaff rigged wooden catboat.). Thanks for the great video.

You make it look so easy! I love the look of a gaff rigged boat, but there are so many lines!!!!!! I will definitely look into gaff rigged boats further. Thanks for posting!

Great gaff rig demo. 'Thanks!

At last!! Someone who knows how to hoist a gaff correctly! Peak well up before hauling on the throat. I've been setting much heavier gaff rigs than this for over 40 years, Brixham trawlers, Baltic traders and full rigged ships and one day watching school kids really struggle to set the main on Jolie Brise I tried to tell their teacher that it would make it much less work on the throat if the spar was up at an angle rather than horizontal/drooping slightly. He wouldn't listen, he's been "doing it that way for 20 years....." you know the sort! To ALL those who think a gaff has to be hoisted horizontally, WATCH THIS VIDEO and learn!!

Hi, love the vids. If you get a chance change the throat to a double block on the gaff and a double with becket on the crane and you will only have a single fall to haul on, enabling you to hoist throat and peak together without stopping to change sides, this is also very handy if you are sailing on off moorings or anchors and in tight confines because you can also drop it controlled very quickly. If your boom is light and doesn't tighten the luff enough you can rig a small tackle to tension it down. As in another comment, hoist the main with the gaff horizontal or lower than the throat this does make it much easier to hoist. You refer to problems with the gaff saddle, these can capsize or trip. Our gaff saddle is a snug fit and the parrel beads are tied quite close and dont let the saddle move to far away from the mast, we had lots of problems with "off the shelf" saddles because they had room between them and the mast and the tapered ends starting about half the diameter of the mast. Because of the inherent design of the rig the gaff is always to leeward with twist from the sail acting on the gaff, we found that with the loose tapered saddles this could capsize when tacking or gybeing. Our saddle was fabricated to suit and is snug and the top and bottom edges of the saddle are straight until past the diameter of the mast.

Very Nice video, fantastic boat. My envy circuits are on overload. I learned to sail on gaff rigged cutter about a million years ago and I really miss that elegant simplicity.

Awesome video. Thanks for sharing your beautiful boat!

great video and very well explained. I have a small spritsail boat. I love the simplicity and strength of the gaff rig on your boat. Thank you

This is an excellent video. I found other videos online but none of them explained it as well as yours.

Outstanding walkthru! Mate you are truly a sailor! Beautiful layout of the lines and halyards!

Very in depth and very informative 👌 thanks for explaining

superb post fella , i did wonder whats involved and can see the interest in an older rig.

I have missed you all so often..if you come to Monterey county in Cali..let me tour your around..my best 2 you🎈

Nice boat. Good and clear explanations. Keep it up.

Thanks mate. that was an awesome lesson that I can apply to my wee Shearwater gaffer (Oughtred lapstrake) 12 footer.

Been sailing gaffs for some time. Don't send the peak much higher than the throat when hoisting, it pushes the gaff towards the mast and puts more friction on the throat. May not be noticable too much now, but on a 134 m2 gaff sail it does, as personal experience has taught me. (Believe on Mariquita they put 4 hands on the peak and 18 on the throat.) For the throat hallyard, just see how much purchase you need, so that both of you can do it. You also don't want too much purchase or it will take ages to hoist and that's even more tiresome. Having the other end of the halyard on the other side on a 3 to 1 purchase is noce for final tightening. Peak is usually not such an issue, generally less purchase than the throat. Also the other end of the halyard on 2 to 1 or 3 to 1 purchase is nice so you can harden the sail when turning into the wind (or when the wind picks up) or loosen it when you veer off and need a fuller sail (and get rid of the crease). Love seeing that lovely boat in that fantastic scenery.

Many thanks to you and Mrs. !

Love the furry supervisor 😍

Really good video. Nice and chilled. Beautiful looking gaff. Have read Tom's book and it's great to see it done in practice. Keen to learn more.

Beautiful gaffer! Wish we had more of these in Canada!

Very good ... professor Mathew... seriously, as a land lubber, I understood a lot of what you were talking about...2 questions if I may...1- given that all the rope is exposed to the elements + the amount of use whilst sailing in a good breeze, what is the time frame of quality of the rope before age ,wear and tear Sets in ? 2- same question for the sails... do they have to be cleaned after or during sailing ? I enjoyed this video a great deal, thank you Mathew !!

For sailors who love gaff rigs, this is as good an introduction as one could wish for. The only comment I have is that sail ties on a traditional vessel are typically called gaskets. I know because I got yelled at - on a gaff schooner - for using the wrong, sloop, terminology

You are a true sailor mate !

Great review of the Gaff rigging. Nice Drathaar as well

Great presentation I like that there isn’t really anything to break at least not anything that wouldn’t take much to fix👍👍

Your turning in to the new Tom! Excellent video! Propper stuff. Ant, Cid & the pooch crew. xx

Beautiful boat.

Brilliant video!!Thank you!

Loved this video!! I've just been reading Hand, Reef and Steer these past couple weeks and it's awesome to see what I've been reading about! It makes me want a gaff-rigged boat even more!

Hello again. If you find windward work a problem due to the mizzen mast bending aft when you sheet in hard then a solution is to rig a running forestay, just don't forget to unhook it when tacking! I rigged one on the Danish ketch Anna Moller and the skipper told me it made the world of difference, she has no engine so relies even more so on her sailing ability. Talking of wiring shackles, I didn't comment on it previously, watch that capsized shackle on the throat block! The pin needs to go through the eyebolt.

Very good video . Wish there were more second hand gaffers available, they really get to you in a way that a bermudan riggerd boat doesn`t .

thanks very informative

I mean this sincerely, thank you for caring for this classic ship. How and or why do you go through such pain of varnish and classic rigging.

What a beautiful video!

Awesome 👏🤩

This is great ... I have recently got involved with Brixham Trawler Provident, your rig is very similar, so very useful to hone up on sail management of gaff rigs, which I'm new to. Cheers, Gavin

one word, EXCELLENT

Really missing your videos guys, how are you? How is the refit going. Please come back to us.

There are no "ropes" on a boat save one. They are all "lines" except "the bell rope." Love that old boat. Many thanks for the video.

Thank you so much, Matt. You have such a lovely strong vessel. I love everything about it. In fact, this is the third time I am viewing your excellent video. I was actually inspired by you to learn more about gaff rig by buying a copy of Hand, Reef and Steer after viewing your video the first time. One burning question though... why is the throat halyard designed in two stages - on the port and starboard side of the main mast? Or did I perceived the hoisting system wrongly all together?

Good stuff! Thanks for sharing.

Great Video Matt and Paige . What design is the Boat ? It’s a beautiful example of fine Boat building. Just great stuff keeping these skills alive for another generation. Thankyou

Hi Matt. I have always wanted to see a gaff rigger get its sails up, from the deck. I see many gaff rigs being hoisted from a distance but it was fascinating to have it explained, you do it very well. I was going to mention the locking turns you use on the halyards and ask you why. But just as I was writing and watching the end of the video, you explained some of your reasoning. I was once teaching a crew for DS. We had an American student with us who was already a sailor of sorts. On mooring the boat and preparing for a F 10 gale that evening, we made fast, doubling lines etc. Long story, but there came a moment when we needed to let some of those lines go. The locking turn our American student had put on was impossible to release without the use of a marlin spike. In this instance, the use of a locking turn was not needed and became a hazard. The other OXOs on other cleats had held perfectly well and were much easier to untie. 2 things I ban on any boat I skipper, locking turns on cleats and poncey rope cheese coils on the deck or worse still, on the pontoon where they become mats to clean your shoes on and trip hazards. I would love to sail a gaff where it is mostly your own physical effort that makes it all work and you must feel more in contact with the boat, water and wind. It was nice to swing the lap with you for a while.

Excellent.

Well you certainly get a good workout 💪🙂

I always enjoy your tutorial type videos, and this one was the best yet!!! I always wondered how a gaff rig worked and now I know! However, I'm still a bit fuzzy on your double halyard main for the throat though. I don't quite get how you can pull the port halyard taut, then use the starboard halyard to continue raising the throat since the port halyard is fixed. Thinking it might be some sort of Matt Magic.... ;-D

Excellent descriptions and instruction...photography too! ..Without the oh so common fluff which can get pretty tiresome. Great job.

lovely. thanks.

More of this! And how does the mizzen sail affect sailing? Have heard really old time fishermen talking about countering the heeling with the mizzen before taking in reefs in the main sail.

great verey informative well dun

Did you get a copy of Martin Tregoning's book? Have you compared it to Hand Reef & Steer?

Great explanation of how the sails work ! Could you explain close hull and beam reach

Why isn't the Peak Halyard on the same ratio as the Throat Halyard so they both rise at the same _rate?_

How large in terms of square footage of the main? I imagine I wouldn't like to handle anything larger than 400 sq ft in gaff.

I really love a traditional gaff rigged sailboat ( cutter??) Is this for sale?

I sail traditional working craft. We have several differences in rigging,and, the way we hoist. That's not unusual. Different areas have their own systems. Not all boats are the same.

What about the topsails? Thanks, I learned a lot.

A couple of small pointers. To get the final diagonal crease correct from peak to tack the topping lifts and sheets need to be slack (Martin Tregoning explains that crease very well) and I'd like to see some seizing wire on those shackles especially the ones that go aloft! In my opinion there is only one book for everything to do with gaff rig, Classic Boat Seamanship by Martin Tregoning, too many basic errors in all the other popular books I've seen, some authors even get it wrong in their videos and on television.

Nice!

Good video.. strip the blocks and oil them.. with a nice leather jacket on the deck blocks

Make use of a triatic stay .

Can we see Paige do it now please. Go girl x

went for a wee sail today and passed your boat going out of Kip Marina. when are you due back to the boat.

Mattttttt STOPPPP!!!! Your making me rethink things!!! 30 alberg or wooden gaff? This is making wallet do the confusion dance!!

where are you when this was filmed?

Lazy jacks?

💪😎👍

Would say a gaff rig is easier that say bermuda rig with winches.

Did you know a Ketch can sail backwards? Think it's time to mess with Paige & Lancer ;)

When are you coming back on RU-vid ?

Do you bees wax any of the components?

Gorgeous day! :) Thanks for sharing!

I hope you guys have a ep 6 I'm watching.