I built my Skerry in 2024. In 2025 I sailed her locally and in the Albermarle Sound. I am novice sailor. My sail plan is a lug rig. Considering “downgrading” to the sprit rig to accommodate my skill level . What do O need to make that conversion and can I order what I need carte blanche from CLC?
Going from a lug rig to a sprit rig is certainly a downgrade for your boat. It will not make it easier to sail, but instead will make it more difficult. The better approach is to upgrade your sailing skills. Take some lessons or find yourself a mentor to help you learn how to sail. Just a couple hours on the water with a skilled sailor will teach you more than a week of watching videos or reading. Where do you live?
1 Like
Let me second Mark here. I have boats with both a sprit and balanced lug rig (not on the same boat) and I like both rigs a lot.
The sprit is not easier to sail than the lug. It’s at least as fiddly about sail shape but has fewer controls to do the job so you have more interactions to worry about. It requires constant attention to the snotter tension. With proper attention the sprit will sail just about as well as the lug but without it it will be a dog.
The sprit also requires more attention to the sheeting angle. In a double-ended hull like the Skerry, it’s only possible to get the correct sheeting angle with a boom. A boomless sprit will just not work. As a result, you lose one of the biggest advantages of a sprit - simplicity. You also lose not having to worry about being whacked in the head.
The sprit also requires more attention to twist control than the balanced lug, even with a boom. If you have sloppy twist control and the sprit gets ahead of the mast that can set you up for a death roll capsize. The balanced lug controls the twist with the downhaul tension. That makes the luff (leading edge of the sail) pull on the front end of the yard. Since the pull is coming from in front of the mast, it limits the rotation of the back end of the yard, thereby limiting the possible twist. With the sprit, all you can do is adjust the snotter tension to try and tighten the leech (trailing edge of the sail) to keep the back end of the sprit from moving too far forward. Because of the different geometry this is not as effective as the tight luff on the balanced lug. You could add another line from the sprit peak (back end of the sprit) down to the cockpit. Called a peak pennant, it lets you directly control twist by limiting how far forward the sprit can move. But it interacts with the sail shape and needs some skill to make sure that it doesn’t ruin performance. It also further degrades the simplicity of a sprit.
Finally, there’s no good way to reef the sprit or lower it while you’re on the water. The best you can do is add a brailing line which lets you pull the sail, sprit and boom (if you have one) up against the mast. This definitely de-powers the boat, but you still have a lot of top hamper with weight up high and the wind still acting on the unfurled sail. And you’ve just lost even more simplicity (and have another line in a small cockpit).
Again, I like the sprit rig, especially boomless, but based on my experience I would not consider it needing less skill than a balanced lug. It needs at least as much, a few of them being different. When rigged to get as close as possible to balanced lug functionality, it’s no longer a simpler rig, especially in a boat with a narrow stern like the Skerry. The balanced lug is a better beginner’s rig with more growth potential as skills improve.
All that said, if you do decide you want a sprit because of the fun factor (and they are fun), all you need to buy is the sail itself, a shorter boom and the sprit. You already have everything else that you need in a balanced lug Skerry. I’d recommend that you use a 2:1 purchase on your snotter. The biggest problem with sprits is insufficient snotter tension. At some point you may want to add a peak pennant and brailing line, but those can wait as long as you stick to good weather and don’t need to row a lot. You’ll have to check with CLC, but in the past they’ve been pretty good about selling a la carte parts and I haven’t heard about any change in policy.
Finally, it’s fun showing up with a sprit rigged boat. The crowd’s reaction is gratifying. I’ve heard things like “Wow, National Geographic sails” and “How does the top of the sail stay up there?”. It’s definitely a conversation starter.
Good luck,
Laszlo