The Flying Lateen is a new sailboat rig that resurrects the ancient lateen sail. It sports one large triangular sail that, unfurled from a luff spar supported near its center up top at the “hounds”, pivots down below around the middle of the boom. Its steeply raked spar evokes visions of the past but it is modern in every other respect and is touted as being the world’s easiest boat to sail.
DameDinghy, a fictitious former British America’sCup Skipper who was visiting friends in Southern California when she wrote this article, was sadly lost at sea last year and is remembered fondly by the entire sailing community.
Red Sky at Night, Sailors’ Delight and So Is The Flying Lateen
I was invited to sail aboard the new Flying Lateen recently, docked in
Dana Point harbor, and showed up at “C” dock in Dana West Marina at 2:00 sharp on a beautiful and windy Thursday afternoon. The Flying Lateen’s 20’ keel boat is a delightful little open cockpit daysailer with a skipper’s cockpit aft (from which literally everything is handled), a large center cockpit for guests (and I was going to say “crew” but actually absolutely no crew is needed) and a small forward cockpit for kids, anchor handling and what have you.
But the boat itself, as attractive as it is, is not what sets this little
ship apart. It is the rig, which they call the Flying Lateen. Words can’t quite describe it. You just have to see it! Better yet, come sail it! My first impression was that it is beautiful, next that it is BIG but most of all, it is clean….simple
and clean! Not the clutter of rigging and lines that most sailboats, particularly readying to get underway, exhibit.
Although I was on time, I was the last to arrive so I stepped aboard and
we cast off. The boat is side tied in a very narrow canal leading out of the “C” docks into the harbor. At low tide, it is only about 10 or 12 feet wide. So I was a little surprised, particularly in lieu of the tight quarters, at the relaxed attitude of the others (there were three of us besides the skipper). Relaxed is an overstatement actually. They were literally doing nothing but sitting comfortably in the center cockpit, talking quietly with the skipper, who was equally relaxed as he guided us silently down the narrow channel. I was starting to wonder what was propelling us when I realized that the big lateen sail was actually being deployed as we glided along, gaining us way as it unfurled from the luff spar. The furler on this particular rig is actuated by a small 12 volt DC motor which makes securing and unfurling the sail, as we were now doing, a non-event. It seemed almost an afterthought. No one was doing anything!
By the time we reached the harbor, perhaps a minute later, we were under full sail, heeling into a fresh breeze and heading up the harbor. As we tacked back and forth across the harbor, I was struck once again at the totally relaxed atmosphere…. at the absence of activity involved in tacking. There was no shouted command of “Stand By to Come About“, no releasing of a jib sheet (there IS no jib), no wrapping of the new leeward sheet around a winch in preparation for trimming on the new tack….no ANYTHING! The skipper merely puts over the helm and we come about, the big lateen sail shaking itself out in the eye of the wind and trimming itself as we fill in on the new tack. A “casualness” I’ve never experienced before on ANY sailboat.
We rounded the corner at the top of the bay, came around the
beautiful Dana Point Yacht Club, eased off and began the broad reach down the
other side toward the harbor entrance. The wind picks up here as it swings around the high bluffs at the north end of Dana Cove. We leaned away from this new wind and literally “flew” down the lee side of the breakwater. I was invited to take the helm at this point and did so with, I admit, a slight bit of trepidation never having sailed a lateen rig before. My first impression, particularly in lieu of a VERY fresh wind coming across the starboard quarter, was the complete lack of any weather helm…..finger tip control on the tiller! This is due, I now understand, to the big lateen sail swiveling as you ease off, with the after part of the sail going to leeward but the forward part of the sail going to weather. It keeps the center of effort….the center of the force of the wind on the sail…right down the centerline of the boat…or at least more so than on a conventional boat where all sails go out to leeward and cause the weather-vaning effect that creates weather helm and in extreme situations,
broaching.
What a marvelous, exhilarating and liberating feeling it is to be flying off the wind in a big breeze, totally comfortable, totally in control, conversing easily with pleasant friends who are equally relaxed. We hardened up as we came around the end of the breakwater, meaning simply that we cranked in on the mainsheet….the ONLY sheet! Tweaking the sail on this boat is no different, for the most part, from any other. There is a downhaul, an outhaul and the boom swivel, around which the entire rig pivots, can be raised and lowered to adjust tension on the leech. It acts somewhat like a vang in this respect.
We put her through her paces……tacked, jibed, hardened up, eased off, even put the helm over and did two complete 360’s with no one moving a muscle. (How envious would a racing skipper and crew be when sparring for position at the start of a match race?)
Back in the harbor, we tacked up the lee side of the breakwater, rounded the corner and began the run toward the entrance to our little canal. I assumed with a quartering and still fresh wind that we would round up and strike the sail. Not even a consideration! We came round the end of the docks into the canal, began furling as we rounded and half way down the channel, were totally furled and glided the rest of the way in as pretty as you
please.
By the time we parallel parked at the dock, the sail was furled, the
sheet was coiled and hanging neatly from the boom, we tied up and that was
it. We were done! Amazing! No flaking any sails, no jib sheets to coil and stow, no sail covers to install….we simply got off the boat and walked away.
It was SO easy and SO pleasant! There was none of the almost frantic
activity….none of the hassle…..that seems to be inherent in prepping, sailing
and securing a sailboat…particularly when the wind is up. Sailing the Flying Lateen leaves one at the end of the day with the cleansed feeling of pure pleasure that, to some of us, only such sailing can bring. It’s the way it should
be. What a delight!
An unsolicited article by
the late Lady Justina Dingy
DameDinghy, a fictitious former British America’sCup Skipper who was visiting friends in Southern California when she wrote this article, was sadly lost at sea last year and is remembered fondly by the entire sailing community.
Red Sky at Night, Sailors’ Delight and So Is The Flying Lateen
I was invited to sail aboard the new Flying Lateen recently, docked in
Dana Point harbor, and showed up at “C” dock in Dana West Marina at 2:00 sharp on a beautiful and windy Thursday afternoon. The Flying Lateen’s 20’ keel boat is a delightful little open cockpit daysailer with a skipper’s cockpit aft (from which literally everything is handled), a large center cockpit for guests (and I was going to say “crew” but actually absolutely no crew is needed) and a small forward cockpit for kids, anchor handling and what have you.
But the boat itself, as attractive as it is, is not what sets this little
ship apart. It is the rig, which they call the Flying Lateen. Words can’t quite describe it. You just have to see it! Better yet, come sail it! My first impression was that it is beautiful, next that it is BIG but most of all, it is clean….simple
and clean! Not the clutter of rigging and lines that most sailboats, particularly readying to get underway, exhibit.
Although I was on time, I was the last to arrive so I stepped aboard and
we cast off. The boat is side tied in a very narrow canal leading out of the “C” docks into the harbor. At low tide, it is only about 10 or 12 feet wide. So I was a little surprised, particularly in lieu of the tight quarters, at the relaxed attitude of the others (there were three of us besides the skipper). Relaxed is an overstatement actually. They were literally doing nothing but sitting comfortably in the center cockpit, talking quietly with the skipper, who was equally relaxed as he guided us silently down the narrow channel. I was starting to wonder what was propelling us when I realized that the big lateen sail was actually being deployed as we glided along, gaining us way as it unfurled from the luff spar. The furler on this particular rig is actuated by a small 12 volt DC motor which makes securing and unfurling the sail, as we were now doing, a non-event. It seemed almost an afterthought. No one was doing anything!
By the time we reached the harbor, perhaps a minute later, we were under full sail, heeling into a fresh breeze and heading up the harbor. As we tacked back and forth across the harbor, I was struck once again at the totally relaxed atmosphere…. at the absence of activity involved in tacking. There was no shouted command of “Stand By to Come About“, no releasing of a jib sheet (there IS no jib), no wrapping of the new leeward sheet around a winch in preparation for trimming on the new tack….no ANYTHING! The skipper merely puts over the helm and we come about, the big lateen sail shaking itself out in the eye of the wind and trimming itself as we fill in on the new tack. A “casualness” I’ve never experienced before on ANY sailboat.
We rounded the corner at the top of the bay, came around the
beautiful Dana Point Yacht Club, eased off and began the broad reach down the
other side toward the harbor entrance. The wind picks up here as it swings around the high bluffs at the north end of Dana Cove. We leaned away from this new wind and literally “flew” down the lee side of the breakwater. I was invited to take the helm at this point and did so with, I admit, a slight bit of trepidation never having sailed a lateen rig before. My first impression, particularly in lieu of a VERY fresh wind coming across the starboard quarter, was the complete lack of any weather helm…..finger tip control on the tiller! This is due, I now understand, to the big lateen sail swiveling as you ease off, with the after part of the sail going to leeward but the forward part of the sail going to weather. It keeps the center of effort….the center of the force of the wind on the sail…right down the centerline of the boat…or at least more so than on a conventional boat where all sails go out to leeward and cause the weather-vaning effect that creates weather helm and in extreme situations,
broaching.
What a marvelous, exhilarating and liberating feeling it is to be flying off the wind in a big breeze, totally comfortable, totally in control, conversing easily with pleasant friends who are equally relaxed. We hardened up as we came around the end of the breakwater, meaning simply that we cranked in on the mainsheet….the ONLY sheet! Tweaking the sail on this boat is no different, for the most part, from any other. There is a downhaul, an outhaul and the boom swivel, around which the entire rig pivots, can be raised and lowered to adjust tension on the leech. It acts somewhat like a vang in this respect.
We put her through her paces……tacked, jibed, hardened up, eased off, even put the helm over and did two complete 360’s with no one moving a muscle. (How envious would a racing skipper and crew be when sparring for position at the start of a match race?)
Back in the harbor, we tacked up the lee side of the breakwater, rounded the corner and began the run toward the entrance to our little canal. I assumed with a quartering and still fresh wind that we would round up and strike the sail. Not even a consideration! We came round the end of the docks into the canal, began furling as we rounded and half way down the channel, were totally furled and glided the rest of the way in as pretty as you
please.
By the time we parallel parked at the dock, the sail was furled, the
sheet was coiled and hanging neatly from the boom, we tied up and that was
it. We were done! Amazing! No flaking any sails, no jib sheets to coil and stow, no sail covers to install….we simply got off the boat and walked away.
It was SO easy and SO pleasant! There was none of the almost frantic
activity….none of the hassle…..that seems to be inherent in prepping, sailing
and securing a sailboat…particularly when the wind is up. Sailing the Flying Lateen leaves one at the end of the day with the cleansed feeling of pure pleasure that, to some of us, only such sailing can bring. It’s the way it should
be. What a delight!
An unsolicited article by
the late Lady Justina Dingy
