The first boat I sailed was an open keel boat on a lake in Germany. I think it was Dutch design and called BM Jolle. On the way back across the lake we hit a weather swall, with all the sound and sound and pyrotechnics and we had to bail quite a lot of water out.

I almost shit in my pants with fear, and since then kept asking for more.

This boat was gaff rigged, and since then I always at gaff rigs with envy and desire, but never dared to stray from the path of modern rig design.

But this time I will.

I guess that there is an age where you have the right to do the unpopular thing, if that is what it is. But I don't really know. I just want to say that there are a lot of people saying a lot of very good things about the gaff rig, and I truly believe it's worth listening to.

And to my eye, a Gaff Yawl with a kick-ass Spritsail Mizzen on a hull with straight, Pilot-Cutter style bow and a long bowsprit is simply the most touching thing afloat I can imagine - comes even before the wonder that grips me when I see a boat like the trimaran foiler HYDROPTHERE slicing the water with all three hulls 2 meters in the air.

What's yours? ;-)

In the meantime, and for the more mainstream-minded, the more efficient cruising rig according to common modern thinking and my personal experience would be:

• Up To about 12 meters masthead sloop, no running backstays, cutter with self-tacking jib, fully battened mainsail with lazy jacks. That's a rig that's fun and fast, can be maneuvered in confined areas without touching the sheets, and can be handled easily even by your bigger kids in normal conditions and with a couple of proper winches and cam cleats.
• Over 12 meters the same sort of outfit but as schooner..

The main, battens, slides and track though have to be of the best make available, otherwise you are in for trouble with broken battens and stuck tracks. Same goes for the foresails. On a cruising yacht better have the best roller-system available or nothing at all and fit reef-lines on your jibs instead.

Actually this goes for all the rigging, and to a certain extent for technical and nautical equipment in general: Every time you want high tech and can't pay it it's better to forget about it and go simple rather than second-quality high tech. Low Quality rollers, slides, winches will cause occasional nasty trouble in coastal cruising, but are almost certain to cause big trouble on long term long distance projects, half ways through and when you can least afford it.

Don't try to save on what you can't afford in the first place - scale down, simplify and live without it.

So, if you got the cash and the sources and the will to settle for the very best only, go for a marconi sloop with fully battened main - In my case, and regarding the YAGO project, I simply live too far from the sea to get any modern high tech equipment for reasonable prices, and that's just fine - because THIS time I really WANT TO GO GAFF anyway !! ;-)