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I had sailed for a few years with friends and on my own boat but I never felt totally happy that the standard marconi or bermudan sail layout was the best for me. It suited racing rules, fashions in boats and those who wanted a workout pulling lines but I knew there had to be a better, safer way of moving across the water. Then I discovered the Junk Rig and the scales fell from my eyes. Easier rigs for Safer Cruising by Campbell showed me what was possible and since I had never even seen a junk rig in the flesh, let alone sailed on one, I decided I had to build one. I got the sail plan from an article in Practical Boating, "Junk Rig Decoded " by Vincent Reddish. This article showed what was possible and set me on my way. In the end, I spent most of the time building the boat to carry the sail and little time developing the sail itself. I chose a 16 ft. Swampscott Dory from the catalogue of Selway Fisher, an organisation for whom I have the height of praise. The blueprints were so precise, the boat nearly built itself. The project took two Summers in the backgarden, covered with plastic sheeting during Winter. The method was Stitch and Glue, the plywood is cut to shape, stitched together using wire or cable ties and then epoxied inside and out. The result is a bullet proof egg shell which distributes any stresses throughout the structure The entire project was a long learning curve but one question nagged me throughout, why had Junks not caught on to the extent they deserved ? The only answer that keeps coming up is that most people are afraid of upsetting the status quo, what would they think down at the club ? Why I Chose A Junk
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