What is the main difference between sailing a schooner and a ketch?

Question

What is the main difference having the main sail in the front or the back of the boat?

Answer 1

I personally would prefer a ketch (or yawl) for heavy weather. With a ketch you can take down the main, reef the mizzen, put up a storm jib and have a boat that is easy to handle and control under the worst conditions.

Answer 2

A sloop is a single masted sailboat where the mast is normally within the first third of the vessel. A cutter is the same as a sloop with two differences. One is the mast is moved aft, normally no more than another 10% and there is another forestay added to raise another sail (called the staysail) on. Oddly enough most of the Cape Dory 28s that were manufactured as cutters were turned into sloops by removing the inner forestay. The mast remained in the original position however. Just as the sloop and the cutter are related so are the Ketch and the yawl. The ketch and the yawl are both double masted with the main mast (the one towards the bow) being higher and the mizzen mast (the one at the stern) being shorter. They are differentiated by the position of the mizzen mast. If the mizzen mast is aft (behind) the rudder post she is said to be a yawl. If the mast is ahead of the rudderpost she is said to be a ketch. Of little mention usually the ketch's mizzen mast is approximately 75% of the height of the main mast. In the yawl the mizzen mast is anywhere between 45% to 65% of the main masts height. A schooner is a different animal altogether. Her main mast is shorter than the mizzen mast and she carries an inner foresail like the cutter. She also carries her jib or genoa (medium and large headsails) further forward normally to a bowsprit.(Pointy wood or aluminum sticking out the bow of the boat) There are actually many more designs; Goelette, Dhow, Lugger bark, barkintine, etc ad infinitum or ad naseaum, your choice. As for uses they all do the same thing but they do seem to have some specialities. The sloop is easy to sail, points well to windward and goes fast. It is a good boat for racing or cruising with a small crew. The cutter doesn't point as well to weather but is easier to manage single or double handed. Typically a cutter is also full keeled so they track great but have a slower top speed. Ketches and yawls are great for long distance heavy weather sailing. The ability to carry differing "power levels" of sail make them easier to work with offshore. Schooners have been raced (1800's to early 1900's) and have been used as fishing and lobstering boats (even into the mid 20th century. Some of the most notable schooners made their living as cargo vessels before the steam engine was even a glimpse in Watt's eye. I apologize for being long-winded but I could actually go on forever about this subject. I hope this answers your question completely.

Answer 3

the main difference is a ketch....or yawl or sloop or cutter.......will point higher to the wind and be a bit faster to windward......most noticeably if the main on the schooner is a gaff.....

otherwise, the jib on a schooner will be smaller than on a ketch.....a little easier to handle but once again not as efficient up wind;

the advantage is the schooner rig gives three more easily handled sails and , as Sterling Hayden said, you can carry the fors'l till hell freezes over.

Plus schooners look neat!

Answer 4

the after mast on a schooner is taller or at least the same height as the fwd mast. A ketch has a shorter mast aft unless it is aft of the rudder post/steering position which makes it a yawl.The idea of this is for ease of sail handling in different wind and load conditions. Hope this helps.

Answer 5

The mainsail is midships in a ketch and aft in a schooner. The main differences would be sail trim in heavy weather and choices for reducing sail.