Nice piece and happy comments about two masts. Not being able to find a ketch that I wanted, I stuck a carbon fiber mizzen on a Sea Sprit 34 and it has been a dandy addition. Sometimes it adds nothing at all. In gnarly weather we can hit top speed with just jib and jigger, with little tension and less chance of breaking something. And we can back off a mooring, to show off. She balances with all the combinations and, with the mizzen tied to one side of another, she lays steady to the wind at anchor. The main mast is still humongous tall, but with a Tides Marine sail track the main comes down in a woosh. I'm sure there are disadvantages, but I'm not smart or experienced enough to have found them yet.

A timeless conversation-starter...when I had a ketch, I noticed the mizzen was the first sail to come off, thanks to weather helm, so I concluded a taller main with two headsails was simpler, lighter, faster, less maintenance and gave all the necessary options. As wind increases, I prefer the sail area move inboard, so the jib and jigger setup in heavy air does not appeal. With a cutter rig, a staysail and progressively reefed main will manage in heavy air, eventually furling the main completely.

I note that none of the ketches I'm familiar with that are mentioned here would reasonably be called a 'performance' boat, but the debate is, like sailing itself, primarily an emotional one. We like what we like and the rest is filler.

I sail a 1975 Sparkman & Stevens designed Chris Craft Caribbean 35 cruising ketch with a full keel. The sailing line of Chris Crafts was initiated when Cornelius Shields and his brother owned the motor boat manufacturer. These boats (Commanche 42, Apache 37, Pawnee etc.) are still active on the sailing scene. The Caribbean 35 is a sturdily well built boat easily helmed and comfortable to stay aboard with three cabins/2heads and plenty of storage. She is a dream to sail under any sail combination. Since the production was limited to 100, you might not see one all the time. I love this boat and cherish my time aboard.

The reason there are so many styles of boat are because there are so many different ways to use them. If I am a weekend racer with a crew of four the last thing I'd want is a ketch. Over 25-years of sailing a ketch, cutter and sloop, there is only one choice in my opinion for a short handed long-range cruiser and that is a ketch. Like comparing sail to power, you can never sail a power boat, and a sloop will never offer the trim flexibility of a ketch. Today my wife & I purchased our beloved 48ft Soverel Staysail Ketch for long-range cruising and I just laugh every time winds are 25+ and are sailing at hull-speed under jib & jigger.

We live aboard a Pearson 53 Ketch and beside both heads being on the same side of the boat. Just love the boat and multiple sail configurations. Well balanced and since it's just my wife and I. Very easy to setup the boat for single handed cruising.

The Whitby 42's usually carried a ketch or cutter-ketch rig while the Brewer 12.8 was usually a cutter or sloop. Since the underside of the two vessels is significantly different, it is hard to say whether it is the rig or the keel configuration that makes the B-12.8 a better upwind sailer. Another reason we chose the Brewer is that davits and arches can be more difficult to mount and use on a ketch.

We sail a Bowman 57 cutter ketch and I have written on many occasions what a pleasure she is to sail. We sailed through 6 gales under job and jigger across the North Atlantic. We had every scrap of sail including mizzen staysail up on our next 2 Atlantic crossings. When our steering failed on one crossing, I steered by adjusting sails on deck while Alex worked on the steering below. She stands out in the harbour and we now have two antennas on the two masts so our AIS doesn't interfere with our VHF. She also sails remarkable well and we had our first 200+ mile day last year crossing Biscay. We concur! BTW there are many ketches cruising in Europe.

We sail a Bowman 57 cutter ketch and I have written on many occasions what a pleasure she is to sail. We sailed through 6 gales under job and jigger across the North Atlantic. We had every scrap of sail including mizzen staysail up on our next 2 Atlantic crossings. When our steering failed on one crossing, I steered by adjusting sails on deck while Alex worked on the steering below. She stands out in the harbour and we now have two antennas on the two masts so our AIS doesn't interfere with our VHF. She also sails remarkable well and we had our first 200+ mile day last year crossing Biscay. We concur! BTW there are many ketches cruising in Europe.

Silk, my Cutter-Ketch, a 1987 Shannon 37 let's me short hand with her smaller sails. I love to balance the rig to have a very minimal helm. A course trim of a degree or two with a light touch of the helm every 15 minutes or so is a joy.
M Tyler
Sv Silk
(and yes, she was Beth Leonard's)

Few more coimments. Some times we see a furling sail set up between the gooseneck of the main to the head of the mizzen mast. Along with a "mule sale" filling out the rest of the triangle between main and mizzen masts. The big advantage of this rig is not having to go forward and set up or reef the mainsail. Blue water sailors in the Pacific always say prayers when going forward to raise or lower mainsail. That's not a problem with furling masts. Until they become a problem. Just a matter of time.

In the old days the ketch rig always had more sail area than a similar sloop or cutter rig. The ketch rig was considered "handy". Sadly most of the ketches built by post-War glass US boat builders gave ketches "small rigs".

Our observation after some 50 years "out there" is that in any out of the way harbor there are always 2 eternal truths. First, the boats are mostly older. Second, there are more split rigs than one might imagine looking at the new boat shows.

The nicest arrangement for my money is a ketch rig with the masts set on tabernacles so they can easily be lowered by the crew. That makes it possible to store the boat in out fo the way places, ship it freighters, travel through canals and reduce storage costs.

One last word. With independently stayed ketch rig if one looses the mainmast its not much of a job to rig the main boom as a short mainmast and keep on sailing. Anyway the ketch rig is after the schooner rig the most pleasant to look at. Ketch rigs shout out "I'm not a toy".

Peter I Berman
Norwalk, CT

Ketches have long been the "old man's rig". And have long been favored by Pacific sailors. When the wind pipes up "jib (staysail) and jigger' will see you up through 40 knots.
And when running off or before the wind setting up a mizzen staysail along with a big cruising spinnaker the angels really sing. A major advantage is being able to sail at night or in storms without the mainsail up. Makes sleep much easier. What's given up is some ability to go to windward. But a shorter mainmast makes it less likely a rogue wave will turn the boat turtle. Alas ketches are more expensive to rig and flesh out the sail inventory. Most old timers maintain that to fully realize the advantages of a ketch we need at least 40 to 45 feet. Still anther advantage of a ketch is that the radar and electronics fit nicely on the mizzen mast, the mizzen halyard can easily lift up stern stored dinghies. More than a few sailors favor the old man's rig. We drove several ketches across the Pacific and loved them all. One more advantage is that even with a 50 foot ketch one can get by without electric winches. And its easy to send a crew up the mizzen mast to work through an uncharted reef.

Peter I Berman
Nowalk, CT

Ketches have long been the "old man's rig". And have long been favored by Pacific sailors. When the wind pipes up "jib (staysail) and jigger' will see you up through 40 knots.
And when running off or before the wind setting up a mizzen staysail along with a big cruising spinnaker the angels really sing. A major advantage is being able to sail at night or in storms without the mainsail up. Makes sleep much easier. What's given up is some ability to go to windward. But a shorter mainmast makes it less likely a rogue wave will turn the boat turtle. Alas ketches are more expensive to rig and flesh out the sail inventory. Most old timers maintain that to fully realize the advantages of a ketch we need at least 40 to 45 feet. Still anther advantage of a ketch is that the radar and electronics fit nicely on the mizzen mast, the mizzen halyard can easily lift up stern stored dinghies. More than a few sailors favor the old man's rig. We drove several ketches across the Pacific and loved them all. One more advantage is that even with a 50 foot ketch one can get by without electric winches. And its easy to send a crew up the mizzen mast to work through an uncharted reef.

Peter I Berman
Nowalk, CT

Great comments. I would add that when my Diddikai ketch unshipped her rudder in the middle of a passage from Bermuda to the Chesapeake, we were able to sail for a day using the mizzen sheet to steer until we had calm enough seas to rehang the rudder.
I would prefer a ketch for cruising where speed is less important than ease of handling. My biggest concern was actually the clutter in the cockpit.

Having lived aboard two different ketches (Pearson 365 and Whitby 42) my issue is that the Whitby needed 3 knots of hull speed to tack and we still had to back wind the jib to get her to turn. This meant that anything less than 10-12 knots of wind would be motoring only.
Additionally the mizzen on the Whitby went too far aft and was not a safe hand hauled rig in rough seas.
The Pearson sailed nicely jib and jigger, but could not point at all.
I now have a Cal 39 sloop and I am in awe of its sailing capability

My wife and I greatly enjoyed our GulfStar 50 center cockpit ketch for 10 years, and are now into our 4th year aboard a Ta Chiao CT-56 ketch, (Bob Perry design).

When the wind kicks up, I never put a reef in the main, I drop it entirely, thereby avoiding any dangerous on deck gymnastics during rough seas; and with the mizzen and jib, we are still nicely balanced.

Our sails are much easier to handle. We can (as mentioned) balance her very well with the numerous sails - we also have a cutter or foresail - between the jib and main.
Our mast height is lower than sloops, again, as mentioned.

If we are having a problem - lost halyard, etc., we have plenty of other sails to use.

The list of positives is quite extensive, so we are quite pleased to own ketches.

Thank you,
Doug Sabbag
Captain S/V Triumph

You neglected to mention mast height. Our Allied Princess Ketch clears 45' bridges. Nice plus in tight spots.

You neglected to mention mast height. Our Allied Princess Ketch clears 45' bridges. Nice plus in tight spots.

I love my Pearson 365 ketch. She is pretty, fun to sail, a great liveaboard and gets admiring looks. I have sailed on another much larger ketch on S. F. Bay in summer when the wind howls.
She was steady and easy to handle by our volunteer crew and the city kids aboard had a blast.

I take this moment to offer thanks for using that stunning photo of my Allied Seawind MkII
ketch "Sea Quill" on the opening page the most recent edition.

I reluctantly sold her about nine years ago to a couple who planned to take her all the way around the "Marble".
Despite their thin experience the departed the Dominican Republic headed for Jamaica to install a Cape Horn vane steering wane and shortly after departed for the Panama Canal.
Unfortunately Sea Quill was hit by lightening the evening prior to their final Caribbean leg prior to entering the canal.
The damage was significant to her electronic appliances and apparently she languished near Colon for a year or more awaiting a new owner.

I would really like to be somehow a part of her next adventures in the future.
Despite several attempts to reach the cruisers that will undoubtedly cross tacks with her
in the future I have only a quick note from a cruiser who claims Sea Quill was purchased and has been totally refit and may yet be in the area of Panama..
I ask that anyone who can forward any news of the sweet Allied Mk II ketch "Sea Quill to me. No doubt the attributes you have used to describe why the love of the ketch will never go away.

Thanks Petrea! I think I've got the right Wanderer now!

Hi Darrell, having owned, lived aboard and sailed a 31' Norwalk Islands Sharpie, I fully agree with you. As this was my first experience with a ketch I was dubious, but quickly became a convert to the ease of handling. Being engine free made it especially important that I could maneuver under sail, and the ketch made it simple and safe. Dead downwind and upwind are the worst points of sail, but hey, they are only a small proportion of the available wind directions. BTW the Hiscocks last boat was the sloop Wanderer V.

I too own a Hinckley yawl (1984 custom yawl), and agree with the above excellent assessment of a split rig. However, I'm not aware that Hinckley ever made ketch. Henry Hinckley was a fan of the yawl, not the ketch. It had something to do with the old IOR rules, I think?...mnh

We have owned a 49' Hinckley ketch for 16 years (See P.S. review of July 2010). Ours is # 17 of 24 built. from the early to mid-70's. They are roomy, dry and comfortable down below. Both sticks have in-mast furling to permit sail adjustments from either the center or aft cockpit- certainly not a struggle for 2 people of advancing age. .At 38,000 pounds and with considerable tankage, it moves nicely in 10-15 knots of breeze. The auxiliary provides adequate power and will maintain 7 knots @ 1800 RPM- fairly economical. They draw 5 feet board up and 10 feet board down. We think they are a nice fit for a live aboard couple. The market has been stable with asking prices at 200K (+/-) ten percent. Even after 40 years and with proper care, they will still turn heads. We are ketch people!