Talk:Square rig

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"Square rig was the main design in the age of sail, (1571—1863)." I removed this line because I cannot understand what it means. The largest vessels were all square-rigged during the period, but I'd be surprised to hear that even the majority of vessels of any time were square-rigged.Czrisher 15:42, 10 August 2007 (UTC)

The square rig is atleast as good as the gaff rig even when sailing windward, but require more experienced crew for the same perfomance then other rigs. I'm however not experienced with sailing other rigs then these two...(not realy experienced with these either, only sailed a few months in square a riged sailing ship and only training sailing in gaff riged sailing ship) Anyways, I say this because I know that a ship from the sailing school I was on not to long ago fosen folkehøyskole have outsailed gaff riged ships on several ocations. The square rig don't have a mast infront of the sail that cause turbulence in the wind like the gaff sail. I don't want to edit the article without better proves then my own(rather limited) experiance. I hope atleast someone here is willing to consider either editing or atlest finding more information on the subject. If I'm wrong, me being only a student in sailing and stuff, I'd like to know, and I'd like more information about why you people belive I'm wrong. Luredreier 23:23, 22 September 2007 (UTC)

You're right. The square rig of traditional Norwegian boats, such as the Nordlandsboat and the Åfjordsboat, is superior windwards to gaff rigged boats and most bermuda rigged boats, when sailed by an experienced crew. They are however inferior when it comes to tacking on narrow waters. I don't know if this applies to deep-keeled square-rigged sailing ships, so I won't edit the article. Devanatha (talk) 17:57, 7 February 2008 (UTC)