Home > Yawl

The yawl is often confused with the ketch, which also has two masts with the main mast foremost. The official difference is that a ketch has the mizzen mast forward of the rudder post whereas the mizzen on a yawl is aft of the rudder post. In practice, on a ketch the principal purpose of the mizzen mast is to help propel the vessel, while on a yawl it is mainly used for the purposes of trim and balance. In conseqence the mizzen sail of a yawl tends to be smaller, and the mainsail larger, when compared to a ketch of similar size. The mainsail of a yawl will be similar in size to that of a similarly sized and proportioned sloop. Also, on a ketch, other sails may be set from the mizzen mast such as staysails and even occasionally a second spinnaker, but these are never set from the mizzen of a yawl.

The yawl was originally developed as a rig for commercial fishing boats. In its heyday, the rig was particularly popular with single-handed sailors, such as circumnavigators Joshua Slocum and Francis Chichester. This was largely due to the remarkable ability of a yawl to be trimmed to follow a compass course accurately despite minor wind shifts. Modern self-steering and navigation aids have made this less important, and the yawl has generally fallen out of favor.

Famous yawls

• Spray
• Gypsy Moth IV

See also sail-plan.