Brian Sandle wrote:

Linkname: Gear and Maintenance
URL:
http://www.sailnet.com/collections/g...eID=ddcksn0326


Sailing a Cutter Rig

What are the advantages of a cutter-rigged boat?

Dan Dickison responds:
A cutter sails pretty much like a sloop, but with two jibs, the cutter
rig can be a more versatile sail plan. If the staysail is self-tending
(on a boom with a traveler on the foredeck), you can short-tack upwind
without grinding headsail winches. How the rig performs hard on the
wind depends a great deal on the size and style of the main headsail.
With a large, low-cut genoa, the staysail may be starved for air when
beating, while a smaller, high-clewed jib or yankee may work well with
the inner headsail.

A staysail almost always provides usable sail area for power reaching
once the boat is slightly off the wind and works well until the wind
is well abaft the beam. On a dead run however, the little staysail is
usually blanketed by the mainsail and is of little use. Yet, a
little-used advantage is that when running downwind, the staysail can
be sheeted flat amidships, acting like a large anti-roll air brake.

The most important aspect in using this rig is to make sure that the
trim on the outer jib matches the trim on the inner one. This assumes
that you've got the proper sheet leads, halyard tension, and sheet
tension. Obviously you want to sheet the outer jib outboard of the
inner jib.

The cutter-rigged boat can be balanced better than a sloop because the
staysail can be sheeted in or out to add more or less weather helm.
A staysail can also be extremely useful as the wind increases because
they keep the sail plan of the boat low and centered as the headsail
and main are reefed. Paired with a partially-rolled genoa or a small,
high-clewed yankee, sail area can be reduced until the staysail alone
is left.
...

Then could it look like a sloop from some angle?

I don't understand many terms. Is it a ketch that is cutter-rigged?