It is said to be the ancestor from which the common gaff rig evolved in 16th-century Holland.

An Itchen ferry is a type of small gaff rig cutter.

The two teams had agreed to race only the old-fashioned wooden boats known as gaff rigs, some of them a century old.

It is used mostly on gaff rig boats for extra downwind performance when racing.

Three main types were made over its life, all using gaff rig with a single, tall sail and the mast stepped well forward.

The first boats had sprit rigs, but this soon gave way to gaff rigs.

It was square rigged on the main mast, with a gaff rig on the mizzen.

This sag is the main cause of the gaff rig's poor performance to windward relative to the Bermuda rig.

Novel rigging technology now permitted the bermuda rig to replace the gaff rig.

All had a form of fore/aft gaff rig with a flat bottom and lee boards to allow operations in shallow waters.

For a given sail area a gaff rig has a shorter mast than a bermudian rig.

She is 32 meters long with a gaff rig, hand winches, and traditional ropes and canvas sails.

Most modern designs have only one sail, the mainsail; however the traditional catboat could carry multiple sails from the gaff rig.

A gaff rig typically carries 25 percent more sail than an equivalent bermudian rig for a given hull design.

Because of it's low aspect ratio, the gaff rig is less prone to stalling if oversheeted than something taller and narrower.

The gaff rig has been largely superseded by the bermuda rig, which has no topsails.

Traditional rigging may include square rigs and gaff rigs, with separate topmasts and topsails.

The increased prevalence of fractional rigs on sloops in the early 20th century probably coincided roughly with the disappearance of the gaff rig.

Initially gaff rigs were the norm, but as the class entered the 1930s Punt owners adopted Bermuda rigs.

They carry a gaff rig, the sail historically also black from being treated with a mixture of tar and fish oil to protect it from the elements.

Contrary to the gaff rig (where the gaff is hoisted together with the sail) the gaff stays in the mast.

While the gaff rig is "cleaner" in that the mast does not interfere with the sail, it requires more complex rigging and handling than the lugger.

But this rig fell from favour to fore-and-aft gaff rigs and bermuda rigs after the development of steam power and new materials.

Traditional rigs, like gaff rigs, are not uncommon, compared to the nearly universal high aspect Bermuda rigs found on other modern sailboats.

Although it is more difficult to tack with than a Marconi- or gaff rig, it has a better aspect ratio than square rig.