Lark off Beavertail Light.  Note that she's flying her masthead ("balloon") jib.

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The H-28 was designed by L. Francis Herreshoff in 1942, who published
the plans in installments of The Rudder magazine.  There was no one
builder of these vessels as there was with Nathaniel Herreshoff (L.F.'s dad),
so any yard or individual could build one with whatever modifications
he wanted, and call it anything he liked.

A few years after, LFH also published sailplans for a bowsprit version of the ketch rig, and a sloop rig. Click the images enlarge:

Note that the modified ketch rig still has the original stays'l, and both rigs
have the same base sail area as the original design.   I don't know if the
ketch's masthead jib's sail area is the same as the original design's.  
The ketch also has additional staysail set between the mains'l luff and the
mizzen.   Both have jumper stays to keep the forestay and stays'l luff
tight for better racing performance.

In the 60's in Hong Kong and or Taiwan, two modified h-28 designs were built in
production fibreglass, the Far East 29 and the Bermuda 30. They both carried a
ketch rig with a masthead jib tacked to a bowsprit.   I think the Bermuda
30 was built by Cheoy Lee.  They had fibreglass hulls and teak laid decks.  Both
these designs had about 6 to 8 inches more freeboard and a "doghouse" (raised
cabin trunk) to give standing headroom.  At a rendezvous in 1993 in Boston
we saw about 6 of them together.  Mine follows the original design fairly
closely and was built of wood in 1949 in Long Island, NY.  I sail her in
Narragansett Bay in Rhode Island, USA.

For more information refer to the New Zealand H-28 Yacht Owners Association's
website, especially their page on H-28 varieties.
 

Stays'ls with Removeable Stays, Bowsprits

A correspondent writes:
"I have a ketch rigged H-28 with a short bowsprit and am considering the addition
of a self-tending forsteays'l with removeable stay.  I would like to know what
experience other H-28 owners have had with a double head rig."

Lark answers: I've got a self-tending stays'l and removable stay. As in the original plans, it lets me fly either the stays'l or balloon jib, but not both at once. This website has examples of each in the pictures. I cut my stays'l smaller than the plans in order to make it self-tending with a club, but it seems smaller than it should be. The whole rig is undersized for our average 8 knot breezes, is great for 15 knots, and I love single-handed tacking without having to set down my scotch.

The rig as designed, with the small stays'l, is 343 sq ft. Using the masthead ("Balloon") jib gives you 443 sq ft. Your bowsprit may add 28-35 sq ft to the sailplan. My forestays'l is smaller, only 74 sq ft or so, and doesn't add much to the horsepower. It's principal result for me is that sailing is much less work and I go slower.

My stays'l flies from a forestay tacked down at the stem, and my masthead jib's headstay goes to the stem also. Because the space between the forestay and headstay is too narrow, I can't fly the masthead jib when the forestay is there, unless I never come about. So my forestay (the inner one) has a pelican hook at the stem, by which I disconnect it when I fly the masthead jib. I make the forestay fast to the starboard shroud with a sail tie, and the furled stays'l lies along the rail and the clew is made fast with another sail tie. The pelican hook is simple, strong, and not too hard to reattach.

Since your bowsprit holds your headstay (the outer one) further forward, you may want to tack your forestay (the inner one) a foot or so back from the stem to make more room between the stays. However, it would make your forestays'l even smaller than mine, and not very useful. On the other hand, it may be necessary to enable you to fly your masthead jib and come about without having to unfasten the forestay. There would be wear and tear on your masthead jib, so unfastening it is still a good idea. In heavy weather you would probably want the forestay up for safety and you wouldn't be flying the masthead jib.
 

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this page updated 2/21/99