Leader Brixham Sailing Trawler

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Leader is a former Brixham sailing trawler, one of the largest of her type ever built in 1892 at the boatyard of A. W. Gibbs in Galmpton on the river Dart. She fished in UK waters until 1907, when she was sold to new owners in Scandinavia. She remained there as a working vessel until the 1960's, when she became a sail training vessel under the flag of the Swedish Cruising Club. In 1985, she was taken to the West coast of Scotland, where she was used for sailing charter holidays.

In 1996 she was brought home to South Devon, and operated from Dartmouth until 1999, when she returned to Brixham.

Leader is rigged as she would have been when first built, as a gaff ketch. She is 80' long on deck, and 105' overall. She displaces about 110 tonnes in sailing trim. She has a beam of 19'6" and a draft of 10'.

Down below, Leader has been fitted out for her modern role. She has accommodation for twelve guests and five crew, a large saloon area, a galley with a large, gas cooker, two heads, two hot showers, and a generator that supplies a ring main with 240v electricity. She has a well equipped nav. station with modern navigation equipment including Radar, GPS and DSC VHF Radio.

Leader was one of the largest of the sailing trawlers, known, despite their Ketch rig, as the 'Big Sloops'.

The Rig

Leader is rigged now just as she was when she fished under sail, over 100 years ago. She has a 'Gaff Rig', indicating that the Main and Mizzen sails are hoisted using a 'gaff', a spar attached to their upper side. The Ketch rig (two masts) was used to divide up the sail area, making each sail easier to handle by a small crew. The large number of sails (up to eight) makes it easy to 'change gear' by hoisting or lowering sails as required, depending upon the strength of the wind.

The Ketch rig is very versatile; good in light winds, when extra sails can be set (such as flying jib and mizzen staysail), good in heavy winds (she can sail under mizzen and staysail alone) and good for manoeuvring (the mizzen can be used to help to balance and turn the boat).