yard parallel to the mast and able to slide up and down as the sail is hoisted, lowered or reefed. The benefit of this is that the yard is under better control as sail is lowered (thereby avoiding a hazard to the crew). The disadvantage is that lowering sail is a two stage process, as the yard has to be disconnected from the top gunter iron to get all the sail off the boat. There is also a risk of the gunter irons jamming. Some of these problems are resolved if the sail is boomless or loose-footed and can be taken in with brails. A two halyard system does away with the gunter irons. The peak halyard goes to a wire span on the yard and holds the yard close to the mast. A throat halyard moves the yard up and down the mast. The lower end of the yard is usually attached to the mast with jaws and a parrel. This allows the rig to be put together with more readily available components. In use, the sail can be lowered completely quite quickly. Reefing is carried out by lowering away solely on the throat halyard. Unlike gaff rig, this two halyard system is easier for a single-hander, as only one halyard is used at a time. A simpler and more minimalist arrangement is to have a single halyard that is tied to the yard at a mid-point.This attachment point has to be varied if the sail is reefed, so reefing can only be done by completely lowering the sail, moving position of the halyard and re-hoisting once the reef points are tied. See also Gaff rig Sail plan Notes References External links Description of rigs, with pictures Drascombe Lugger sliding gunter rig Sailing rigs and rigging