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OK Peter,
Your rig sounds very similar to mine (standing lug), and my system has worked for me for the last 26 years. :)
The tack of the sail (bottom forward corner) is tied to the forward end of the boom. In my case I use a piece of cord permanently attached to the tack cringle (eyelet) and lead it through a hole in the end of the boom, back through the cringle, and through the hole again, and its then tied off around the three standing parts. The only reason I go through the boom twice is to try to reduce the sawing action there, which wears the cord away.
The aft end of the foot of the sail has a similar cord, but a bit longer, as the boom is longer than the foot of the sail. This similarly goes twice through a hole at the end of the boom, and is made off to itself. This one I adjust at the time I rig the boat, tighter for higher winds, but really quite slack in light winds, so the sail can "belly out" along the boom and get some curve. In very strong winds (whenever I'm likely to reef as well), I'll take it back to the cringle and around the boom to prevent the sail getting too far away from the boom, but I don't think this really makes much difference. That end of the boom has two holes, one for the sheet to attach to, and also a captive block on a rope lashing around the end of the boom for the sheet to pass through. I frequently sail with just a single purchase through the block, but my hands can't stand the strain in higher winds these days (old age tells), so then I run the sheet from the boom, down to the block on the rope horse, back up to the block on the boom and then to hand. This will still run out easily even in light winds, but you need a longer sheet and that tangles around your feet when close hauled.
There's a very similar arrangement at each end of the yard (I think a gaff ends at the mast, while a yard crosses the mast). Again, I take two turns of the cord, and tie it round the standing parts. If the cord can "see-saw" through the holes in the woodwork, it will wear away quite quickly. The peak of the sail has a much longer cord in this case, maybe about 18 inches or two feet, as I also use the two turn purchase to stretch the head of the sail along the yard before I make it off. The tail of that peak cord I also use to tie on my ribbon pennant, for wind indication! The lacing just re-inforces the attachment to the yard along it's length, between these two points. As you probably know, it is important to keep the luff of the sail very tight (hence the tension in the halyard). I regard the head of the sail as part of the luff, since it goes up at an angle and cuts the wind, so I'm quite fussy about getting that part taut.
I don't think there is very great strain on any of these tails, on a small sail, and the cord should be strong enough to take all the weight of the wind in the sail. The multiple turns are more about making a firm connection prior to tying off the end, and giving something more substantial to tie the end off around. Also, as I said, to prevent movement and therefore wear. You could of course choose to tie off around the spars, but I feel this crushes the sail cloth against the wood and looks untidy. I prefer to have the sail hanging off the spars rather than bound to them, apart from the lacing along the head. Even there, I don't lace too tightly, relying on the tension of the throat and peak tails to keep the edge straight.
Oh, by the way, the cord I've used is some second hand soft braid about an eighth of an inch thick which I think came out of some old venetian blinds. I could be mis-remembering though. Most cords that size are very hard, but this is both soft and still substantial, so it works for me. Where you could buy some of that I don't know.
On my boat, the boom has a crutch on the starboard side which rides against the mast (the boom passes to port of the mast). On the boom, astride the crutch, is a loop of rope which passes under a cleat on the mast, and this is what stops the boom sliding up the mast while still being able to move around it. This was in the boat plans, which I just copied, and it works after a fashion. I've often thought a better solution would be good, but never come up with one. I suppose a proper "kicking strap" is what I should experiment with. I'm sure your boat will have a different arrangement there, as I've never seen another like mine.
The other consideration is how the yard is held to the mast. On Robin, the halyard goes through the (stationary half) sheave at the top of the mast, and the yard is hauled up to that point, so the yard can't escape the mast. However, when I take a reef, the yard flies out from the mast on starboard tack, and this is not satisfactory. I've tried using a rope traveller on the mast, but it inevitably gets jammed and prevents the sail coming down as I rush towards the beach, which is not a good outcome. I have now come up with the bright idea of simply taking the halyard _through_ the yard, and then tying a bowline around the mast. The knot of the bowline holds the yard up, and the yard is held to the mast at any height, regardless of the reef. Once the halyard is loosened, the bowline is free of any pressure and simply slides down the mast.
All this talk of reefing sounds impressive, but in fact it is only two more cringles, about 15 inches up the sail (I should measure it one day?), with similar tails of cord which I tie down to the tack and leech tails. There are no ties along the sail, since it is so small anyway. The excess sail just bunches itself up and is never any trouble. Again, I just copied what was on the designers sail plan when I made the sail.
I hope I don't offend, trying to teach you something you already know. I've no great experience of any other rigs apart from commercial arrangements on plastic racing dinghies, which are no guide to hand made rigging on small standing lugs. No Cunningham tackle and stainless steel snap shackles here please. ;-)
Let us know how it goes.
Ian
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