Here’s what I found. It was posted on Grand Banks Yachts FB page, Sept 21, 2017 it looks like.
#ThrowbackThursday: A Sailing GB 42
Before he created the Fleming brand, Tony Fleming served as technical director of American Marine in Hong Kong, builder of the Grand Banks. He had his own specially-built 42 as you can see from the photograph. Her current owner, Tim Beaver, was kind enough to fill in the details recently:
The Lion’s Den was built in 1982 for Tony Fleming and has several unique engineering details consistent with Tony’s concept for a long-range live aboard that was as quiet and vibration-free as possible.
Consistent with those ideas he designed a second forward mast to accommodate a jib sail, as well as a tower and hard points for a traditional flopper stopper stability system using outriggers and “fish.” The latter was never completed by Tony or myself. Someday maybe.
However, the sail setup was put together by myself and a gent named Pete Jobes while outfitting the vessel for a trip from Sydney BC to Juneau Alaska in the summer of 2011. There was a sketch found aboard drawn by Tony Fleming showing the sail arrangement, which we took to the local sailmaker who did a good job of turning the concept into a reality. As far as I am aware this is the only GB with that was fitted by Grand Banks with a forward mast.
As for the performance of the rig, it has proven over time to be very useful as for stabilization in a beam sea, which is common during coastal cruising in the PNW, especially when making crossings across the Straits of Juan de Fuca or Queen Charlotte Sound with exposure to the open sea. The sails provide a dampening effect making the ride much more comfortable. The hard chines of the GB hull can sometimes make such conditions difficult. The sails are easy to hoist and help considerably.
That being said, the use of the sails for actual propulsion has not worked out. It seems to me that there is not enough keel or rudder to make the vessel hold a course with the sail rig. In an emergency, a downwind course could probably be held, but even a broad reach cannot be made with the configuration as it stands. Adding engine power adds steerage to the vessel making the sail rig work as a motor sail hybrid, adding maybe a knot or two.
Since 2011 the Lion’s Den has been back to Juneau and out to Sitka and environs one more time, around Vancouver once counterclockwise and up the west coast of Vancouver Island to Quatsino Sound twice. We even took her south down the coast and up the Columbia to Portland in 2014.
