Ketch ketch and the yawl have two masts, with the main mast foremost; the distinction usually being that a ketch has the mizzen mast forward of the rudder post, whereas on a yawl, it is aft of the rudder post. But the balance of sail area can be an overriding characteristic. If 20% or more of the sail area is in the mizzen sail the rig would be termed a ketch. This is particularly true on center cockpit yachts. Compared to a ketch, a similar size yawl's mizzen sail is much smaller than the main, because of the limitations of the
15,000 Miles in a Ketch and Indian seas to outside Melbourne Harbour in July 1909. The voyage totalled a distance of 15,000 miles, which is where the name of the novel originates. Although du Baty's native language was French, 15,000 Miles in a Ketch was first published in English. It was later translated to and published in French in 1991 by Ed. maritimes et d'outre-mer under the title, Aventures aux Kerguelen. Since Francis Drake went round the world in the Golden Hind there has perhaps been no voyage quite so venturesome as that in a little French fishing ketch, of forty-five tons, called the J.B.