Boom Brake Invention . . . from Italy !

[phantomracer]

Originally Posted by filaviasail

interessing but please tell me the exact name of it or the site, i hope it is not expencive. my sistem is only 10 euro and i make it working with a big sheet and it works ok beive me...

Here is the dutchman's website

Welcome to the website DutchmanBoomBrake.com

The price is very fair at about USD$330 or so

To me, price is irrelavant if it works. The Dutchman boom brake works GREAT! Infinitely adjustable, smooth, easy to use

Your system looks similar to the gybe easy (picture below), at least in principle, relying on friction alone. While the gybe easy works, it is not very smooth in operation. Your product may perform better, but I have not tried it to compare it to



I do like the idea of repurpossing other inexpensive products is great. Not sure I would use a piece of climbing equipment to brake the incredible force of a gybing boom.

Great price, no doubt. Where the safety of me, my crew and my boat are concerned, I am willing to fork over the cash for the Dutchman setup.

[SoItGoes]

I've been using a figure eight for years and they work just fine as a boom brake.

Being that climbing gear is made to much higher standards than sailing gear you can thank the UIAA (UIAA - safety label - International Mountaineering and Climbing Federation) for this. If you dont think the forces exerted on climbing gear is not extreme you may want to consider that figure eights are not simply for descending but also for belaying a climber... Imagine the forces needful to stop a 200 pound climber in a 150 foot free fall.

Though one word of advice on using a boom brake is that the line used should be a nylon braid as opposed to an old sheet as a bit of stretch in the line is no bad thing for this use.

[delmarrey]

Thanks Gord!

I considered using preventers, one for each side so I wouldn't have to go up on deck in a rough sea. But after the line calculation of 60' for each side is way more line then a brake, so I went for the boom brake. I single hand mostly.

My main reason is to prevent accidental jibes . I had a couple, one that about tore my arm off and the other parted the traveler line. That's a lot of power. And now I've added 3 more ft. to the foot of the mainsail.

I keep the brake set to an easy slide for 1 to 4 points but when the wind is coming over the quarter I tighten it up. I very seldom jibe just due to the size of the sail (425 sq. ft.).

It does create another trip line but also some to grab onto if need be. But it's work well and has prevented more accidental jibes. It's a life saver and I would sail w/o it!!!