Removing the Boom

[SaucySailoress]

I'm having a wicked argument with HWMO at the mo.

He has wanted, for a long time, to cut a few feet off the base of the mainsail at the back, in order to raise the boom, and reduce the risk of it wholloping his head (My head is too low for it to be a serious risk whilst I'm in the cockpit). It took a while, I was initially reluctant, since I figured the folks who designed the boat had a better idea of how to correctly size a sail. If it could have been made safer by making it a few feet higher, then surely that would have been done years ago. ANyway, last week, I reluctantly agreed.

NOW, the bloomin idiot wants to take off the boom completely. He reckons that since most of our circumnav will be done in the trades, we can get by with just the spinnaker (sp?) and the genoa. He reckons that will completely eliminate the risk of head butting the boom.

Sadly, I can't think of any reasons better than:

1 - We will struggle into wind (he says that won't often happen, and we've got an engine if we need it).

2 - We will simply forward roll our way around the world, since surely that will bring the nose down (he says BS, that it will actually lift the nose).

I know this is wrong, I feel it in my bones, but I simply can't give an educated argument as to why. Help me out here

[atoll]

generally when motorsailing to windward,having the boom sheeted in hard with a reef in the sail gives a lot of drive,i dont know how you would achieve this with out a boom.

down wind you will still need a way of holding the sail out and off the shrouds.

the boom is also usefull for hanging sun awnings over.

it might be better to experiment with preventers,so you have control of the boom at all times,so even if you gybe accidentally the boom is held in place.

[Coops]

Aw, just trade him in and get someone that will listen to you. I will, i promise.

Coops.

[sailorboy1]

Originally Posted by SaucySailoress

I know this is wrong, I feel it in my bones, but I simply can't give an educated argument as to why. Help me out here

Not being a mouse and get control of your boat!

[Wotname]

Just let him know how smart he really is; he's got the jump on the rest of the sailing fraternity (or take Coop's advice).

[sy_gilana]

Its ALL about balance. IF you lose that youre gonna need a bucket.
Deathrolling downwind is the puke. We set up for that by biasing our rig to induce a damping in one direction of roll, so yes you go over, then come back slooow. This cannot be done without a boom.
On any other point of sail, youre going to want to trim for minimum standing helm. BE hard to do without a boom.

Buy him a cycling helmet.

[Pete7]

I think you need to compromise as all husbands and wives do. So let him take the boom off, but insist it is rigged in front of the mast across the yacht like a viking square sail. This should keep him happy because it would be a great down wind sail and you keep the boom on board because you just know its going to be needed again in the future.

Barbados is 90 miles into the prevailing wind from the other islands, are you going to miss it just because you can't sail 90 miles?

Pete

[SaucySailoress]

I think he was planning on running the engine then. He says he'll need it to power the compressor to fill cylinders anyway

[capn_billl]

He could rig it as a cat ketch, then no booms. Or just take the speed hit and raise the boom a foot, and get smaller sails.

[David_Old_Jersey]

Your husband is right.

[Sailmonkey]

Find a boat with no mainboom and a roller main.......let him sail that for a while....he'll change his tune.

[sy_gilana]

HEY you got me, this has got to be another April Fool thread right?

[atoll]

since you are in the middle east the obvious compromise would be to fit a dhow /lanteen rig

[SaucySailoress]

Yeah, OK, I got so caught up in DoJ's much better April Fool's thread that I totally forgot about this one I started back in the early hours. HWMO has no intention of removing the boom. I thought the idea was so ludicrous I wasn't expecting any serious responses. TBF, this one just wasn't funny really, was it?

This was, tho: http://www.cruisersforum.com/forums/...tml#post921036

[capn_billl]

Got me, I just saw a boat with no booms, (conventional anyway), so it made sense at the time.