Chafe from topping lift

[Sparx]

What techniques work for minimizing chafe on the main sail by the topping lift? This is especially a trouble on those full reach, full batten sails.

I have tried running the topping lift just short of tight as well as full slack. Not terribly pleased with either.

[tkeithlu]

Hmmm. Consider doing away with it, or cleating it off until you need to raise the boom to get it into its cradle. Or, wrap it around the back stay. Or, a solid bow vang in place of a downhaul would do both up and down, making the boom a fixed projection of the mast. Really, at least in the cruising boats I have sailed, the critical item with a big-leach long-batten sail is preventing the fly away boom, which breaks battens and rips sails, and the downhaul does that.

[boatman61]

Unclip it off the boom and clip onto backstay bottlescrew or other suitable spot.