Boom Wang, do I need one?

[Panama Red]

I have a Hylas 44 without a boom vang. Sails pretty good without a Vang, but I must wonder, would it sail better with one, and are there other considerations for the vang?

I have noticed two major types: 1)hydraulic rigid and 2) block and tackle with and without a ratchet. What are the pros and cons of each?

[Suijin]

It certainly helps on downwind legs, both in terms of sail shape and from keeping the boom from skying in certain conditions.

I have a hydraulic vang on my boat and while it has a couple of good points I think you're overall much better off with a soft vang.

Hydraulic has two main downsides in my opinion. One, the seals will fail and you'll have to get them replaced, often at some inconvenience and cost. Second, you can only raise the boom so far, depending on how it's set up, and there are time when you want the boom raised if only out of convenience.

If you do have a vang you should have your boom heavily reinforced where it attaches to it. I've seen an accidental gybe in a a squall basically turn a vang bracket into a pretzel. The amount of force on them is enormous and the last thing you want is a broken boom.

[Steadman Uhlich]

Typos in titles can be humorous.

I created one (a true typo) myself, not long ago.

"Boom Wang" caused me to chuckle.

If you want a moderator can correct the typo for you, if you ask.

Vang or Wang may not make much difference to most.

[StuM]

If you don''t have a wide traveller, a boom vang is very useful. If you do have a wide traveller, it's not so essential.

[Dockhead]

Originally Posted by Panama Red

I have a Hylas 44 without a boom vang. Sails pretty good without a Vang, but I must wonder, would it sail better with one, and are there other considerations for the vang?

I have noticed two major types: 1)hydraulic rigid and 2) block and tackle with and without a ratchet. What are the pros and cons of each?

Well, the boat won't sail better just because it HAS a vang -- it might however sail better if you USE a vang.

Once the boom is out beyond the end of the traveller, you don't have any control over leech tension without a vang. Leech tension is half of mainsail shape -- or more than half if you don't have a loose foot.

If you don't mind sailing with no control over the mainsail shape, then you don't need a vang.

[s/v Moondancer]

Garhauer Marine made me a custom vang.

https://garhauermarine.com/catalog_process.cfm?cid=40

[Mariano]

It depends on what type of sailor you are (many go around playing with sail trim to get that extra knot : ME)
Some rigs have a vang, some have a traveler,some have both, and many cruiser oriented sailboats don't have either of them.
The main advantage of a RIGID boomvang (hydraulic or manual) is that you can flatten the main in any point of sail by lowering your boom, or lift it for a more baggy shape.

Fair winds

[Don C L]

I am surprised it didn’t have one when you got the boat. I consider it an important item, bordering on indispensable, but boats can be sailed and move through the water without one in place or in use. You’ll get a good deal more horsepower out of your mainsail when reaching and running if you have and use one.
I personally prefer not having a rigid vang.

[Jim Cate]

I personally prefer not having a rigid vang.

Just out of curiosity, Don, why so?

Jim

[alaskaflyfish]

Boom Wang,, oh yeah!!!, boom vang...don't know. (Giggle).

[Don C L]

Well, if it fails, I have neither topping lift nor vang anymore, unless I jury rig something while under way or keep the topping lift, which seems kind of redundant then. Why get a rigid vang if you are going to keep the topping lift? And btw the boom can be raised higher with a topping lift if needed. But these days I just like the strong and simple, and easy to fix on the fly (and, I confess, cheaper.) My brief experience comes from chartering a boat with one years ago, and it worked fine, but I’ll still keep my ol’ floppy vang.
But remember, I am also the only one in my neighborhood who still hanks on!

[Alan Mighty]

Originally Posted by Steadman Uhlich

Vang or Wang may not make much difference to most.

Worth noting that Vang is a fun (or funny) word.

Andrew Dove of North Sails reckons that Jack Holt (1912-1995), a British designer of about 40 sailing dinghies and their gear, was the key person who introduced boom vangs to recreational sailors.

In the UK English world, where many recreational sailors were from the class of people who were more common with the rig and tackle of horses and carriages, kicking strap was the preferred term. That was in the mid- to late-1930s (1935 - 1937 if you prefer a little exactitude). A kicking strap was (and is) a stout leather strap passing over the hips of a horse and connected to the shafts of a carriage with the purpose of preventing the horse from raising its hips and kicking its hind legs.

The term boom vang started being common in the late 1930s, around 1939. That term borrowed the word vang, the tackle used to hoist the peak of the gaff. That vang, on a gaff, went through a consonant shift from fang (around 1513) to vang (around 1769).

That use of fang, for something that catches or holds the peak of a gaff, can be traced back to Old English about 900, a verb fangene (past tense) to have caught, to have trapped. And its of course a common Germanic word, traceable to proto-Germanic of around 1500 BCE *fanhana, *fangona, to catch, to capture. And if you're the sort of linguist who embraces the notion of a group of common languages, the proto-Indo-European languages, the direct ancestor is likely *pehk or *pehg, to fasten something securely.

[JPA Cate]

Alan, thanks for the etymology lesson. So that's where the expression "clothes pegs" comes from, all the way back then! Wow! Chapeau!

Red Panama,

This boat has a semi rigid vang, and we do not use it much. We have installed dual preventers that we use to trim the boom down for off the wind work, and to improve sail shape reaching. We also use them to create controlled jibes downwind.

Suijin wrote about the boom needing reinforcing to have a vang. Ours actually bent the casting for the attachment for the vang, had to remove it and get it repaired. The boom had been sistered in the inside. Some years later, the boom broke in an accidental gybe, just aft of the sistering. We repaired the boom with a heavier sister on the exterior. However, I wanted simply to reinforce Suijin's suggestion that you make sure your boom is strong enough for a vang. If you have it, and your selection of vessel suggests both that you do, and that you like sailing efficiently, you will enjoy using it, or having it to use. There are other ways to accomplish the trimming factors, but if you want to have a rigid vang to hold up the boom, that is a different issue.

Ann

[Alan Mighty]

Originally Posted by JPA Cate

Alan, thanks for the etymology lesson. So that's where the expression "clothes pegs" comes from, all the way back then!

I think peg, a stick in the ground to which you might attach a rope holding a tent, comes from a different proto-Germanic word, *peg, a stake, and originates from proto-Indo-European *bak, a club, a stick, a peg.

I've never undertood why my Aussie mother used wooden clothes pegs to pin clothes to a laundry drying line while other people called the same things clothes pins. And my Aussie father would use a mallet to drive tent pegs into the ground.

Going back to that proto-Indo-European word *pehg or *pehg, to secure something securely, to unite two things together, you use another of its descendants when you pay out a line or the anchor rode.

Big difference is that in that case PIE *pehg, *pehk went via Latin pax, pacem, peace; to Old French 10th century payer, to appease, to satisfy, to pacify; to Middle English 1200 pay, to appease, to satisfy; to nautical English 1627 pay more cable, to slacken, to appease or satisfy the strain on the anchor rode.

That's a fair illustration of the differences in pronounciation between the descendants of one PIE word, when one descendant came via Germanic to English and the other descendant came via the Romance (Latin, French, etc) route.

[JPA Cate]

Oh, dang, and here I thought pehg would sound like peg! Hubris strikes! Yet again!

Ann