Topping lift or no?

[Timlich]

YES to topping lift. Rigid vangs can and do fail. It’s just that the victims underneath at the time are usually not around to preach the safety message! If nothing else it’s a safety backup between the crew beneath and what is most likely a very heavy boom above. It can be a simple and affordable fix now or an avoidable and possibly tragic consequence later. Risk on boats is all about mitigation.

[Jubilee39]

I have two main halyards lead back to cockpit. On passage I woul try to figure out which tack I would predominately be one. The halyards are crossed in the mast so it leaves the windward winch free to act as a reefing winch as the lee winch has the jib on it. Been this way for 20 years works fine , spring vang keeps the boom up underway and I can use the spare halyard as topping lift if need be. If I used a topping lift good chance of it chafing the leech of the main and has happened foul the mizzen mounted wind generator

[dfelsent]

My previous boat, Sabre 38 had a rigid vang and no topping lift. And no lazy jacks.
I would not do that again.
When dropping the main in 25 knots single handed with a couple of miles of fetch the slop was awful. The man sheet could not control the side to side motion of the boom without threatening to break the boom as the vang bottomed out. As the boom swung side to side it was bouncing up and down. Trying to get that sail tied to the boom was not fun.

In short, topping lift with a rigid vang = sporty takedowns in sloppy seas.

[SofaKingFishy]

Cheap duplicate halyard & you can use it to go aloft.

[dstraton]

The difference between a successful resolution of a crisis and a disaster is often the existence of Plan B. A topping lift can be a Plan B for several problems: lost main halyard, as well as a way to get to the top of the mast.

I have one on my Seawind 1160, and when I got a boat deliverer (a big bloke) to take it from Australia to Tonga, he got me to upgrade it to a two-part Spectra line with a block at the end of the boom in case he needed to be hoisted to the top of the mast.

[donradcliffe]

Originally Posted by Jim Cate

However, when reefing, we need the boom to raise above the horizontal position it assumes when using the full main. This means that whilst taking up the clew reefing line, one must both overcome any friction in the system and lift the fairly heavy boom as well. Requires a lot of heavy pulling on the reefing line, and a topping lift that could support the boom at its higher location would make life easier.

Jim

All the race boats I sail on have no topping lift. They all have rigid vangs, and most have pressurized cylinders in the vang. Releasing the vang results in the boom lifting, and taking up the clew line easier.

On the bigger boats the mainsheet is tightened as the mainsail is dropped to bring the boom down for easier flaking and to put the halyard on the end of the boom.

[himnher]

Originally Posted by Not a spy

Currently, we put the sail away and attach the halyard to the end of the boom to keep it off the dodger.

Doesn't that say it all? Clearly the vang is not good enough else you'd not need to do this, and others have said, that's not the purpose of the vang in any case.

And as others have said, a topping lift gives an extra line and I've often seen them used as a safety when raising someone up the mast having the benefit of being rigged off the masthead at the back of the mast v say a spinnaker lift.


So my vote would be YES to the topping lift