Shock Load

[E.L.Green]

im wondering about the shock load on the mast and rigging. since i cant set up a boom brake due to the design of boat, im guessing the only thing i can do is the current method of hauling in the main and releasing it after passing through the jibe. im trying to keep it fluid rather that the slamming motion it would usually give without doing the previous stated, or in lighter winds, holding it with my hand. i know boats are built tough but im trying to minimize shock loading whenever possible. anyone have any suggestions?

[daddle]

In anything but very light breezes, in larger boats, you really need to use the sheet thru the gybe. Both to reduce shock loading and for crew safety related to the main tackle flying across the boat. On medium sized boats you might throw the tackle across by hand in moderate conditions.

Don't use high-tech lines in the mainsheet. This is one of the few applications where plain old stretchy Sta-Set is still a good idea.

[edsailing]

Keep doing it the way you are - a violent gybe can cause immense damage, breaking the gooseneck and carrying away shrouds.

[E.L.Green]

thanks for the info guys! and by the way, i posted something about cracks i found in the cabin and all sources are pointing to a shock load.. none of them were structural from what the boat manufacturer told me, but still cracks none the less.

[Livia]

We use a preventer (not sure if you mean a true braking system set up under the boom or just preventer lines to the toerail aren't possible) but we also do one additional thing to your desription. We leave the traveler set up as high as possible on the same side the boom is, sheet it in, jibe, and then release the traveler to the new side, and then the mainsheet to the new side. No idea how that would work on another boat but it minimizes the shock of the jib on ours. We also use the preventer line to slow the booms movement.

[capngeo]

When both of us are aboard, whomever let's the jib sheet run, goes first to the main and centers it up, as the helmsman turns, the main is already centered, the helmsman hauls the slack on the sheet, as the other comes over for the fine tune... We've got the drill down pat; nobody is in anyone else's way, nothing slams.. Main is adjusted after the foresail on the new course

[E.L.Green]

i do use a preventer attatched to the leeward cleat when its heavier winds or when non sailors are aboard. i dont have a traveler either. i have a background as an arborist, and from my climbing i have found alot of things usefull on my boat like using a friction hitch devised for climbing on the topping lift to make it adjustable and was trying to figure ways to use a brake with a Fig8 rapelling device. it would work, but the lines would be in the way of the cockpit and is pretty impractical.

[zeehag]

midboom preventer on main --my mizzen preventer is also mid boom....nothing interrupting my cockpit from boom or rig..

[E.L.Green]

i could attach a preventer to where the attatchment point for the boom vang is, but is there any negative impacts if side loaded at that point?

[zeehag]

lol....none i have found. beats the hell out of flogging your boat to death