Boom brakes

KINGFISHER 9

KINGFISHER 9

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Does anybody use a boom brake or is it best to just rig an ordinary preventer with a snatch block on the toe rail?
Manufacturers I could find: Walder, Scott, Wichard & Dutchman .... none of which were cheap! Anyone ever tried them? How efficient are they or is it just something else to trip over on the side decks?
 
Used to have a scott. It was ok, not great. And it did snap the boom....
Lesson learnt and if you do get one, beef up the mounting point on the boom.
 
I've sailed with a Walder on a French boat, and thought it was a little complicated to set up and tension properly, though that could have just been unfamiliarity, but the owner really liked it.

The Wichard looks interesting, is derived from climbing kit, and is far lower cost than the others. The only limitation with it is that it is only specified for mains up to 40sq. m, whilst the others are available in a variety of sizes to suit much bigger sails.

In a recent test in Voiles et Voiliers (I think), it came out tops over the others, and seemed really easy to set up and use, so we've ordered one.

I think we'll still set up a preventer for longer offwind legs, but they do seem to have a place for a lot of people.
 
Last season I used one of our Tiller Trimmers as a boom brake; it's mounted under the boom at the attachment point for the vang. The control lines are tied off at the chainplates. It worked fine once I figured out how much tension to apply for a given wind strength.
Having said that, I think boom brakes are of marginal benefit and I wouldn't bother with one on a bigger boat where the boom is usually high enough and sufficiently constrained to be of minimal threat.
I like to use a 'handybilly' with snap shackles at each end as a boomvang which I can then relocate to the toe rail when on a run. I find it allows you to more efficiently crank down on the boom to get a good set and at the same time acts as a preventer. With the tail led back to the cockpit it's easy to release for a gybe; if you have one for each tack you don't even have to go forward to reattach at the other toe rail on the new tack!
 
I second handybilly kicker with snap shackles. It works a treat. Sadly I've always aspired to, but never achieved, having one on each side. Luxury.
Nicki
 
If you lead the vang from the mid point on the boom straight down to toe rail you run a great risk of breaking the boom; usually when the boom end dips in the water.

A preventer is best lead right to the bows, through a snatch block and back to the cockpit.
 
So I was led to believe before I started sailing in the USA, where it is common practice. My own experience has subsequently confirmed to me that it is a highly effective and easily manageable means of controlling the boom on a run. I've experienced downwind runs during which Adriana dipped her long sitka spruce boom with no apparant problem, but when I see racers like this using the technique I'm convinced of it's validity:
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We will have to agree to differ. Its very convenient on a racer, but boats DO break their booms when the preventer is rigged from a mid point as illustrated.

Watching the antics of some racers and the amount of gear that they break, I am not sure that 'because they do it' is any recommendation. I strongly believe that a preventor is better rigged from the end of the boom to the bow and then back to the cockpit.

A Nicholson 55 lost its boom a few year ago when a preventor was rigged as per the photo, and Nich's are built very strongly.
 
That Swan(?) is on a tight spinnaker reach, not running. They have moved the kicker to the rail to stop the spinnaker sheet lifting the boom, and not as a gybe preventer. If you look at the angle the guy is taking up from the reaching strut you'll see how high the kite is flying, and how much upward component there must be in the spinny sheet. Because the main sheet is so well out (I actually think they're dumping a bit of main) there's not much downward component in the sheet to counteract lift.

(PS - pretty much how I misspent my youth. Even the PVC oilskins look familiar!)
 
You may well be right Ken. I would have guessed his intention was to pull the boom down sufficiently strongly to prevent rolling, without putting a huge load on the gooseneck, but who knows? The fact remains that moving the kicker to the rail to get more effective downward pressure on the boom provides you with a de facto preventer and one that allows you another means to control the boom in a gybe.
Opinion remain divided on this subject, which comes up twice a year!
A related issue comes to mind; I wonder how many people these days actually rig a preventer of any sort? I say this because there is, nowadays, a widespread trend towards never leaving the cockpit. People seem obsessed with having every control running back to the cockpit where the helmsman sits behind the wheel looking at his array of binnacle mounted instruments just as though he were driving a truck. Miles of line control headsail reefing, mainsail reefing, and hoisting of everything. How do these people rig a preventer? How do they gybe it? Perhaps they never run downwind with the main up?
Having two permanently rigged vangs, one run to each toerail and with the tails led back to the cockpit would provide a preventer on each tack, control of the gybe and an effective vang without ever leaving the cockpit! Of, course they might break the boom if things got a bit difficult.
 
Preventers

On Doris we have a permanent piece of string from the cock pit, through a clutch, to a block just aft of the anchor locker with a snap hook on it. On the underside of the boom there is another piece of string going from the top of the mainsheet to a nylon hook on some shock cord to the kicker.
To use the preventer all that is necessary is to scamper forward, grab the string at the bow, take it round whichever cleat is on the side you need and pull it back. The string on the boom is by the shrouds so easy to clip onto the other. Back to cockpit, all over in about 30 seconds and the preventer is rigged in the strongest way and is always easy to release in an emergency. Works for us.
 
Ken is right about the photo. It isn't rigged as a preventer.

As for rigging a vang each side as a preventer/gybing aide:

As a preventer, it risks breaking the boom, and creates an obstacle on deck moving forward.

You also either have to attach it after each gybe or leave it attached - in which case see below.

As a gybe assister, you either have to have a low mechanical advantage or a VERY long tail. In either case you get a lot of friction, which could prevent the boom swinging across altogether.

Best approach is a permanently rigged line along the boom (from just inboard of the sheet attachment) with a snap shackle near the vang attachment or even near the gooseneck. This snaps to a short length of shock cord.

When you set it up, make sure it is on the right side of the vang. Snap it to a line that is run forward to somewhere near the bow, through a snatch block and back to the cockpit.

In case of an accidental gybe (despite the preventer) or the need to gybe quickly, you just have to release one line and let it run.
 
I don't think that is a reaching strut - I think it's the spinnaker pole. Which puts the spinnaker up in the sky somewhere, probably thrashing itself to bits. Someone needs to get a few yards of guy in smartish!

Cracking pic though!!
 
The Swan has got a titchy main too.

Bit more breeze and hang on for the IOR boogie! Or get the blooper up to keep her running stready. Happy days!
 
Did my Yachtmaster Practical many years ago with the old National Sailing Centre at Cowes. On passage from Weymouth into the Solent the instructor showed us how to rig a preventer by unhooking the bottom of the kicking strap and resecuring it to the bottom of the stanchion. Not very long after there was a loud bang as the gooseneck casting snapped!

The instructor's reaction was interesting. "That was a stupid thing to do. Now we've got about 15 minutes before we head up into the Needles Channel, so that gives you 15 minutes to work out how to rig a jury gooseneck." And disappeared below.

The following day we went into Jeremy Rogers at Lymington to have a new gooseneck fitted. It was very noticeable that the new one was nearly twice as thick as the old one!
 
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