Strop on Gooseneck

[libellule]

Having taken lakesailors advice on the mainsheet positioning, I am now wondering what the strop in the attached photo is for? As you can see it is clamped on to the gooseneck and has a loop at the other end, but there is nowhere on the boat that corresponds with its length to attach it to! Any ideas on what its for?View attachment 43368

 

[prv]

Complete guess, but it looks like your gooseneck is a sliding one? This used to be common, to increase luff tension when there was no halyard winch. You'd sweat up the halyard as tight as you could, then pull the boom down to add the final tension. I imagine there is (or was) a block at the foot of the mast which the strop went through, then a small highfield lever (as sometimes used for dinghy jib halyards) on the mast to pull the end upwards.

Pete

 

[Fantasie 19]

Complete guess, but it looks like your gooseneck is a sliding one? This used to be common, to increase luff tension when there was no halyard winch. You'd sweat up the halyard as tight as you could, then pull the boom down to add the final tension. I imagine there is (or was) a block at the foot of the mast which the strop went through, then a small highfield lever (as sometimes used for dinghy jib halyards) on the mast to pull the end upwards.

Pete

My guess too..

 

[Lakesailor]

I'd agree there. The soft loop on the gooseneck seems to point to the strop heading down, with the boom passing through it. I wonder if it had a small winch near the centreboard case to increase the effort. My Solo had such a thing. (wasn't much cop though) but in that case it was the kicking strop.

 

[libellule]

cheers pete, that makes a lot of sense, because there is a gadget below the gooseneck that you can loosen to move the gooseneck up and down, and then tighten to hold it in position. I like the idea of the highfield lever for the tension as well, thanks again lakesailor for the photos, its nice when people make the effort to pass on knowledge.