Boom placement and level

[Jeff B]

I own a '78 Hunter 25, fixed keel.Where my boom attaches to the mast, there is a slider that the boom moves on up and down with a locking pin. There are 3 different positions to lock the boom in. For a beginner sailor, where should this be placed. I'm aware that the higher your sail the more wind etc.Also, is the boom supposed to be perpendicular with the mast? There is a adjustment line at the end of the boom stay to adjust this level.I'm sure there are a million different configurations here, but until I become more adept at all the intricacies of fine tuning, I'm looking for a very general, middle of the road, standard setting. A setting I can use as a default while I test new things.Jeff

 

[Robert Gainer]

Start by,

The line at the aft end of the boom is a topping lift. It is only designed to hold up the boom when the sail is not raised. You can adjust it when the sail is up so it doesn’t have any tension and leave it that way permanently. Just make sure it isn’t so tight that when the sail is up you are holding the boom up with the topping lift instead of the sail.The gooseneck doesn’t matter much at this point. Put up the main and when the headboard (top) is at the black band pull the boom down a bit and pin it. When you get a little more comfortable with sail shape and trimming you can play with halyard tension and change sail shape but start out simple and just enjoy yourself in the beginning.All the best,Robert Gainer