My friend has a Catalina 30 tall rig. He is aprrox. 6ft tall boom hits his head when in cockpit under sail .Is there a method for raising boom height without using topping lift when under sail or is boom height on mast luff track plate one position only? Thanks for any comments etc.
captainwen@optonline.net
When the topping lift is slack, besides the height of the gooseneck attachment on the mast, the other factor affecting boom level at the boom end (over the cockpit) is the cut of the mainsail.
My example: The mainsail that came with my pre-owned 1980 Hunter 36 allows the boom to hang down just below the crown of my 6'4" head = whack height. Instead, I am currently using a mainsail that came off a Catalina 36. With it, the boom height over my cockpit remains a couple of inches above my head, even when sheeted in tight. This with the topping lift slack. (Actually I detach it from the boom when under sail.) I'm losing a few square feet of sail area, but the performance vs. safety trade-off is worth it.
I believe that using the topping lift to keep the boom artificially above that which otherwise would be caused by the natural "hang" of the sail will result in poor sail trim for most situations. The sail leach will be slack no matter how tight the main sheet is tensioned. So a constant state of too much twist and spilling of air. Also if the topping lift is attached and the main sheet is pulled in hard, a lot of strain is placed on the topping lift line and attachment point.
