Ahhh, the Davis Tiller Tamer. One of those came on my Harpoon 4.6. It is so much fun reaching under the tiller to spin the knob out to tack. Or forgetting to spin the knob out and tacking and finding your tiller is stuck hard over! Ahhhh, good times!
One hot, windless evening, I was motor cruising along at little more than an idle, just taking a cruise around. The heat, humidity, and hum of the motor had lulled me into a half-awake trance, when: CRACK! I practically jumped up and awake, wondering what had just broken on the boat! I quickly realized that the autoreleasing clam cleat for the rudder downhaul had popped. I had no idea that the area I was in was shallow enough to kick up the rudder! I avoid that headland now...The auto-release clam cleat for daysailers.
http://www.duckworksbbs.com/product-p/sd-002570-parent.htm
Clever! I read somewhere that you should release the topping lift when sailing. I have sailed with the topping lift attached and didn't notice any difference though. Here is a photo of my TillerClutch that arrived today.
An adjustable topping lift will allow you to shape (with sails that actually CAN be shaped) the amount of twist in the main sail. In light wind, you need generally more twist, as revealed by leech telltales, to capture max drive at the top of the sail. The problem is that the weight of the boom often pull too much leach tension and thus removes twist. Conversely, in higher winds, you need less twist to keep the whole sail optimally trimmed, so if the topping lift keeps the boom too high, the top of the sail will be undertrimmed and possibly flapping. In higher yet winds, you can depower to an extent by allowing the top of the main to twist off more, thus providing less drive high up the mast, and less heeling.
