Hi Dennis and all, I hate topping lifts! I sail on a lot of different boats, and consider topping lifts a got-cha! Taking a Valiant 42 North, we were over powered a little bit, so I dropped the traveler, and sheeted down the main to flatten it - I had all the outhaul already. Kathleen came up and said, ”You’d better flatten this boat - the owners wife is a power boater, and pretty miserable down here!" What - no wonder were were trying to burry the rail, the topping lift got me again!
This year we took the Coho Ho Ho rally folks up for a rigging seminar with Port Townsend Rigging. Lisa pointed out that she considers the vang part of the reefing system, and they spec stronger vangs to raise the boom end to your reefing clue - Lisa is tiny and she can reef in a minute or two. I was impressed. Cheers, Lee On Sep 29, 2015, at 8:45 PM, Dennis C. via CnC-List <[email protected]> wrote: > A main topping lift serves two primary purposes: 1) opening the top of the > main to create more twist and 2) holding the boom up when the mainsail is not > hoisted. > > In my opinion, the former is more suited to a rigid boom vang or boomkicker. > If either are properly installed, they should raise the boom enough to twist > off the main. > > The big advantage of a rigid vang or boomkicker is that it will allow you to > detach the topping lift and move it forward to the mast while sailing. > > Why? To prevent damage to your mainsail. Topping lifts, in particular, wire > topping lifts, will abrade the stitching near the leech of your main. In > severe cases, you might eject a batten as the stitching in a batten pocket > gives out. Rope topping lifts don't abrade nearly as much but they will, > over time, cause damage to the stitching. > > We never sail Touche' with the topping lift attached to the boom. It is > always detached from the boom and carried forward to the mast. We have a > Garhauer rigid boom vang. > > On Touche' the topping lift is only used to stabilize the boom when the > mainsail is not hoisted. > > Dennis C. > Touche' 35-1 #83 > Mandeville, LA > _______________________________________________ _______________________________________________ Email address: [email protected] To change your list preferences, including unsubscribing -- go to the bottom of page at: http://cnc-list.com/mailman/listinfo/cnc-list_cnc-list.com
