Preventers & Boom brakes

[Jim Picerno]

I've enclosed a sketch my sail maker at the time, and I, came up with for a preventer system on my prior boat. The boat was a large heavy double-ender, and this system worked very well in downwind "trade winds" conditions. I sailed pretty much the entire length of the Baja peninsula "wing and wing" using a poled out genoa with the preventer on the main. I'm curious to know what folks are using for their boats. Preventers, boom brakes, or nothing at all?
Thanks.

 

[Christian Williams]

Did you ever broach? I ask because for a singlehander, a preventer creates problems greater than an uncommanded jibe. That is, you wind up on your side with the boom held to windward and the mainsail filled backwards.

But I do use a preventer with others aboard, just to stop anybody's head getting bonked in case of an inattentive helmsman (or steering gear) .

,

 

[AK67]

I've read a brake can be preferable to a preventer, but have experimented with neither so interested in the discussion on this.

 

[bsangs]

Been using a Walder Boom Brake for several years now and have been pleased with it. Took a couple sails to get completely comfortable with using it, but is a pretty small learning curve.

 

[southofvictor]

I have a preventer setup similar to yours except that I just cleat off the bitter end on the rail back by our gates where it can be reached from the cockpit.

One thing I’ve been wondering about is a setup to keep the boom from slamming around when there isn’t enough wind. A friend with an Outbound 46 has a boom brake setup across his beam mid-boom for that and then a true preventer setup off the aft end of the boom as well. Seems like a good setup for him but he has a lot more deck area to work
with. I’m a little concerned about clutter.

 

[Jim Picerno]

Did you ever broach? I ask because for a singlehander, a preventer creates problems greater than an uncommanded jibe. That is, you wind up on your side with the boom held to windward and the mainsail filled backwards.

But I do use a preventer with others aboard, just to stop anybody's head getting bonked in case of an inattentive helmsman (or steering gear) .

,

Fortunately I never broached. I expect the type of boat (heavy full keel), a conservative "reef early and often" approach to reefing and dumb luck saved me from that particular fate. This setup also allowed for the quick de-rigging of the preventer by just going forward and disconnecting the pennant on the boom from the preventer line run aft. I'm still mulling over whether this setup or some variation will work with my new boat, which has a much different design.

 

[Jim Picerno]

I have a preventer setup similar to yours except that I just cleat off the bitter end on the rail back by our gates where it can be reached from the cockpit.

One thing I’ve been wondering about is a setup to keep the boom from slamming around when there isn’t enough wind. A friend with an Outbound 46 has a boom brake setup across his beam mid-boom for that and then a true preventer setup off the aft end of the boom as well. Seems like a good setup for him but he has a lot more deck area to work
with. I’m a little concerned about clutter.

Hi Jim, Hope you're doing well. I had the opportunity to crew on a large catamaran crossing the Atlantic last summer, and the owner used a kind of reverse barber hauler by tying the main to an outboard cleat in light winds. This really kept the rig nice and quiet but of course required diligence to avoid a problem if conditions changed.