Riase the Boom

[Leon m]

I'm building Bolger's 20' Sharpie "Zephre".
It has a lateen sail and calls for a 9' mast.

I was wondering if I made the mast 10' and
raised the boom a foot(head space) would it
have any profound affect on the performance of the boat.

Thanks!...Leon

[Todd Bradshaw]

On that fairly narrow hull, I think it might. Tacking a low lateen without getting beaned is a snap if you wait just until the sail luffs, grab the boom and pass it over your head while you steer through the eye of the wind (same sort of thing on a jibe). It's easier than both waiting for the wobbling boom to eventually make it's way across or dealing with the extra heeling force of a rig that's been raised up too high. The rest of the time, the sail will probably never be sheeted-in closer than the leeward gunwale and it shouldn't be in the way. I'd leave it as specified in the plans.

[Leon m]

So other than the healing force are there
any other issues? Although I hold your advice
in very high regard Todd,I was thinking what if I make it 10',try it ,if it performs badly I just cut a foot of the bottom of the mast?

Im just thinking I can see my kids now with that
low boom.

Me:HARD TA LEE

Kids:What ya yellin for dad and who's Lee?... BOOM !!!

Me: kids ya alright?

Kids:Dad can we go home now :( :(

I supose a couple of whacks upside the head
with the boom and they'll learn what"hard to lee"
means quick. :D

[Todd Bradshaw]

You could always "Jens-Rig" it. Essentially you make the mast longer and fit a rope parrel to the yard where it crosses the mast. This keeps the yard from blowing off to leeward, whether it's raised all the way up the mast or not. A true Jens-Rig uses a loop in the halyard as the parrel, because class racing rules didn't allow adding extra chunks of line, but making the parrel it's own separate piece works better.

It's sort of a backward approach though, since the Jens-Rig was designed as a means of lowering the height of a non-reefable sail to decrease heeling. In your case, the times when getting hit by the boom would be most likely and hurt the most are the times when the wind is up and you don't really want to raise the rig or it's heeling power. I can't remember ever being around any dinghy sailors who were seriously injured by getting hit with their light booms and ducking is one of the easiest aspects of sailing to learn, so I wouldn't worry all that much about the kids. They learn fast.

[Leon m]

Gotcha!...Thanks

[Sailing-Randy]

Besides, that why it is called the "boom" :D