Boom Brake or Preventer

[talbot]

One thing that hasn't been discussed is the role of new technology. I have put a lot of effort into replacing all my steel rigging and much of my running rigging with Dyneema. But my mainsheet and traveller are moldy old polyester. That's because high-strength low-stretch lines are stronger than anything else on the boat, and in a violent gybe could pull hardware out of the deck (as happened in both the New Zealand boat off Fiji and a German boat off Nova Scotia). I have even considered using nylon climbing rope to control the boom, because of it's engineering for low stretch under low loads and great shock absorption under high loads. I stayed with the regular polyester because nylon is so susceptible to UV damage.