David's Diary: Thursday, January 3, 2002

A New Boom

When we left France to travel to Spain we bent our boom during an accidental gybe. Today the replacement boom shipped from the Jeanneau factory over the holidays is being fitted. From the picture above, you can see that it was a substantial bend and the inside portion of the bend is completely broken through.

The New Boom

School stops while the new boom is fitted. Everyone is on the dock to watch as all of the lines are removed, the old boom lifted to the dock, the new boom lifted on to the boat, the goose neck connected (the connection between the boom and the mast), and the lines are all reconnected. Along with the new boom comes a preventer. A preventer is a line attached to the toe rail (the place where the deck and the hull join together) and the boom when sailing downwind. The preventer helps prevent an accidental gybe. The rigger's recommendation is to use a mid-boom preventer. Normally a preventer is led to the end of the boom, but a mid-boom preventer is much easier to adjust and to switch sides when you do an intentional gybe. Only practise will tell us how well the new preventer works. At least Dragonsinger is once again ready to sail, although we plan to stay in Barcelona for some time yet.