Rigid Vang And Topping Lift

[RoyB]

Lest we forget, a rigid vang (or for that matter, a topping lift) can be useful on those whispery light air days to take some of the weight of the boom off the main to help the leach fly more open and free.

A topping lift should always be fitted to every cruising sailboats' boom's.
My reasons are as follows, some were sited already above ^, and some the main halyard can do if it has to...

A topping lift can secure the boom for handling at a convienient height for sail handling, while still allowing the sail to be trimmed correctly through a wide range of wind conditons. A spring loaded Rigid vang is much more difficult to adjust through its ranges than a rope lift.

A topping lift is a great aid to getting a jify reefed mainsail to set properly. Again this is because a spring loaded vang is not easy to adjust . A spring loaded rigid vang is normally set for use with the full mainsail, however reef points on a cruiser should progressivly increase the angle of the boom above horizontal. This shortens the leach of the mainsail for more contol over the sail shape and gets the boom up a bit further from the sea. (some boats these days have booms so high this hardly matters to them ) With the spring of the vang not providing support becasue the boom now sits higher, the weight of the boom and strain of the mainsheet disort the smaller mainsail which they have a much greater leverage avanatage over , a topping lift can support some of this load.

A topping lift can allow you to top you boom up high to support your awning at a nice walking-under height, without having to move you boom gooseneck up an loose the sail area you need when sailing.

A topping lift can allow you to use your boom and main sheet (or other tackle) as a Lifting Boom.

A topping lift can be a second main halyard when set up correctly.

Rigid Vangs make some sense to Racers, where the windage of a second halyard, and weight aloft, are dispenced with. For racers and Day sailors the owners often has someboay else that would be responsible for setting the lift up at the end of the day, and they dont want to risk having the boom land on deck becasue that person didn't make the T/L fast correctly. Also these boats usually sail fair weather conditons, and near home port, so the failures of rigid vangs are not big problems, just expensive.

A topping lift should surely be fitted to every cruising boat. It is worth its weight and relativly small expence. A rigid vang cannont do every job a topping lift can do, and can be broken , or cause booms and fitting to break, if they are handled incorrectly. Topping lifts much less frequently cause disabling damage, unless you forget to set it up correctly !
I quite prefer them.

I do not know the Garhauer Vang, but am familiar with the Hall, Forespar, Selden, etc... types.



Brian Duff