Rigid Boom Vang

Another rigging upgrade that I installed is the rigid vang. I got this from Garhauer at the boat show in 2006 (maybe 2005?). They made a template of my mast & boom and made custom collars to make sure they fit the spars, which was really cool. The vang works great. It doesn't fully support the boom with the full weight of the sail while furling, but it keeps it from crashing into the cockpit until you can get the topping lift on. It is very powerful so makes it easy to control the leech tension of the sail underway. When the main is up and going downwind, it does a good job of holding the boom at a reasonable angle and keeping the boom from closing the leech down too much in light airs. It is a really nice feature. Not as nice as a real traveler, but still nice nonetheless.