🚀 go-pugleaf

Skip Gundlach wrote:
> I had an opportunity to sail on two boats of the same hull in the last
> few weeks.  One had a three-point system (two multi-purchase blocks -
> about the same hardware as a vang - secured to the opposing ends of the
> cabin roof and the end of the boom), and the other a traveler, for the
> main.
> 
> The surveyor likes the three-point, saying that's all they use on the
> serious racers, as it gives a great deal more control to the sail shape.
> Indeed, the boat seemed to sail better, even in lighter winds, to me,
> with him trimming, than the one with the traveler.  Everyone else,
> though, seems to prefer the traveler.
> 
> Anyone here who has had one and changed to the other?  If so, why the
> change, and what did you think of it?
> 
> Any strong opinions formed out of OPB (other people's boats') experience
> any of you can share?
> 
> (We're considering purchasing a boat which has a minimal - perhaps 3
> feet - traveler mounted inside the boom gallows and are pondering either
> a full-length cabin-top traveler or three-point system to replace it.
> It also has a preventer which, I suppose, could act as a 3-point when
> downhauled over the genny traveler rail...)
> 

The size of the boat and it's use might influence your choise.  In 
smaller boats concerned with racing, the great enemies ares weight 
and clutter. In larger boats, even a few hundred pounds may not 
matter, or, if she is moveable and willing, might be outstanding 
when the wind becomes tippy.

A traveller might enable weight savings in the boom and does not 
make quite so big a demand on the gooseneck as would a vang.

Sail shape and trim is probably about equally adjustable with either 
choise, with the possible arguement that during the kind of 
conditions usually blamed for losing a race, a missing traveller 
might have saved the day.  In my experience, pulling the boom to one 
side or another, possible without a traveller but not quite so 
convenient, invariably produces lower boat speed, except on a run 
with a preventer.  A preventer, in case you don't know, pulls the 
boom down and towards the rail, so unexpected gybes do not 
demonstrate the reason for the boom's name, causing instead only a 
minor embarrassment for the innatentive tillerman.

One part of a vang tackle can be run, barber hauler style, 
athwartships on a bridle to enable setting the preventer from the 
cockpit, and this arrangement provides all the utility of a 
traveller without the additional weight, clutter and expense.

I feel a vang is better than a traveller for one other reason.  If 
you are gusted, a vang spills wind a little better. A traveller does 
not offer this automatic depowering benefit, which is adjustable to 
a degree with a vang.

In a cruising boat, convenience is more important than obtaining, or 
trying to obtain, the absolute best possible boat speed, using the 
fanciest and most complicated gear, and devouring all of our 
concentration, not to mention the economic aspect.

Climbing over or under a traveller track is a definite pain.

To argue from the expense-wise, a preventer is a neccessity on a 
run, anyway.  A preventer is about 3/4 or more of a boom vang. 
Having a good boom vang that works as a preventer too means you 
don't need a traveller, but you may want your boom to be a little on 
the sturdy side, depending on where you attach the main sheet, and 
wether you want to be able to use the boom as a crane for removing 
engines, loading cargo like dingies, or recovering a MOB, if you 
have a sturdy, adjustable topping lift. You could rig without a 
topping lift, especially if you have a boom gallows in mind. I would 
never.

Boom end sheeting, the best for those other uses, means your 
traveller would be at the rear of the cockpit, which may be good for 
you, or not. Putting a traveller over the companionway is the 
quickest way to learn to hate it, and may cost you a part of your 
scalp. Nobody enjoys climbing over a traveller in the middle of the 
cockpit.

Besides, travellers seem to have nasty tempers and sharp edges, 
sometimes. Even if I had another traveller, I would still want a 
vang / preventer. I have had both, but never exclusively on the same 
model boat.

Yes, Laddie, I'm a cheap one, if it comes to that. Travellers are 
traditionally considered gold plate, and are so priced. They provide 
little of any value, unless like most you are so unsure of yourself 
that you need status symbols. They're just another monkey, on a 
sailboat.  Some folks love monkeys, and some don't.

IMHO

Terry K