Kaiser
Member
So I was sailing around the other weekend and got to staring at the traveler - and it seems fundamentally broken to me.
The point of a traveler, as I understand it, is to fix where the boom sits relative to the centerline of the boat when it's block-to-block. That is, I believe when the traveler is fully tightened down and you sheet in all the way, the boom should be smack in the center of the boat.
Then, the beauty of the traveler is that, if weather and sail conditions dictate it, you can ease the traveler off and let the boom out a bit toward the leeward side while still maintaining the shape of a fully sheeted-in sail.
The dual-pulley system on the Laser allows the boom to always slide down and point toward the leeward rear corner of the boat regardless of how tight you pull on the traveler line.
reference pic (Thanks, APSltd.com!): http://imgur.com/KYK2u
I retied mine to take the bottom block out of the picture - so the top block is just fixed to the traveler line. Now, when I pull the traveler in, I can get the boom all the way to the centerline of the boat. When I let it out, it can ease down toward the corner of the boat.
I'm sure that I'm just radically wrong in this somehow - probably in my understanding of what a traveler is for - but I don't get it. heeelp!
Oh - btw - I don't race so legality is not a concern for me - though it might be interesting to know if rigging mods like this are legal if someone wants to chime in on that.
Thanks!
The point of a traveler, as I understand it, is to fix where the boom sits relative to the centerline of the boat when it's block-to-block. That is, I believe when the traveler is fully tightened down and you sheet in all the way, the boom should be smack in the center of the boat.
Then, the beauty of the traveler is that, if weather and sail conditions dictate it, you can ease the traveler off and let the boom out a bit toward the leeward side while still maintaining the shape of a fully sheeted-in sail.
The dual-pulley system on the Laser allows the boom to always slide down and point toward the leeward rear corner of the boat regardless of how tight you pull on the traveler line.
reference pic (Thanks, APSltd.com!): http://imgur.com/KYK2u
I retied mine to take the bottom block out of the picture - so the top block is just fixed to the traveler line. Now, when I pull the traveler in, I can get the boom all the way to the centerline of the boat. When I let it out, it can ease down toward the corner of the boat.
I'm sure that I'm just radically wrong in this somehow - probably in my understanding of what a traveler is for - but I don't get it. heeelp!
Oh - btw - I don't race so legality is not a concern for me - though it might be interesting to know if rigging mods like this are legal if someone wants to chime in on that.
Thanks!