198 seamanship secrets
second day of our delivery from Norfolk to Miami aboard a brand-new Ted
Brewer–designed Oceanic 43. Being the youngest of the crew, I went forward
to assist the owner with reefing the main. The elder statesman of the crew—a
gent in his 70s—manned the helm. The boat yawed like a drunken sailor as
the swells lifted its quarter, shoving it to and fro. As soon as we finished the
main, I made my way back to the cockpit. Perhaps trimming the sails would
help ease the motion.
Whack! The boom whistled across the deck, missing my head by an inch
or two. We quickly hauled in the mainsheet to center the boom. After lash-
ing a line (called a preventer) to the boom’s end, we led the line forward to a
snatch block and then aft to the cockpit. The boom was eased, the preventer
line was tensioned, and the boat came alive again.
That uncontrolled jibe came close to knocking me off the boat. Lucky
I ducked. Our mistake was not rigging our boat for deep reaching or run-
ning from the get-go. If you intend to sail well off the wind for any period
of time, you need to think about safety and rig a preventer from the main
boom to a belay point or turning block forward to help prevent an ac-
cidental jibe.
Preventer Rigging Methods
Mainsheet bails at the end of the boom
make strong attachment points for preven-
ters. Vessels with mid-boom mainsheets
should rig the preventer to the end of the
boom. Use a bail or attach a shackle to one
of the holes near the end cap.
Smaller vessels might use the boom
vang or lead a separate block and tackle
to a strong deck-mounted padeye near
amidships. Use nylon line for extra stretch
and shock absorption. A fiddle block
with a cam cleat on the lower part of the
tackle allows easy adjustment from the
cockpit.
Larger vessels need something beef-
ier. Lead a line—at least twice as long
as the boat—from the end of the boom,
forward to a snatch block near the bow,You can use a boom vang as a preventer on
smaller sailboats.