BOOMED STAYSAILS
must be one of the few sailors to inherit a boomed staysail, suck it and see for a couple of years, then abandon it. The benefits of a boom are obvious. Take the average cutter setting her jib from a bowsprit. Unless she’s a full-on classic racer, the chances are she’ll be short-handed for much of her life. Every time she tacks or gybes, there are more tasks than she has people to handle them. What with jib sheets, staysail sheets and running backstays, a solo crew can end up hopping round the deck like a demented circus performer. If one
