[sailorfrank]

I''m a new sailor. I took sailing lessons, have read a couple of books and this fact of life was never mentioned... maybe the action was too basic! It makes perfect sense when you see the sails in action. I saw this tip in one of the sailing forums. It was news to me and I thought I''d share it with you. It works!!!
The boom is normally level- which is good for normal winds. However if the winds raise to 20 mph and the heel is starting to worry your wife, besides leting the sail out, you can tilt the boom up by loosing the boom vane and tightening the topping lift to help the sail spill the wind, giving you more control of your boat. It''s so easy.
Like-wise on very calm days you can lower the boom to help the sail leech catch more wind.
Try it, you will like it.
Happy sailing!