Simmer Sail problem

LeeD · Joined: 12 Jun 2008 Posts: 1175

Yeah, you're right, of course.... Rolling Eyes

Everything you say is correct, you have no problems with your EQ, and I don't know what I'm talking about.
My #'s are wrong, you know everything, and Simmer is completely wrong on their specifications.

isobars · Joined: 12 Dec 1999 Posts: 20935

I run my booms at the same height from 2.8 to 7.5, for one reason: my legs and arms don't change in length with wind strength. If my booms were any higher, I'd literally have to jump into the air to hook in and out of the harness lines; if I used longer harness lines to compensate for higher booms, my arms wouldn't reach the booms. Seems to me that everything else is sorta secondary, within the 2-3 inches the harness bar height can be adjusted.

Mike \m/

FredFX · Posted: Mon Oct 20, 2008 1:46 pm Post subject:

Yeah, no offense LeeD, but 55-58" seems a bit tall, especially for someone like me. I'm 5'9" so I think that'd be around a foot above my harness hook

LeeD · Joined: 12 Jun 2008 Posts: 1175

No offense taken...
I'm 5'10" + some change....
#'s I quoted are for me and other National Level sailors around here. They're the ones close to my height.
They sail well.
Mike, some of us use wider boards for bigger sails, as do some Formula or wide board guys.
Since my boards for 3.7's are closer to around 50-55cms, and my boards for mid 5-6's are around 55-60cms, and for 6's to 8's around 70cms, and for Formula closer to 100cms wide, I'd suspect some adjustment in boom height is called for.
You know, like wide boards, your stance is out on the rails, farther from the center line, meaning you rake the sail back farther when you're in the straps than you would on a narrow, long board....dat stuff. Wink

FredFX · Posted: Tue Oct 21, 2008 12:45 pm Post subject:

woopsies, double post. See next page.

FredFX · Posted: Tue Oct 21, 2008 12:50 pm Post subject:

LeeD · Joined: 12 Jun 2008 Posts: 1175

Hi FredFX...
Hope you got some of the NW winds we've been getting thru the weekend and Monday. Skunked at Berkeley for a week now.
Boom heights depends on many factors, such as rider preference, board used, discipline sailed, sails used, and plenty more....
At our 5'9"-5'11", on slalom gear, not wave or freestyle or Formula, we try to sail well powered, using big sails for the wind range. Breeze 18-27mph, we'd choose 6.5's around, so mast heights around 460cms or so. That would translate to around chin high booms (56" from mast base to center of boom head), usually harness lines that reach about 14" away from the widest part of the boom, so we need to jump up about 6" to hook in when not planing. When in the straps, it goes right in, so when you step forwards to jibe, after unhooking, you will not accidently hook in.
On wave gear, and bump gear, using smaller sails for the same winds, I usually run around 52" mast base heights, meaning a top of the shoulder boom height when slogging, still needing to jump a little to hook in when not planing or straps, but fine when IN the straps.
For freestyle, since board spins are the hot moves, a slightly higher boom, somewhere around slalom level, but much smaller, as much as 2 meter smaller sails is used, for holding and flipping power and leverage, with the wide freestyle boards.
Formula is usually running a 10 meter sail in 18-27mph winds, so a really high boom is needed to harness all that tall power and weight for flipping and leverage for holding down the monster is such winds, so for me, around mid eye level is good, but SteveSylvester runs much higher, and he beats EVERYONE here on the forums in Formula. Once again, a seat harness, lines a little longer in the 16-18" range from the boom arm, and almost always adjustable in length mainly for the downwind leg.
Hope this gives you a guideline for boom heights.