Tie On Boom Not Attaching

reid.zimmerman · Joined: 25 May 2015 Posts: 1

Hey guys! I just bought my vintage 1980's windsurfer for about $100 and I'm ready to take on the high seas! Cool

Anyways, I'm COMPLETELY new to this and so I have some of you more veteran guys on here are gonna have to help me out here.

Like I said, I just bought a old, used windsurfing kit from a guy just so I can experiment and get my feet wet in the sport. A problem I've encountered is that when tieing on the boom to the mast (yes, those still exist), the boom will NOT stay put when I tie it on. I tried windsurfing the other day and the entire time my boom would slide up and down the mast.

So my question is, is there a way that I could jerry-rig my boom so that it has a clamp on it? I've tried tieing the boom on every way and it will just not stay put.

Thanks and I look forward to posting here more often!

swchandler · Joined: 08 Nov 1993 Posts: 10588

In the days of tie-on booms, there were many different configurations based on the fact that every brand designed their own front end. So, to develop a reasonable starting point, a photo of your boom front end would be the call.

Regarding the fastening of a tie-on boom to the mast, the boom needs to be positioned on top of the mast, with the front end where you want to attach it to the mast, and the clew will be positioned at the base of the mast. Once you've made the tie-on connection reasonably snug, you swing up the clew of the boom to the sail's clew grommet. The act of swinging the boom into position tightens the connection. If you find it difficult to swing the boom into position, you don't want to push it too hard because it could damage the mast. Getting the correct tightness before you swing up the boom is learned task found through trial and error.

dllee · Joined: 03 Jul 2009 Posts: 5329 Location: East Bay

Ideal tension is, after two full wraps around the mast, is when the line starts tightening when the booms are folded 45 degrees, or halfway to it's final 90 degree position to the mast.

MalibuGuru · Joined: 11 Nov 1993 Posts: 9300

U2U2U2 · Posted: Mon May 25, 2015 6:59 pm Post subject:

Look for a swap meet, look then for a POS boom, cost $15-35

Be some of the best $ spent

gvogelsang · Joined: 09 Nov 1988 Posts: 435

Ha ha ha ha ha ha.

I had two windsurfers with teak booms - one for me and one for any of my brothers that wanted to sail with me.

The last of the two split in half in Lake Sebring, FL, with my former brother-in-law on it.

Here is what you do. First, you google rolling hitch. It is a knot, and it was evolved so that it would not slip on a round pole - like a mast. Figure out how to tie a rolling hitch, and you are half way there.

When you tie your rolling hitch, make sure that the boom is parallel to the mast. Then, after you tie it, when you make the boom perpindicular to the mast, the front end will be very tight.

I placed my boom so that the end of the boom was toward the top of the mast. That way, when I made it perpendicular to the mast, it did not tighten the leech of the sail unnecessarily. IF you tie your rolling hitch with the end of the boom pointed down at the bottom of the mast, when you put it up in position it will make the leech (back edge) of the sail too tight.

By the way, the best thing that you can do is figure out a way to make a modern sail work on that board. Modern sails are so much easier - like a Cheetah 6.5 or 7.5. Modern booms with a clamp on front end are so much easier, and better.

But, an original Windsurfer board is a nice learning platform. I did my first waterstart on my original windsurfer.

Come to think of it, the Ezzy Zephyr 7.5 would be a perfect sail for your new board!

Best of luck with it.

joethewindsufa · Joined: 10 Oct 2010 Posts: 1190 Location: Montréal

if you must use the old stuff ... Smile

here's the process I documented:

https://onedrive.live.com/view.aspx?cid=C6DB8ADE6B0C768C&resid=c6db8ade6b0c768c%21445&app=Word

beaglebuddy · Joined: 10 Feb 2012 Posts: 1120

Bin that rubbish, you'll never get it to work right.

spennie · Joined: 13 Oct 1995 Posts: 975 Location: Thousand Oaks, CA

+1 with beaglebuddy, dump it!

gronquist · Joined: 12 May 2000 Posts: 70

Sounds like the 'rolling hitch' old school style should be a necessary skill set for us all, in the event of equipment failure out in the water, -just carry spare line?

I remember that being taught when I first started, but modern head attachments were already the norm.