Making a Custom Boom Vang

boom vang

A boom vang (US) or kicking strap (UK) is a line or piston system on a sailboat used to exert downward force on the boom and thus control the shape of the sail. There are a lot of really nice boom vangs for sale that I’m sure are fairly simple to install.  We considered buying […]

Measuring for and Installing a Mack Pack Mainsail Cover

Boom bales

We’ve had our new sails and Mack Pack mainsail cover for about a year now and absolutely love them.  After using the 106% genoa last year, we decided to get a smaller yankee jib (about 85%).  We had some issues using the larger genoa on the river where we sail.  The wind is often flukey […]

New Sails and New Sail Track

sail track

Last fall we bought new sails and a Tides Marine Sail Track and Slide system (formerly known as a Strong Track).  The sails we got from Island Planet Sails in Reno, NV.  We were acquaintances with the owner when he briefly had a boat at our marina. Sails After a few hours of measuring, we […]

Weekend Update

This past weekend was the 4th of July.  As usual, we didn’t do too much.  Friday morning we took Fat Suki to Korth’s Pirate Lair for breakfast.  Surprisingly it only took us about 20 minutes to get there and we got up to 17 kph.  Way faster than we thought our little dink could go.