11/1/2014 11:08:52 AM by Andrew Alberti

November 2014 - How Much Mark-Room

This month’s article is based on another question I received from a reader. The question asked about mark-room – in particular, mark-room with large booms. The boats in my diagrams tend to have very long booms and sometimes they exaggerate the real situation. Most booms don’t go far past the side of the boat. There are exceptions, though; some boats have boom that extend well beyond the rail when the boats are on a run. 8 Metres and Nonsuches come to mind. Both types have large mainsails, and so are also more likely to sail directly downwind on a run with their booms fully extended.