I've owned my h16 for one summer now and am starting to get the hang of things. I can't seem to ever pick up speed sailing downwind though. I notice that my boom sticks way up in the air when it's sheeted way out and the sail won't hold it's shape. My question is, do people with small hobies ever use boom vangs? I see them sold everywhere, but have never actually seen one used. Most booms i see don't have a tang for one either, but i think mine does. There is a tang that looks like the mast tang for the shrouds that is about three back from the mast on the boom. Is there another use for this tang? Any help would be great!!!
You could probably use the Vang on a 14 to sail directly downwind, but most 16 sailors tack or jib downwind which eliminates the boom raising problem you're referring to, and gets you there much quicker as well. A bridle fly will help you identify and sail to 90 degrees apparent wind. The apparent wind would be a combination of the true wind off your stern and the wind in your face which add together to provide a new component of wind and direction. The boom position on this point of sail is generally just outside the rear corner casting, so you don't have a problem with it flying up. The VMG or Distance Made Good with this downwind tacking method generally provides much better performance than sailing with the wind directly at your back.
I tried a vang on my boat, and do not think it is worth the trouble. As Bogie posted, a 16 is faster gybing down wind. The only tip is that in light wind I put my foot on the front of the boom to keep the mast rotated. This seems to help.
With the rear crossbar traveller on the H16, you really don't need a boom vang.
A starting point (or rule of thumb) for downwind sailing is to run the traveller all the way out, let out about 3 feet of sheet between the blocks (up to about 10 kts. wind speed) and jibe downwind through 90 degrees. Above 10 kts. you can sheet harder and/or sail deeper and the "groove" will be much easier to find. Other sailors will have slight variations on traveller placement and sheet tension. Talk to them and experiment to find what works best for you.
