[quote=smfinley]With my old H16 I left the boom on the sail all the time, just rolled it up in the sail. So I just slid the front of the boom down into the mast track once the sail was raised and put a little tension on the outhaul and was done. No mast rotator to connect and not much of a downhauler or outhauler to adjust. My H18 has a loose foot and probably takes slightly longer. But personally like the ability to disconnect the boom and let the main flap in the wind without boom attached on the beach, versus having the boom swing around on shore.
Performance wise you are able to make a wing shape in the sail all the way to the foot with a loose foot, or flatten out the sail, depending on conditions by adjusting the outhaul and having that batten at the bottom of the sail, it allows you to shape the bottom of the sail. With a bolt rope bottom you have either a straight foot (boom shaped) or a pocket once your sail is old and blown out. No good way to adjust the foot of your sail as I recall.
With the fixed foot sail, the only thing the outhaul does is determine how tight the foot is pulled, it doesn't really change shape since it is fixed in a track on the boom.[/quote]
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