Michel wrote:
The boom and things like the outhaul,cunhinham and all are really there to control an overpowering sail by flattening it up. Some boats would really benefit from a free breathing main sail that liberates some more driving power.
I'm not wanting to argue whether to go boomless or not. That's sailor's preference, I think. But I'm going to have to differ with you on your analysis. The fact that flattening the sail helps to depower is a side effect of the main reason we have booms and outhauls and cunninghams. The sail is an airfoil. Those controls are for shaping that airfoil so it is efficient. Just as on an airplane, a fat "high aspect" airfoil is very efficient for slow speed and high "lift," while a narrower "low aspect" airfoil is more efficient for higher speed. The cunningham is mostly used to control draft position, which actually makes a lot of difference in efficiency and performance. There are reasons that these controls evolved rather than just setting mains flying like jibs.
Without a boom, you have no way of controlling your leech, angle of attack (sail position), and draft differently. In fact, you have no way of controlling some of those at all on most points of sail.
Now, that said, if you're not racing, and are happy with some loss of efficiency and the ability to tune your sail to the conditions, and would prefer not to have a boom swinging around above your head or too many strings to pull, then there's no reason not to go boomless, as I said to start. If you just want to sail around without worrying too much about speed or pointing, which many of us do much of the time, then there's probably not a big loss on nice days. But I'd think that reefing is more of a pain, and, for me, reefing is something I do a lot of, as I sail in widely varying conditions.
