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just bought Ariel #42 a couple weeks ago, I sailed her for the first time last Sat. and was very pleased. But after going through the Gallery, I noticed that some boats had a boom vang (which I've had experience with on day-sailers). Mine dosen't have one, and I'm not considering doing any serious racing, but would the benefits of having one warrant the installation for casual cruising?
A vang is, I believe, an important system on any sailboat. It holds down the boom as you sail downwind and controls the leach tension. If you are only cruising, a rigid vang may not be a necessity, but in my opinion, a rope vang is. If you have pad eyes on the deck just aft of the chainplates, the vang can also act as a preventer. Especially useful on long down wind sails or where the wind is shifty.
A rigid vang's advantages, outside of better controlling sail shape, include eliminating the need for a topping lift, and if the main halyard fails, keeping the boom out of the cockpit.
The block and tackle setup for a "soft" vang may cost $170 or so if you get the one with an integral cam cleat (don't need to find a place on the deck for another cleat).