Muffin Man wrote:
Bending boom incorporated he

http://hem.passagen.se/waterat/505sailstarboats.htm



Yes indeed... did you notice the date on that brochure?

As OzOne said, a long time ago racing sailors used boom bending as a
sail shape tool. That's because materials & rig design had not yet
progressed to do as much good with bending the mast... but it didn't
take very long.

Back in the 1930s there were a few boats set up with horizontally
bending booms, which work better but require a lot of fancy extra
rigging & hardware. Then a smart person designed the "Park Avenue" boom
so as to shape the foot... hmm maybe this is an idea whose time has come
again... shape control plus end plate effect...

Fresh Breezes- Doug King