Gooseneck Trivia
Hello E27 sailors and other Ericson owners, I have a problem with my Gosseneck it will not stay up high enough? Keeps sliding down about 3-5"? Any Ideas? I can not reef becasue of this and wonder if I am aslo missing out on performance. I have looked at other E27's in my marina and their gooseneck is at about where the mast winch is.
When your boat was built, it was common rigging practice to have the gooseneck on a slide on boats. That way you would tension the luff to suit wind conditions. Problem was that racers would add area to the foot of the main and keep pulling it further down, seeking "unrated" sail area.
So to promote fairness in racing, the rules had to mandate a black band on the mast to denote the lowest point for the boom/foot of the main. Black bands appeared on the end of the boom, and at the top part of the mast to denote where the head of the main should stop. That way, in theory, a competitor could see at a distance if you were cheating on your sail area.
Having done this to inhibit a small % of cheaters, everyone still needed to tension the luff of their main to control draft...
So the Cunningham line/tackle became a common addition to running rigging.
I would guess that many (most?) owners of older Ericsons -- and every other sailboat of similar vintage -- have converted to a fixed gooseneck, by at least pinning/bolting their old one in place.
As you note, reefing and furling the main are quicker/easier with the fixed gooseneck.
Loren in PDX