The Time I Broke our Boom – Behind the Scenes ‘How To’ videos [Ep. 146]

A 25+ knot wind day practicing manoeuvres for our ‘How To’ videos coming soon, resulted in a broken gooseneck (don’t try that one if you can avoid it ?). Any guesses as to who it was? Join myself, Riley, Steffen our German friend and the lovely Matthieu from France with our behind the scenes episode of the making of our videos. We’ll be releasing them in the coming months! Super excited to share them with you guys as we’ve had a ton of requests. But first we’ve gotta fix this boom…

Song Credits:
00:00 Cool Runnings – Tashaki Miyaki
03:51 Climbing Trees – Tracks
07:11 HEEBLAY – Hole in the Bucket
12:08 L U M E N – Seabirds

Thank you to all the artists who feature. You can find all of the amazing artists who contribute towards our videos on our free to stream Spotify and Soundcloud playlists.

Videos made by Elayna, starring Riley!!

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FAQ
What equipment do we use?
BIG CAMERA
OTHER BIG CAMERA
HANDY CAM
GOPRO
DRONE

What software do we use?
Video Editing: Adobe Premier Pro
Weather Forecasts: Predict Wind

Comments 13

  1. Wonder ride with you two, just got done listening to an hour with Tash Sultana one of your locals, an amazing young lady with the lungs and energy of Janis Joplin and can play about any instrument she lays her tiny wonderous hands on, check her out let me know what you think?

  2. Elaina, if we don’t make mistakes we don’t learn, have a drink and enjoy the rest of all you do to show us the ropes. thanks much always, Mark!

  3. You guys are so funny and great! Thank you for sharing you real world experiences with us.
    One day I too wish to sail across the Atlantic!

  4. I fully agree with Mark. Making mistakes is how we all learn, and, Elayna, it sounds like you had a lot to deal with simultaneously. That easily could have happened to lots of us. From what I could see from the video that gooseneck looks undersized anyway, especially the thickness of the casting and the overall bearing area. With the size of your main that’s a lot of force concentrated there. My monohull is only 34’ long with a much smaller main, and my gooseneck is more robust than that one. I know they try to save weight whenever possible on a performance cat, but I wonder about the engineering there. And that’s another question. It does look like a casting, and my understanding is that cast pieces are in general not as strong as forging. Perhaps someone with more engineering and metallurgy knowledge than I can give his/her two cents about this.

  5. Off subject a bit, but can you tell me how long you think the chain attached to the anchor lasts before the highest wear section needs replacing??

    1. Hi Mike,
      The only true answer is how long is a piece of string. It really depends on a number of factors such as average depths of water, chain material,Grade of chain, size of chain, quality of galvanizing, dis similar metals eg mixing stainless shackles with gal chain which really should not be done, the charge of the water, currents, the actual water composition, oxygen levels wether you rinse off every time you store it,how long you leave it submerged, Loadings the chain may have been subject to and the ground composition. all these factors play a role on the anodic effect and wear characteristics.
      Some insurers require annual replacement as part of their policy of maintaining a sound vessel.
      Never trust a stainless steel chain these should not be used for anchors without frequent replacement as they may fail suddenly without warning this is due to components within the alloy reducing causuing pitting leaving the structure brittle even though it might have a sound appearance. It is good practice to inspect the chain frequently, use vernier callipers and measure in the top of the loop where the next link sits this is where most of the wear occurs when you do this do it in sections and dont forget to check the through bolts on the anchor swivel (check these often) andcheck your shackle pins . On my vessel I generally replace the chain annually as the waters I frequent can be quite corrosive I check the anchor swivels everytime before I head off and use locktite to help prevent them loosening I use a small piece of tie wire to mouse the shackle pins onto themselves through the d. Just remember your Dreams and hard work rely heavily on this equipment and in an event of other equipment failure might save your vessel and your life I hope this helps Best regards SV Slinky Malinky

  6. Great and honest video as usual. If I got it right (so I can learn), there was a lot going on with a mooring line wrapped around a propeller, the sails up, and a jibe without pulling in the mainsheet while jibing. This caused the boom to swing violently across the boat snapping the gooseneck.

    Good lesson to be learned, for sure. Thank you for the teaching moment so I can avoid that myself!

    Jack

  7. Seems to me ….. that you have had some problems with this NEW boat (repeated engine relay burnout). You should expect years of trouble free sailing with a new boat. I was not there when the gooseneck broke ………… but that should have been a much more substantial piece of hardware in my opinion, holding the entire weight of boom/sail/wind on it!!! I am NOT a World traveler, but I have never heard of a boom breaking off ……. except in hurricanes and the like. You should ask for several of those attachments …… (What happens if it breaks in the Arctic?)…… and take one somewhere and have it either made stronger with gussets, or have a stronger one fashioned for you.

    Happy trails.

    Bonne Mike from Maryland’s Eastern Shore

  8. Accidentional gybes happen very often when sailing long distances. You can put a preventer f.e. and be allert at all times but that is impossible! In my opinion if a boom breaks in a gybe of only 25 knts it is a problem for Outremer. Do not misunderstand me I love outremer catamarans but there inothing to blame te Elayna.

  9. You two have been an inspiration to me, I recently took sailing lessons.
    Making mistakes means you are trying to learn and expand your knowledge and your skills.
    Shit happens.
    Keep up the great work and even better videos!

  10. The only way to catch ( and destroy) a fly is to grab a towel and smother it – the towel should be large enough so that the fly cannot escape fast enough – there, I feel good having given you such a useful piece of advice! 🙂

  11. Pants The Boom Breaker! ?

    Seriously, there was a lot going on, and you did a much better job than me – I would’ve broken the boom AND wrapped the mooring line around the prop for good measure. So well done for limiting the damage.

    And aren’t those electric tennis rackets great?!

    Thanks for another awesome video, best wishes and safe sailing,

    Mike

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