A boom vang (US) or kicking strap (UK) is a line or piston system on a sailboat used to exert downward force on the boom and thus control the shape of the sail. An older term is "martingale".

The vang typically runs from the base of the mast to a point about a third of the way out the boom. Due to the great force necessary to change the height of the boom while a boat is under sail, a line based boom vang usually includes some sort of a pulley system. Hydraulic piston vangs are used on larger sailboats and controlled by manual or electric hydraulic pumps.

The term kicking strap is normally shortened to "kicker" whilst sailing. e.g. "Hard on the kicker when we get to the leeward mark"

On some sailing boats, such as the 49er, rather than a set of lines pulling the boom downwards, a rigid member is used to push the boom down. As this is the reverse of a vang, it is known as a "gnav".

By controlling leech tension, the boom vang is one of the three methods of controlling sail twist.

On small sailboats and some cruising sailboats a vang may be omitted. If a vang is not installed, then the sheet has to try to control both horizontal and vertical angles of the boom. When the boom is near the centerline, the sheet is nearly vertical, and can exert downward force on the boom. As the sheet is loosened to increase the horizontal angle of the boom and sail, the sheet becomes horizontal and exerts less downward force. A vang works with the sheet to apply the downward force on the boom at all horizontal angles, allowing the sheet to be used to control the horizontal angle of the boom effectively.

While under sail, the opposite force to the vang is supplied by the sail itself. When the sail is furled, a topping lift supplies the upward force on the boom. Some line vang systems incorporate a piston to provide the topping lift force and to damp oscillations. Hydraulic vangs can inherently act in the topping lift role.

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Look up boom in Wiktionary, the free dictionary.

Boom may refer to:

Music[link]

Albums[link]

• Boom, an album by The Sonics

Songs[link]

• "Boom" (Anastacia song)
• "Boom" (Anjulie song)
• "Boom", a song by the Bloodhound Gang
• "Boom" (Flight of the Conchords song)
• "Boom" (Mario song)
• "Boom" (Mary Mary song)
• "Boom" (P.O.D. song)
• "Boom" (Royce da 5'9" song)
• "Boom!", a song and music video by System of a Down released on Steal This Album!
• "Boom Boom Pow", a 2009 song by the Black Eyed Peas
• "Boom! Shake the Room", a 1993 song by Jazzy Jeff and the Fresh Prince
• "Boom" (Snoop Dogg song)
• "Boom" (Sin song)
• "Boom" (T-Pain song)

Others[link]

• Boom!!, a vocal band founded by Hear'Say member Johnny Shentall
• Boom Festival, an electronic music festival
• Boom Gaspar, piano/keyboard/organ player for the band Pearl Jam

Places[link]

• Boom, Belgium, a municipality in Belgium
• Boom Gorge, a gorge on the Chu River in Kyrgyzstan
• Boom, Texas, former name of Summerfield, Texas

Pole or spar application[link]

• Boom (sailing), spar at the foot of a sail on a sailboat
• Boom (windsurfing), a wishbone shaped piece of windsurfing equipment
• Boom barrier, a barrier used to block vehicular access through a controlled point
• Boom operator (media), an assistant to the production sound mixer
• Log boom, a barrier placed in a river, designed to collect and/or contain floating logs timbered from nearby forests
• Boom, mechanical arm on a microphone stand
• The arm of a crane
• The arm of a backhoe
• Boom, rear fuselage of an aircraft as in Twin boom
• Boom operator (military), a controller of in-flight refueling

Sports and games[link]

• Lars Boom (born 1985), Dutch cyclist, 2008 men's champion of UCI Cyclo-cross World Championships
• Boom (source port), a source port of the computer game Doom
• "Boom!", a word often used by National Football League commentator John Madden

Television and films[link]

• BOOMTV, a proposed Canadian premium television service
• Boom! (1968 film), directed by Joseph Losey and based on The Milk Train Doesn't Stop Here Anymore by Tennessee Williams
• Boom (2003 film), a Bollywood film directed by Kaizad Gustad
• Boom (Power Rangers), a character from Power Rangers: S.P.D.
• "Boom" (CSI), a first-season episode of C.S.I.: Crime Scene Investigation
• Boom! (TV series), an American reality television series

Other uses[link]

• Boom (play), a play by Peter Sinn Nachtreib
• Boom (containment), a temporary floating barrier used to contain an oil spill
• Economic boom, time of rapid growth in wealth, as in a boom town
• Latin American Boom, a major current in Latin American literature in the second half of the 20th century
• Sonic boom
• Boom! (novel), a 2009 children's science fiction novel by Mark Haddon
• Boom, nickname for Hugh Trenchard, 1st Viscount Trenchard
• "Boom!" Catchphrase of mentally handicapped British crime lord 'Bob H' in Sydney based TV series Underbelly
• Boom (entertainer) (born 1982), South Korean entertainer
• Boom! Studios, an independent comic book company
• Boom (ship), a type of dhow (Arab sailing vessel)
• Boom FM, a branding of classic hits radio stations broadcasting in Canada

See also[link]

• Bang (disambiguation)
• Boom Boom (disambiguation)
• Boum (disambiguation)

This disambiguation page lists articles associated with the same title. If an internal link led you here, you may wish to change the link to point directly to the intended article.

Look up Vang or vang in Wiktionary, the free dictionary.

Vang may refer to:

• Vang, Oppland, a municipality in Oppland, Norway
• Vang, Hedmark, a former municipality in Hedmark, Norway
• Vang, a village in Ka Choun, Cambodia
• Vəng (disambiguation), Azerbaijan
• Boom vang, a sailing part
• Gaff vang, a sailing part
• Vang is a common surname among Hmong Americans, including
  • Vang Pao (1929–2011), Lieutenant General in the Royal Lao Army and a leader of the Hmong American community in the United States
  • Ka Vang (born 1975), writer
  • Chai Vang (born 1968), convicted murderer
  • Bee Vang (born 1991), actor, best known as Thao Vang Lor in Gran Torino

This disambiguation page lists articles associated with the same title. If an internal link led you here, you may wish to change the link to point directly to the intended article.