Manual Skipper suggestion

[dubnub]

Instead of having the manual skipper controls change the position of the boom, have them tighten or loosten the stays on that mast. This way it changes the arc the boom is free to swing in instead of changing the position of the boom itself

This would make tacking and jibeing much easier

[maturin]

That wouldn't change anything on the cutter since the boom is already free to clip through the backstays. It's only restrained by the shrouds (sort of), which can't be tightened and loosened on the fly.

It would be nice if the backstays would deform automatically to avoid unsightly clipping errors on the cutter. But oh well.

Also, if we can't change the angle of the boom, we won't be able to spill our wind in combat. (The way we do so is not very realistic, but a captain of a real gaffer could always just drop the peak halyards to depower the sail.)