Downwind reefing fully battend main

[zeeotter]

My routine for reefing my fully battend main is:

1. Heave to
2. Lower the halyard
3. Put in the reefs
4. Continue sailing

My question is if this is also the best way to reef when sailing downwind or is there a better way when sailing downwind.

Thanks Gerard

 

[Roberto]

As in a lot of sailing things, I am not sure there are "best" ways (except in textbooks), anyway, for what it's worth here is how I proceed

1. if dead downwind, luff until apparent wind is slightly abaft of the beam
2. sheet in all the genoa until the mainsail is backwinded, almost "floating" in the air, the mainsheet will go slack; if you have swept back spreaders, the cloth will not be in contact with them any more; it works also with a partially furled headsail,
3. lower halyard, put the reef, tension halyard, etc
4. ease the genoa sheet and back to original course

I don't know if it is the "best" method, but it works so well for me I have no reason to look for anything different

 

[srm]

I tried reefing my fully battened main on a very broad reach with sail and battens against shrouds. Was unable to pull luff down by hand although have done this on previous boat with larger main and conventional short battens. Had to come round enough to take sail off shrouds to reef. Boat 35 ft cutter with small mainsail compared to recent designs.
When halyard is eased leach blows forward bending battens against shrouds, so using a downhaul on a winch would probably result in excessive wear on the sail.
Suggest you continue with your present method, though I don't usually heave to, just sail on a close reach.

 

[trapezeartist]

As in a lot of sailing things, I am not sure there are "best" ways (except in textbooks), anyway, for what it's worth here is how I proceed

1. if dead downwind, luff until apparent wind is slightly abaft of the beam
2. sheet in all the genoa until the mainsail is backwinded, almost "floating" in the air, the mainsheet will go slack; if you have swept back spreaders, the cloth will not be in contact with them any more; it works also with a partially furled headsail,
3. lower halyard, put the reef, tension halyard, etc
4. ease the genoa sheet and back to original course

I don't know if it is the "best" method, but it works so well for me I have no reason to look for anything different

I like that. I'll try it at the next opportunity.

 

[TradewindSailor]

I have a Catana 40 catamaran, fully battened main with Harken roller batt cars ... not much friction on the luff:

Sailing downwind:
Pull the main in so that the most of the sail is off the shroud, and no battens are bending around the shroud
Winch in the reefing penant while easing the main haulyard and keeping the tension up on the leach to prevent the sail folding around the shroud.
The luff takes care of itself.

This may not work with you boat .... you may need to rig a dutchman to pull down the luff, but it's worth a try

 

[Laurie]

To ease hauling the main down, I have reeved a light line to the head of the sail, down the cars/sliders and back to the cockpit as a recovery line or downhaul. I did it as a suggestion from a friend and it works really well.

 

[Roberto]

among the various methods you might try, keep in mind that the need to reef while sailing downwind may happen in a condition when you are already overcanvassed, despite what the books say, reef when you first think about it , it's easy to "wait a little more" before deciding to take in the additional reef or two, a cruising boat can happily keep on going downwind with full sails and 20-25kt true wind, should you want to luff, tack and heave to it may be a completely different story, with a lot of banging, flapping etc etc
The ability to reduce sail while keeping a course not too far from the original one can have some importance.

Anyway, the best method imho is to figure out a few alternatives, then spend half a day repeatedly testing and adapting all of them until you eventually find what works best in your case.

 

[jdc]

I have a Catana 40 catamaran, fully battened main with Harken roller batt cars ... not much friction on the luff:

Sailing downwind:
Pull the main in so that the most of the sail is off the shroud, and no battens are bending around the shroud
Winch in the reefing pennant while easing the main halyard and keeping the tension up on the leach to prevent the sail folding around the shroud.
The luff takes care of itself.

This may not work with your boat .... you may need to rig a Dutchman to pull down the luff, but it's worth a try

Like Tradewindsailor I have a fully battened main with Harken cars. My technique is exactly as he describes.

Sometimes the wind goes up from perfectly acceptable (say a steady F7) to a screaming F9 -10 in a matter of a minute. One may already have 2 reefs in say but need to get it all down NOW. Especially if short handed it may be nigh essential to get some sail off without rounding up so going onto a reach or heaving-to is undesirable to say the least!