Dropping/reefing the main off the wind

[Stemar]

Many years ago, I read a comment from a long distance cruiser that one of their essentials was the ability to reef and drop the main in more or less any conditions on any point of sail, which always struck me as a very good idea. Yesterday, harking back to that comment, in a nice 3-4, I tried to drop my main on a run, by sheeting it in hard and letting the halyard go. I have a downhaul on the main, but I didn't even get that far. Suffice it to say I didn't cover myself in glory - a clip round the ear from the boom and a hat overboard! :nonchalance: In any more wind, the risk of damage to me or the boat would have been significant.

Does anyone have a system or technique that allows them to tame the main off the wind?

I'm not talking about in-mast furling - I snail* a Snapdragon that will celebrate its 50th birthday next year, so an in-mast system would probably cost more than the boat's worth. I do have slab reefing with all lines to the cockpit.


*A typo, but too appropriate not to leave

 

[Daverw]

I always pull the reefs first, takes a bit of juggling with the main halyard and then the main and battens miss the shrouds and spreaders and normally slowly drop with the stack pack keeping it sort of tidy, does not always work though

 

[Poignard]

This is why some successful cruisers favour mainsails without battens, eg Eric Hiscock, Larry Pardey, Les Powles et al.

They considered the loss of sail area by having a mainsail without roach to be an acceptable trade-off for ease of handling.

 

[neil_s]

Yes - I have tried that, too. It only works in very light airs. I have 1970's through mast roller reefing/furling and that works with the boom up to 50 degrees out, but the sail all gets bunched up at the tack if there is wind in it. Come back gaff rig - all is forgiven!

 

[johnalison]

I have only ever achieved it by motoring hard to give an apparent wind of zero or less.

 

[lw395]

I've only been happy with reefing on the run on a small boat where the boom could be pulled up to the first reef, then the halyard eased.
If you've got two reefs in, it's often not too hard to drop the main on a run though.
But it's all a recipe for rolling a lot so I don't think I'd attempt it in rough conditions.

 

[Kukri]

"Works with gaff rig" - if you sheet the main hard in, set up the weather topping lift hard and have a vang (or the topsail sheet) on the gaff (trapped round a cleat) as you lower away.

You may ask me how I know this: forty years of gaff cutters, quite a number of which were spent on a mooring at the upper end of an estuary which didn't allow room to turn upwind as one approached, with the sea breeze, on a Sunday afternoon...

With the Red Monster's 510 sq ft, fully battened, I don't even think about it.

 

[Porthandbuoy]

I've managed to put in the 2nd and 3rd reefs on a very broad reach. I wouldn't try it dead downwind in case of an accidental gybe.
Let the main sheet right out.
Scandalise it by letting off the kicker and hauling the boom well up with the topping lift.
Ease the halyard and haul down the main. I have webbing straps sewn just above each luff cringle.
Hook the reefing point onto the horn at the gooseneck. Being able to hang onto the webbing strap at this point is a boon.
Tighten the halyard.
Haul in the reefing line.
Ease topping lift.
Tighten kicker.
Make your way back to the cockpit.
Sheet in and sail away.

Takes longer to do than describe.

 

[MoodySabre]

When I had a Snappie on a swinging mooring I used to hove to and drop the main before sailing onto the mooring with decreasing Genoa.
In my current boat I can only drop on a run in very light airs - fully battened main..

 

[r_h]

The better the luff hardware the easier it is, with the ultimate being an external track with roller-bearing cars, though I routinely do it successfully racing a boat with a 13.7m mainsail luff double handed and solo, with conventional slides, plus batten cars at the forward end of the two full-length battens.
It helps to regularly clean the luff track and, even more so, to be able to winch down pennants at the luff for each reef.
The sail doesn't exactly look tidy as the reef is going in, but it's always worked, even when running under poled out jib in 35 knot gusts and dropping from full main to two reefs. In that scenario we were surfing fast in the gusts, so the apparent wind was rarely above 20 knots, but rounding up to reef with the wind forward of the beam would have seen close to 40 knots apparent in the puffs - a much tougher scenario on both the boat and crew.
PS [Edit] This is done with the mainsheet eased.

 

[James_Calvert]

I've managed to drop our Sadler 32 main with the wind aft, probably around Beaufort 5 or 6. We were surfing at the time at up to 12 knots with almost every wave, somewhere between Beachy Head and Royal Sovereign. It took the two of us, releasing the halyard a bit at a time, pulling down on the leach and the luff together. I sheeted in the main before starting. We had one or two reefs in already. We carried on under genny alone surfing occasionally at up to 9 knots, much more relaxed.

I haven't exactly repeated the experience, but was concerned when specifying a new main many years later, to ensure I could still do this, and so only went for one full batten at the head of the sail. Logic being that the sail slide at one full batten could be jiggled up and down if it jammed, but maybe not two.

Coming into harbour I quite often drop the unreefed new sail with light winds astern. But obviously the sail doesn't fall neatly onto the boom and needs pulling aft by the leach to achieve a neat stow.

 

[geem]

On a 44ft boat with fully battened main we regularly reef in 30+ kts dead down wind. We use a preventer. Sheet the main in to an angle of about 45 degrees hard again the preventer. This fixes the boom so it wont flap about. It also keep the battens off the aft lowers. Run a line through the forward reefing point and on to a mast winch. Ease the main halyard and winch down the reef. There will be plenty of friction even with cars but it works fine. Tuck the sail at the outer end in to the stackpack as the sails comes down. Once the sail is reefed, ease the mainsheet and pull in on the preventer. We do all the reefing from the mast so no hardship for us to reef like this. Far better than turning up wind and starting the engine when the motion will be unpleasant.

 

[Poignard]

... Far better than turning up wind and starting the engine when the motion will be unpleasant.

I can't get the mainsail down with the wind aft because the (short) battens foul of the shrouds.

When I want to reef I simply round-up into the wind and heave-to.

 

[Biggles Wader]

I can't get the mainsail down with the wind aft because the (short) battens foul of the shrouds.

When I want to reef I simply round-up into the wind and heave-to.

Same. I can get the main down with a slight following wind but anything more than three or four knots is asking for problems.

 

[geem]

I can't get the mainsail down with the wind aft because the (short) battens foul of the shrouds.

When I want to reef I simply round-up into the wind and heave-to.

We have full length battens and low friction cars on all sail attachment points. In big following seas with breaking crests turning in to the seas wouldnt be without some risk. Down wind reefing work very well for us with minimal risk. The boat stays nice and stable with a lot less apparent wind and no flogging sails.

 

[Poignard]

We have full length battens and low friction cars on all sail attachment points. In big following seas with breaking crests turning in to the seas wouldnt be without some risk. Down wind reefing work very well for us with minimal risk. The boat stays nice and stable with a lot less apparent wind and no flogging sails.

Well, I wish I could do it! The sound of smashing crockery, screaming women and weeping children is something I could well do without

But reefing apart, the main reason I would like to be able to drop the mainsail down-wind is because I enjoy sailing up rivers on the Brittany coast, often with a following wind, and it would be nice to know I can drop the sail as I near my destination without having to find room to turn round.

 

[Pye_End]

Fully battened, regularly reef downwind - works in light airs and stiff wind. When it is windy the boat pitches, so time pulling the sail downward when the weight is taken out of the sail. My lines are at the mast - I just relax the halyard, with the sheet out, and just pull. Sometimes a bit stiff and takes some time, but never not been able to do it.

 

[zoidberg]

The sound of smashing crockery, screaming women and weeping children is something I could well do without

Me, too. That's why I go sailing.....

The capacity to properly 'scandalise' the mainsail - if the kicker arrangements permit - is invaluable.

 

[Cactus Sailing]

we have lowered the sail downwind a fair few times, our method is to sheet in the main tight then stick a preventor on aswell and the boom will behave itself, then one at the mast pulling down the sail while the other drops the halyard in time with each other

can be a bit stiff if its blowing but we have always managed it (slab reefing)

 

[Old Bumbulum]

Just heave to!
The only tactical decision is whether to tack and then heave to (allowing you to pay off straight back onto the original tack) or simply heave to from the tack you are on and recover course later either by a gybing the long way around or paying off onto the other tack, getting established and then tacking back to the direction you wanted.

Whan you're suddenly overwhelmed heaving to seems a miraculous respite from the madness of the previous minutes. Use the peace and calm to reconfigure the rig, replan your strategy at leisure and maybe even make and sup a cuppa to help the process and unwind the crew.
Heaving to in a blow is the equivalent to parking in a motorway service area in bad weather. Get acquainted with it!

I cannot stress enough the usefulness of heaving to when over-pressed. Given enough sea-room it's a magical panacea.