My Reefing Woes

Hunson

Hunson

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The last two days has been a little blowy and we had sailed with some reefs. Trouble is my reefing to say the least was pants. When I reefed last year albeit that there was only one reefing line then it looked oh so neat and tidy.

Well basically we have two reefs, both go inside the boom, reef one comes out on the starboard side up through the cringle and down to a loop under the boom. The second comes out on the port side and again back to a loop under the boom.

When I reefed this weekend everything seemed to sit/fit and look all wrong. Saturday we put the second reef in, but this looked very wrong.

The mast cringle I hooked over the reefing hook at the gooseneck. I then pulled in the reefing line, but the sail seemed to get all bunched up and squished by the reefing line. It worked but did not seem at all right.

Then today put the first reef in and again it did not sit nice neat and flush.

Now I was under the impression that when I am reefing is that I will bring both the luff and leach cringles back to the boom and every thing should fit snuggly.

I have today changed which reefing lines go to which loop under the boom.

But am I getting the wrong end of the stick.

reefing.jpg


Sorry about the great graphics. /forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif
 
Your reefing set up looks the same as mine. I am looking forward to hearing what the 'experts' have to say as my reefed mainsail doesn't usually look up to much.

I think the problem I have it that the reefing pennants - which run inside the boom - do not run freely, so it is difficult to get them pulled in really tight. The aim is to shorten and flatten the sail, and I always seem to end up with too much 'belly'. I'm sure the answer is to get more tension on the reefing pennant, but without a winch, this is difficult to achieve.
 
I use two line reefing,the same line starts on the port side and comes back on the starboard side,that way if one end jams,you can pull the other.Also ive angled my blocks so that it pulls the clew and the tack downwards and backwards.I intend to add lazy jacks so that it can catch it all.
 
Had this system on last boat...

1. head to wind
2. ease main halyard
3. haul in / winch in reefing line - ensure it all runs freely
4. Reefing line secures luff cringle and leech cringle - no hook required
5. If wanting a better look - use bungy to tidy up bag of sail along boom
6. Tension back on main halyard
7. pay off
 
Your setup sounds and looks OK, as long as the reef downhaul points pull sufficiently far aft to stretch the reefed foot.

One thing which does spoil a neat reef is the fact that the bunched sail in a slab reef has to go somewhere and if you just secure the reef tack then bang in the reef leech so that that cringle is as close to the boom as possible you will be lucky if you avoid bunching.

If time permits, try to flake the leach as it is hauled in which helps to make it neater and also to avoid a large flap(s) of sail blocking the downhaul points and thus preventing the cringle from being hauled down as low as you need.
 
ECB: I had the same problems as you with the pennants through the boom, but was fortunate to be able to re-reun both seperately through whilst I had the boom at home over the winter. The one reef that I had last year was twisted around the outhaul cable.

Gin: That seems to have been my problem as the sail was coming down the downhauls were being smothered by the sail preventing it come down properly. At the moment the 1st reef goes out starboard side up through the cringle and down to the loop at the rear of the boom. The 2nd reef is I think in line with where the 1st reef line comes out of the boom. I swapped these over when I got back to the mooring, but sounds like it was ok to start with and will swap back.

I need a nice windless day so I can go down and have a play. No doubt this will be sometime this week whilst I am at work /forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif
 
I have found two things that help getting enough tension in the reefing pennant or rather he foot of the sail. The new boat doesn't have a reefing winch, so getting enough tension in can be quite a challange.
Firstly, I use lots of topping lift to get the boom high and scandalise the main, so that as I pull in the reef, the main doesn't fill to any great extent. Secondly I made sure that the fixed end of the pennant is very close to the point at which the cringle comes down to the boom.
This results in the the finished pennant having a very short near vertical section up to the cringe, which pulls the cringle down nicely and the runing end passes horizontally back to the turning block on the boom.
I found that if the fixed end and the block are aft of the cringle then get to a 45 dgree situation, where the sail never pulls down to the boom, and tying in the reefing points is near impossible.
 
[ QUOTE ]
... scandalise the main

[/ QUOTE ]I thought I was slowly learning all the nautical terminology (and there's reams of it!) but this is a new one to me. What a wonderful phrase though! Er, what does it mean?
 
You must have a few days on the Norfolk Broads in those old gaffers which can be hired.

Since they have no brakes and very little water to play with, hoisting up the boom as high as the topping lift will permit is the only way of slowing the boat downwind.
 
Thanks PJ.

I understand some, but not all, of your comments. Perhaps you could take a shifty at my reefing arrangement next time you are around? And talk me through it?

Scandalising the main savagely sounds a good idea. I think we usually only take up enough topping lift to stop the boom from crashing down on the deck. I can see that taking up loads of topping lift should help. That may be enough in itself.
Will try to remember that tip next time we need to reef.

Glad to see you posting again. I listened to the sound of your engine on Saturday night as you motored out of view (and watched the sky for flares!). Now I don't have to worry that you were sent to Davy Jones' locker before managing to deploy your flares!
 
Have a look at a Barton Boomstrut, if you only have a kicker.

It is a fiddly peice of kit to install just right but I rely on it to help me reef single-handed/short crewed as once I let the kicker off the strut pushes the boom up which not only partially depowers the main and helps to ease the hauling down of the leach cringle, but overcomes the need to set the topping lift which, if forgotten, sends the boom crashing down around the ears of the crew when the main halyard is lowered.

So reefing just means, kicker off, lower halyard, pull in tack pennant, haul down leech peenant, hoist main halyard and off you go; haul in kicker when you can. My two line system takes about a minute to do the whole job and all from the cockpit so minimal drama and risk
 
I've looked at the Barton Boomstrut at the Boat Show. Stopped by the Barton stand because I wanted to look at their single line reefing. Since I like KISS I was put off by all the blocks and stuff that would need to be fitted. And the cost. The salesman seemed to agree. He showed me the Boomstrut and also suggested putting D rings in the tack reefing cringles.

Have put D rings in the cringles and that is better than struggling to put the cringle on the reefing horn. Great improvements for a few pence (home-made).

I don't sail single-handed, so the crew is normally at the mast making sure the sliders do what they are supposed to and not falling out of the mast groove, so no need to do everything from the cockpit. Crew also has to operate the levers at the forward end on the boom that lock the reefing pennant. He/she also has to tug on the reefing pennants as they come out at the forward end of the boom. I just have to steer the boat and deal with topping lift, halyard, mainsheet and kicker.
 
Tis hoisting the boom up to spill the wind out of the main, works on all wind angles, unlike letting the main sheet out, which doesn't help going down wind. /forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif

Though the latest Classic Boat has a cartoon of a skipper telling his mainsail, that it's mother was an old bedsheet....
 
You didn't hear it stop half way out to the boat then, when I ran out of fuel in the middle of the channel! And then realised that my mobile had gone flat, so you could have called, and got no response... /forums/images/graemlins/blush.gif

And then I left the breather open, and seem to have got water in the fuel thanks to the sky falling down on Sunday, so that it would only idle on the way home...

Happy to have a look over your reefing setup. I'll probably be down again next weekend, but with two little ones again.
 
[ QUOTE ]
Firstly, I use lots of topping. Turning block on the boom.

[/ QUOTE ]

Sound like we may have to get topping lift sorted for the boat as ECB said it would stop the boom banging on the coach roof when its blustery and another way to depower if needed.

I have little blocks on the boom at both ends. I haven't run the reefing lines through them at the cockpit end. Maybe this could be why I am getting the sail covering the hole in the boom where the reefing line comes out. As I have it the reefing line come out the hole then up vertically and then down and back at an angle to the hook under the boom. Rather then having both sides running at an angle.
 
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