new sails..subsidiary question for the panel

[bobgoode]

Still on thwe subject of my new sails..I am considering three reefs in the main instead of the original two. Ability to change the sail area in smaller chunks etc etc. But I don't really want miles of reefing line hanging around for the thirs reef. What suggestions can the panel come up with, humerous or otherwise?

 

[Skyva_2]

We had 4 reefs on a Moody 336, admittedly it was a very large fully battened mainsail. Only 3 reefs had permanent lines. The 4th reef was not reeved, it had to be set up when required, which might not have been convenient in bad weather! But we used the 3rd reef a fair amount.

I would go for the extra reefing line, when you need it, you need it....particularly at night.

 

[nigelhudson]

We have three sets of reefing points in our main but only two reefing lines. I was briefed by a sail maker that, when you needed the third reef, you undid the slack first reef line, threaded it through the third reef cringle and attached it to the boom. This all seemed like a bit of a faff when you want to shorten sail in a hurry.

Anyway, came the occasion we needed the third reef and we duly followed the sailmaker's instructions. Actually it worked quite well and we had a triple reefed sail with a reasonable shape fairly quickly. However it's not recommended if you're short-handed and have left it rather late to reef.

 

[asj1]

The idea of undoing the unused first reefing line and then threading it through to make the third reefing line is fairly common, but in prcatice no-one wants to do it when conditions are such that a 3rd reef is needed. I had this problem early in the season crossing the N sea and we plugged on with only 2 reefs when 3 was clearly needed as no-one wanted to be playing round with the boom and ropes etc in the conditions.
Thinking about it subsequently what we should have done is lowered teh boom right down into the cockpit which would have made the job possible. I can see why some people go for only 2 reefs on their main if that is all their boom is set up for.

Regards

 

[DJE]

I have 4 sets of reef points in the main. It came with the boat like that. I've once un-threaded and re-threaded the first reef pennants in to the 3rd reef cringles, it worked fine. We were in 30 knots of wind at the time but in the Solent so small waves. We just dropped the boom on to the spray hood so it was easy to reach. This works fine with gooseneck hooks or two line slab reefing but I don't think it would work with single line slab reefing.
The alternative, if setting out expecting a bit of a blow, is to tie the first reef points down to the boom with short bits of rope and thread the pennants in reefs 2 and 3. Never used the 4th reef I'm glad to say.
Several times we have just gone straight from 2nd reef to no main; but this is on a masthead-rigged boat which is very much headsail-driven. And when we tried the 3rd reef we preferred that to no main.

 

[Duncantaz]

An idea I have used in this situation on a racing boat is to permantely rig a continuous mouse line with a long tail between the 2nd and 3rd reef cringles on the leech so that you can easily get the reef line reeved whilst the sail is still up. I suspect that on a cruising boat the easiest thing to do would be to drop the main, rig the reef line and re-hoist.

 

[andy_wilson]

I have 3 reefs and 2 jammers at the cockpit.

If setting out and expecting winds at the light end, I use reef 1 & 2, with the outhaul back to it's cockpit jammer, 'cos it will be used under full main.

If setting out and expecting winds at the high end I replace the outhaul with the third reef to the cockpit jammer and make off the outhaul at the front of boom jammer.

 

[gandy]

Same decision process for me at the moment. I'd like three reefs, but the boom will only take three lines. Well, at the moment it won't take any, but replacement ends can give me three sheaves.

I was planning three lines, long enough to serve as outhaul + two reefs, or three reefs with the outhaul fixed. I would expect not to change between these at sea.

 

[KellysEye]

We have three reefing lines in place on the premise (as others have mentioned) that we don't want to mess about swapping a line when the third reef is necessary.

If you do fit three use line for the third reef that is a few mm larger than the other lines. Obviously it is stronger but it also makes it easier to handle when you are bouncing all over the place.

 

[alant]

The idea of undoing the unused first reefing line and then threading it through to make the third reefing line is fairly common, but in prcatice no-one wants to do it when conditions are such that a 3rd reef is needed.
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As you say, no-one wants to do it in 3rd reef conditions.
The ideal surely, in conditions where a 3rd reef is required, is to have used the 1st reefing line, when setting the 2nd reef, using a 'earing' or sailtie, to hold in the 1st reef if necessary.

I recently delivered a boat which only had 2 reefs possible. Became a nightmare when we needed the 3rd & had to drop the whole main instead.

As important, is to have a simply rigged storm jib, set up independantly of any roller headsail.