Reefing marks only on one side of headsail

[tudorsailor]

I got new Yankee and staysail last year. Have not had to reef much. However on recent trip I realised that the vertical lines on the Yankee that indicate 1st 2nd and 3rd reef were only on one side of the sail.

Questions 1; Is it normal for these reefing guidelines to be only on one side? If yes, why?

Question 2: Is there an accepted percentage of reduction in sail size that equates to 1st, 2nd and 3rd reef in a headsail?

Question 3: My furling main sail does not have any guides but I wonder how much the reduction is sail area is for most stacking mainsails for first and second reef?

Tudorsailor

 

[raggy]

As I understand it a furling sail dose not really have set points as you can roll in as much or as little as you want.

You just roll in as much as you need to for the weather.

 

[wklein]

As I understand it a furling sail dose not really have set points as you can roll in as much or as little as you want.

You just roll in as much as you need to for the weather.

+1 The further you reef the less efficient the sail will become, but just tune it to the conditions. Might be better with full jib and no staysail or vice versa depends on balance of the boat

 

[CelebrityScandel]

Questions 1; Is it normal for these reefing guidelines to be only on one side? If yes, why?

Question 2: Is there an accepted percentage of reduction in sail size that equates to 1st, 2nd and 3rd reef in a headsail?

A good sailmaker producing a quality sail will automatically put reefing marks on the foot of a furling sail meant to be reefable and all of ours (but those being genoas) on smaller boats previous to the current big one had them.

Question 1 - In our cases the taped marks were certainly visible from both sides of the sail and that is really the main requirement. However, I cannot recall if the tape was actually on both sides or not. Ideally they should also be angled so that they are parallel to the foil as they approach the foil when rolling or unrolling (especially when unrolling, obvious why for that case I suspect).

Question 2 - The marks are normally marked to match the standard hanked sail sizes for that sail type. I don't know what those are offhand for other than genoas so cannot advise for yankees and staysails (we always carried a heavy weather jib and storm jib but on all our smaller boats both were hanked to a fixed inner forestay). You or someone else may know the sizes.

Our genoas were always foam luffed ones and they furled well to at least the most reefed mark, as they should for a quality sail from a good sailmaker.

 

[john_morris_uk]

A good sailmaker producing a quality sail will automatically put reefing marks on the foot of a furling sail meant to be reefable and all of ours (but those being genoas) on smaller boats previous to the current big one had them.

Question 1 - In our cases the taped marks were certainly visible from both sides of the sail and that is really the main requirement. However, I cannot recall if the tape was actually on both sides or not. Ideally they should also be angled so that they are parallel to the foil as they approach the foil when rolling or unrolling (especially when unrolling, obvious why for that case I suspect).

Question 2 - The marks are normally marked to match the standard hanked sail sizes for that sail type. I don't know what those are offhand for other than genoas so cannot advise for yankees and staysails (we always carried a heavy weather jib and storm jib but on all our smaller boats both were hanked to a fixed inner forestay). You or someone else may know the sizes.

Our genoas were always foam luffed ones and they furled well to at least the most reefed mark, as they should for a quality sail from a good sailmaker.

You seem to be suggesting (or implying) that one's sailmaker must be poor if the genoa doesn't reef well to some small shape.

Might I humbly suggest that sailmakers can't deny the laws of three dimensional trig'? If the sail rolls and sets perfectly (with the help of a foam luff etc etc) then its not cut perfectly for when its completely out.

Conversely if the sail sets brilliantly when it is out all the way, then it is NEVER going to be a brilliant sail when it rolls up - it can't be. A purpose cut smaller sail is ALWAYS going to out perform a rolled up genoa no matter how neatly the genoa rolls away. Its all to to with wind force going up with the square of wind speed and the shape of the sail needing to change and become flatter as it reduces in size. You can achieve a good compromise for a few rolls, but eventually the sail will become baggy and poorly set - especially if its any good at lower speeds.

I too have sailed on many many boats with all sorts of sails from North and most of the 'big names' to the local stitch and sew man, and none of them can alter the laws of sail cloth and sail design.

Furthermore, I am not sure that its a measure of how good your sailmaker is as to whether he/she puts reefing indicators on the foot of a sail? Some do and some don't. In my experience its a modern convention and it wasn't seen on any sails by any sailmakers for years and years to my knowledge.

 

[CelebrityScandel]

You seem to be suggesting (or implying) that one's sailmaker must be poor if the genoa doesn't reef well to some small shape.

Might I humbly suggest that sailmakers can't deny the laws of three dimensional trig'? If the sail rolls and sets perfectly (with the help of a foam luff etc etc) then its not cut perfectly for when its completely out.

I actually said "Our genoas were always foam luffed ones and they furled well to at least the most reefed mark". The mark referred to being the most reefed mark placed on the sail by the sailmaker. I also never claimed perfection, just "well".

Your humble rant, derived from your mangling that to meaning they reefed pefectly, or even my stated "well", "to some small shape" is driven purely by your imagination and certainly not by anything that I said. How you got to that I have no idea as I had even pointed out that we could always carry heavy weather foresails on an inner forestay.

To the original poster - I have had a quick look through a few photos of our previous boats and I cannot determine from those if the marks were placed on both sides of the sail or not. I have determined from those though that there were definitely tape marks on the inside of the foot of the sail when furled (so not exposed to UV when the sail was furled, and so may have been, sensibly, the only side they were on) but I have no photo here at the mopment clearly showing the other side. I do know that they were visible from both sides, however, but that may have been due to the transperancy of the sail.

 

[DJE]

I got new Yankee and staysail last year. Have not had to reef much. However on recent trip I realised that the vertical lines on the Yankee that indicate 1st 2nd and 3rd reef were only on one side of the sail.

Questions 1; Is it normal for these reefing guidelines to be only on one side? If yes, why?

I've got one where the sailmaker put the tape markers on both sides of the sail and then fixed the UV strip over the top of the tape markers. I suppose it's so that the UV strip can be easily replaced but it seems a bit daft to me.