Shorten sail ?

[alant]

In may two friends are crewing for me to sail my boat from West Mersea to La Coruna, they are both very experienced blue water sailors so the plan will be (weather permitting) to keep going. Should i as a matter of course order to shorten sail for the hours of darkness? Thanks in anticipation.

If you have to ask, are you a competant skipper anyway, for this trip?

 

[KellysEye]

>have a practice go at reeling in the dark at the earliest opportunity on the trip, before you need to in earnest.

Agree, that's what we did more than once and a couple of times with our eyes shut, it was surprisingly easy.

The the key to reefing is to keep an eye on the barometer and always put the reading in the log. We were mainly two handed so if the barometer started to drop the one on watch would call the other up to help reef.

 

[Conachair]

If you have to ask, are you a competant skipper anyway, for this trip?

First time for everything.

 

[Rossynant]

First time for everything.

First time reef better be made in daylight and when not really necessary - just to check everything, get accustomed, see how she is going.
Reefing for the night? Depends on weather - with low coming and good chance of increase why not.
Depends on boat: hard, stand-up-to-anything one doesn't need it.
Sensitive to sail area and already going fast, so not much speed will be lost, may be reefed for peace of mind. Good night sleep for the crew is worth it

 

[Boathook]

Definitely.
Run through it in daylight first if possible.
All boats are just that bit different, finding the hand hold etc first time when you really need them can be a bit fraught.
Crew do these trips for the experience, we want to get better at seamanship, not just sit on a boat for a week or so.
So time spent practicising stuff and maybe improving the way you do things is not wasted, particularly if it does not stop you from making progress.

Don't just try the first reef, try them all to make sure that they all work and that any clam cleats, etc work.

 

[LadyInBed]

If you are concerned, have a practice go at reeling in the dark at the earliest opportunity on the trip, before you need to in earnest.

I'm not sure where the question mark arose on the ability to reef in the dark, as I read it ferroboat was just asking if the team thought it was 'good practice' to do it anyway.

 

[alant]

I'm not sure where the question mark arose on the ability to reef in the dark, as I read it ferroboat was just asking if the team thought it was 'good practice' to do it anyway.

"Should i as a matter of course order to shorten sail for the hours of darkness? Thanks in anticipation."

Or has little experience of sailing offshore at night, perhaps.
Hence "If you have to ask, are you a competant skipper anyway, for this trip?"

Yes, there is a "first time for everything" as conachair said, but Biscay isn't ideal for learning how to sail at night, if uncertain.