Why 3 reefs ?

[Roberto]

what is the reason of having three reefs in the main ?
why not make just two reefs, first one equivalent to 1.5 reefs of a 3reef main, second one equivalent to 3reefs of a 3reef main. At least on a basic masthead rig.

It would get rid of kilometers of rope in the boom+deck and avoid the "shall we make one or two reefs?" dilemma

do you seen any inconvenience ?

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[Robin]

Some people do just that. For best performance though it is a bit like have one less gear in the car, but considering most of us leave reefing longer than we should it probably wouldn't be noticed.

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[ianwright]

Quite right. This years new mainsail has just what you describe.
When I reef I like it to make a real difference, and now it does.

IanW.

<hr width=100% size=1>Vertue 203, Patience

 

[ChrisE]

I think I go along with that notion provided I had a trisail on an independant track. Without it I'll stick with my 3rd deep reef for when things really do get iffy. I've yet to use it but....

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[brianhumber]

Depends on the ratio of main to geny. The bara has a bloody great main and she came with two mains one with 2 reefs and one with 3. Soon found out that in order to make as little leeway and keep anything like a respectable heel angle I had to have correct amount of sail up which means getting the very deep 3rd reef in after 21kts. Shes been quite happy after that in up to 50kts. The 2 reef main was like missing out 4th and 2nd in 5 gear gearbox. I can see however that with a small main large geny sail plan things could be very different.

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[dulcibella]

For those of us who use windvane self-steering gear, having a neutral helm is important so an extra reef provides more fine tuning.

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[aod]

Because ?????

I have a Dacron main with three reefs and a racing Pentex sail with two reefs.

I wouldn't ever have a sail built again without three reefs because whilst fully reefed on the two reef sail it still felt as big as a house when the wind picked up to 35 knots.

I thought as I have a trisail that it would be fine but trisails are all but bloody useless.

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[roger]

As always, it depends on your boat. I have to reef early and so find the third reef often useful even in reasonable winds 5-6. However we dont like the boat to heel too much - she gets heavy on the helm. You may have a boat that is different. It's worth checking with other owners of boats like yours.

<hr width=100% size=1>Roger

 

[stevebirch2002]

I think it is vital to have a third reef in the mainsail. When I started sailing Vegas my first one had just two reefs. After a few times of making over twenty degrees leeway and ending up in Weymouth instead of The Solent when coming back from Cherbourg I decided to invest in another reef. What a difference, better pointing, less heel, faster passages and a lot more comfortable in stiff winds. Believe me you can always put the third reef in if you have it but if you dont have the option...... A bit like warm clothes, you can always take them off but if you dont have them in the first place then you freeze....

<hr width=100% size=1>Albin Vega "Southern Comfort" V1703

 

[Roberto]

thanks

thanks all for your answers

I think my next main -which is due soon- will have two very deep reefs, when fully reefed it will have the same surface as a fully reefed 3reef main.

If that won t be enough then it would have been the same with 3 reefs -.>) otherwise Ill resuscitate the old trysail, I tried it once and could even go quite well to windward !



<hr width=100% size=1><P ID="edit"><FONT SIZE=-1>Edited by Roberto on 17/12/2003 08:32 (server time).</FONT></P>

 

[johnsomerhausen]

In "Offshore", John Illingworth recommended just two reefs for smaller boats, the second one being at 65% of the luff from the sail's head, which reduces the main sail area by 50%. That is what I have on my main but I wish that instead of making them both of the same depth, I had made the first reef 2/5 and the second reef 3/5 of the totalsince the increase in ind pressure is closer to the square of the wind speed.
john

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[3reefs]

SWMBO really happy with tiddly little sails up and motor thumping away. We seem to be reefed most of the time.

You might think the answer is to get a motor-sailer, or even a stink-pot, but I would hate that.

My cunning plan is to get a huge mainsail with lots of reefs in it so we can both be happy. Pretty devious, eh?

;=)

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[jimi]

Is'nt that a junk rig?

<hr width=100% size=1>.. when's that again, but ..

 

[charles_reed]

At the risk of stating the obvious, the number of reefs depends entirely on the relative "overcanvassing" of the boat in question and rather than rely upon the answers from persons on this forum who have only a small proportion of facts I would get a more informed opinion, either from the designer of your boat or from your sailmaker.

Generalising wildly, you'll probably not need more than two reefs in your, usually undercanvassed, masthead cruising rig.
However on a fractional rigged boat you'd be very ill-advised to reduce below 3 reef points.
On my boat with 30m2 main on a 3500kg boat I need and use 4 reefs, admittedly the last is for >F8.

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