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..........................................--- Reefing ---
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Note: There are lots of options on how to reef a main sail. I've looked at a lot of them and came up with the following. It is how we now reef after some not so good efforts when we first sailed. It is pretty straight forward and the only cost is a couple cleats that can be put on the boom in about 30 minutes.
Saying that this might or might not be the best option for you, so look around and you decide,
Sum
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This picture and the following might help someone who is having trouble reefing their sails. We had a lot of problems on our first trip reefing and getting the boom up where it was suppose to be where it wouldn't get into the bimini and the sail had a good shape. We improved the situation on our Idaho/Canada trip. Then on this trip we made further improvements to the system to where now we can reef to the 1st or 2nd reef point fairly fast and end up with the boom up and a good sail shape. This also wasn't expensive to do as all that was required was two cleats and some 1/4 inch braided line.
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I start by lifting the boom slightly with the topping lift (arrows) so that it won't fall into the cockpit while reefing (the picture above was taken when I installed the topping lift at home, but while reefing the sail will look like this at the beginning of the reefing process.
I would strongly recommend the topping lift mod as it helps to hold the mast up anytime that it is necessary or handy, such as when anchored at night and you want it up and out of the way, but back to reefing.
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After raising the boom slightly with the toping lift I start the reef by lowering the main down to the reef point I want to use. Then hook the cringle (top arrow) at that reef point through the hooked gooseneck bolt that holds the boom to the gooseneck (left arrow). Next I pull the main back up with the halyard until it is tight and cleat it off on the bottom of the mast.
Note: If you don't have the hooked bolt at the gooseneck (left arrow) then you need to tie the cringle down to this point.
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Next I move to the back of the sail where it is attached to the boom where the outhaul line and the cleat at the very end of the boom are, but first:
Before this trip I added 2 cleats (arrows) to the boom. They were located as follows.
With the main up and not reefed find the cringle at the back of the sail (leech) for the first reef point. Come straight down vertically from that point to the boom and mark that place on the boom. Now put a cleat (left arrow above) with its forward edge a couple inches aft of your mark towards the end of the boom.
No go up the back of the sail (leech) and find the next cringle for the second reef point and go directly down from it to the boom and mark that place and put another cleat behind it like the first one (right arrow above).
If you have 3 reef points in your sail do the above one more time.
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Note these lines were also made when the cleats were installed:
I took some short lengths of 1/4 inch braided line and tied a stopper knot on one end. Then I threaded that line down through the hole at the center of the cleat to the point the stopper knot stopped the line in the center hole in the cleat.
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When the sail isn't reefed (above) the two lines that go through the cleat center are wrapped around the cleats and cleated off ready for use.
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Now to continue with the reef, take the line loose of the cleat, but leave it through the center of the cleat with the stopper knot stopping it from coming clear. Then take the 1/4 inch line around the bottom of the boom and up the back side of the sail. Put it through the cringle at the reef point you want to use. Then back down to the cleat on the near side. Using the cleat like a pulley, pull the sail at the cringle down on the boom and back to the cleat and cleat the line off. Now the sail is tight to the boom at the cringle and along its foot back from the cringle by the mast back to this point.
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As I return to the mast I tie the sail to the boom with the reef ties. On our sail there are 3 at the first reef point and two at the second reef point. In the picture above (and the first in this series) the sail is on the 2nd reef point and all of the ties in use as it was reefed to the 1st reef point prior to going to the second.
Finally I release the topping lift and let the sail fill and you will find that the boom stays up and the sail has good shape. This takes about as much time as it took you to read this once you practice it a couple times. We are very happy with this set up.
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