Clew hook2/12/2024 The process can them be repeated for the third reef and so on. When you take in the first reef, the cunningham’s line is moved up to the second reef just in case you need it. Next, attend to the reef clew, again making sure you have plenty of foot tension.Ī neat variation on this system is to have a reef tack line on both sides – one primarily for the cunningham and the next attached to the first reef.Once the tack is secured re-tension the halyard.Pull the reef tack line down and secure it.With the halyard led aft, everything can be done from the cockpit. The clew line is used as before but this time the tack has its own line to pull the luff of the sail down. It’s particularly suitable if the main halyard goes back to the cockpit but if you’re content to employ two crew members that’s not essential. This is a great system – we use it ourselves on Shindig. It’s important to ensure you have plenty of tension along the foot of the reefed sail. If the sail is flogging heavily, this can be difficult and it may be easier to use the topping lift to raise the end of the boom up to the reef clew. Next, pull the reef clew down to the boom.Re-tension halyard to prevent the reef clew from unhooking itself.With the sail partially lowered, hook the reef tack cringle over the ‘cowhorn’.Although the line can be led back to the cockpit, it’s usual for this to be done singlehanded by the crew member at the mast, since there has to be someone up there to deal with the cowhorn. This is the most common method, involving a single reefing line through each reef clew point (only the first reefs are shown in this diagrams). Some skippers mark the halyard to indicate how much it should be eased.įrom here on the procedure depends upon the reefing system you have Ease the mainsheet to depower the sail which should now be flapping.Ease the kicker to allow the boom to lift.Tighten the topping lift to support the weight of the boom – unnecessary on boats with rod kickers (vangs).The helm’s attention should be focused entirely on maintaining the course. First sail close-hauled or on a very close reach.Done properly, it only takes thirty seconds or so to put in a reef. The wise skipper will make life easy as possible for the crew. Reefing can be a struggle, but that’s not inevitable. None of which is important, of course, so long as the principles are understood. Usually, the words ‘line’, ‘pennant’ or ‘pendant’ are interchangeable and describe the various ropes used in lowering and securing the sail. Actually the terminology surrounding this whole subject is vague, with different definitions describing different methods in different parts of the world. In olden days the first reef was known as the ‘slab’ and this term has rattled down over the years to describe the various methods of slab reefing. For now let’s stick with more conventional methods. We’ll deal with the in-mast variety in another article. Unfortunately, with mechanised reefing come fallibility and a host of other problems, so many offshore sailors have turned their backs on such fancy gadgetry and returned to more traditional forms of reefing. The drawing above shows a typical installation. Perhaps the method gathering the most favour these days is known as in-mast reefing and describes a system where the mainsail is drawn into a hollow mast by a rotating spar. It was slow, particularly when ‘shaking out’ the reef. Then there were rotating booms, around which a sail could be wound to achieve the same effect – roller reefing, in fact. First there were simple reef points – short rope pennants that could be used to gather up parts of a sail to reduce its area. To some extent, mainsail reefing has turned full circle. The purpose of this article is to help you choose which is the best for you There are many varieties of mainsail reefing.
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