Reefing

Moderator: GreenLake

Reefing

Postby talbot » Sat Jun 21, 2014 9:25 pm

If you use jiffy reefing (one long line that serves as tack, clew, and outhaul) how do you handle the end of the line after the reef? I can reef the sail in a few seconds. It takes me a lot longer than that to get the line out of the way. Not stowing it has resulted in real problems (like snagging on a life jacket during a gybe.) Coiling it up too tightly can result in knots and jamming when I go to shake out the reef. I've tried looping it through mini-carabiners on the boom, stuffing it in a coil under the tight part of the line . . . all funky and prone to problems. Bigger boats with fixed booms run the line to the mast, and it comes down to the same console that holds all the other sail controls. But with the sliding gooseneck on the DS, I rigged mine entirely on the boom. Any suggestions?
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Re: Reefing

Postby GreenLake » Sun Jun 22, 2014 5:08 am

I have the same problem. You can run the line to the deck, if you want, if you leave a little slack, it won't get in the way of the boom. That means you'd have a cleat on the boom for the full tension and then another one on deck just to keep some tension in the line. Gets complicated.

A simpler solution might be to just mount a hook on the boom that can hold the coiled line. I may try something like that. I assume you know the technique where you loop the line that runs between cleat and coil through and around the coil and then use it to suspend the coil. This works really well when you have vertically mounted horn cleats, but who does that on the boom, hence the idea to add a hook.

Coiling a halyard
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Re: Reefing

Postby TIM WEBB » Sun Jun 22, 2014 9:53 pm

I use a reef hook for the tack, so I only have the one reef line for the clew. It's pretty long, as one serves for both 1st and 2nd reefs. The clam cleat for it is as far forward on the boom as it can be, so when reefed, the excess line just drops down out of the way into the cuddy ...
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1979 DS2 10099 The Red Witch
(I used to be Her "staff", in the way dogs have owners and cats have staff, but alas no longer ... <pout>)
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Re: Reefing

Postby talbot » Mon Jun 23, 2014 2:32 am

Good ideas. Tim -- how do you use one line for both first and second reefs at the end of the boom? Do you have a hook that you move from cringle to cringle, like they do with the cunninghams on larger boats?

I have the first reef as a full jiffy reef (one line that pulls through a cam cleat near the tack), and the second reef as a hook & line, as Tim describes.
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Re: Reefing

Postby TIM WEBB » Mon Jun 23, 2014 11:43 am

The reef hook is affixed to the boom just aft of the gooseneck:
923
I always heave-to in order to set/shake out a reef (CB down, jib sheeted to weather, tiller held to the lee side with the tiller tamer, main left loose to swing out to the lee side. Boat will be in "neutral gear", so to speak). Just ease the halyard, pull the first or second luff cringle down onto the hook, and re-tighten the halyard. I take the sail slugs below the cringle out of the sail slot via the mast gate. Then pull the clew reef line tight and set it in the clam cleat, hook the bungees around the loose reefed portion, and you're done.

I always rig the clew reef line through the first leech cringle during setup, as that's the one most likely to be needed/used. If I need to go to the second reef, I just heave-to and re-route it. I've had the second reef point on the sail for about four years and have only used it twice, the second time last month on the first day of the FL 120. Both times I rigged it for the second reef before launching, as I knew I'd need it ... ;-P
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(I used to be Her "staff", in the way dogs have owners and cats have staff, but alas no longer ... <pout>)
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Re: Reefing

Postby GreenLake » Mon Jun 23, 2014 12:25 pm

I use a single reef line for my (single) reef. That is, the same line goes through the new clew and the new tack. I don't have a reef hook. The downside of the arrangement is that the single line really doesn't work like you'd expect. You can't just pull at the end. I end up having to tighten each section separately, but as I use my reef about as rarely as Tim uses his second reef, I can live with that. Once everything is tight, it works fine.

Pulling the reef line tight or setting it up in the first place is done with the boat hove to. Like Tim described. We've had a thread here on heaving to.
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Re: Reefing

Postby talbot » Mon Jun 23, 2014 1:04 pm

Got it. I use my reef points a lot, so I tried to avoid rerouting. (I find my boat is measurably faster sailed flat and reefed than heeling under full sail). I copied what I saw on larger boats, which is two separate reef lines for each level of sail reduction. I used a reef hook for the second one simply because the boom was getting crowded with lines and blocks.

BTW, I find that with the single-line first reef running through cheek blocks and belaying to a cam cleat on the boom, I can indeed reef the sail by just hauling in the one line, even under way. The key seems to be reducing friction in the system and using the topping lift to take pressure off the leech.
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Re: Reefing

Postby jeadstx » Mon Jun 23, 2014 1:46 pm

I added a reef hook to my reefing system and found it made reefing a little easier.

John
1976 Day Sailer II, #8075 - Completed the 2011, 2012, and 2013 Texas 200
1952 Beetle Boat Swan Catboat
Early Rhodes 19
1973 Mariner 2+2, #2607 - Completed 2014, 2015 and 2016 Texas 200
1969 Day Sailer I, #3229
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Re: Reefing

Postby GreenLake » Mon Jun 23, 2014 1:54 pm

talbot wrote:BTW, I find that with the single-line first reef running through cheek blocks and belaying to a cam cleat on the boom, I can indeed reef the sail by just hauling in the one line, even under way. The key seems to be reducing friction in the system and using the topping lift to take pressure off the leech.


My reefline runs through blocks, except where it runs through the sail grommets, but I do not have a topping lift, and that may be the difference. As I wrote, I don't need to reef very often, so I'm content to live with a system that needs a but of nursing along while setting the reef.
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Re: Reefing

Postby K.C. Walker » Mon Jun 23, 2014 10:00 pm

I just got back from a week of sailing that included a lot of high wind. You're right, I could get the boat going a lot faster if I could keep it flat!

A couple of things that I did with my reefing seemed to help. I do use a reefing hook and I tied a short loop of amsteel through the tack reefing crinkle to hook on instead of having to run the hook through the crinkle (no need to take out any of the slugs). To deal with the extra line after reefing, I coil it, tuck it behind the taught line between the cleat and the clew and secure it by pulling the top part of the coil through the bottom part forming a larks head knot.
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Re: Reefing

Postby talbot » Mon Jun 23, 2014 11:58 pm

How I wish I had just returned from a week of sailing
In any kind of wind.
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