DaySailer.org Forum

Ahoy there mates.

I'm new to the forum, not brand new to sailing. I recently retired and now have time to get back into sailing.

I have the DS 2 and have taken it out twice now after getting it about a week ago.

I live on the Oregon Coast in Waldport, about 15 miles south of Newport... FWIW.

And in the summers, we get strong north winds which required reefing.

I've been doing a lot of reading on reefing and looking at lots of pics. Seems like my DS2 has some stuff I can't quite figure out what it does.

In the top pic, I see a "cheek block?" below the leech cringle, right? And you can see it better in the 2nd pic. That block is used in conjunction with the leech cringle, right, when reefing?

In the 3rd pic, there's another block mounted on the starboard front end of the boom. What's that for?

Plus, I don't see anything around the gooseneck area that would act as a downhaul.

So any help you can give would be most appreciated!!

Hal Nash

Welcome Hal!

I'd bet that both those cheek blocks are for jiffy reefing. Are there corresponding eyes and/or cleats on either side of the boom?

The DS has a spring-loaded gooseneck for roller reefing. That method is not very effective, BTW, but if you pull back on the boom (or forward on the gooseneck) and rotate it 180 degrees, that ring on the GN will be pointing down. Tie a line to that, and bam, there's your boom downhaul. There should be a horn cleat below the boltrope slot that is screwed into a tube that rides in the sail track. That's your boom DH cleat. Loosen the screws and set the cleat where you want it and retighten.

Single line reefing. (Google for images on the net to read along).

Tie a line to the side of the boom.
Run it up to a cringle in the leech (rear edge) of the sail
Run it down the opposite side to a cheek block
Run it forward to a cheek block near the goose neck
Run it up to a cringle in the luff (front edge) of the sail
Run it down on the side you started on to a cleat on boom or mast
- or first to a cheek block and then a cleat on the boom

Looks like your boom has some of the hardware needed for single line reefing.

The check blocks are probably part of the reefing system as mentioned. Also as mentioned the slide on the gooseneck needs to be turned 180 degrees and a line attached for the boom downhaul. D&R Marine, which is a good source of parts for the Day Sailer sells a reefing hook which you might want to add to the gooseneck to aid in reefing.

John

TIM WEBB wrote:Welcome Hal!

I'd bet that both those cheek blocks are for jiffy reefing. Are there corresponding eyes and/or cleats on either side of the boom?

The DS has a spring-loaded gooseneck for roller reefing. That method is not very effective, BTW, but if you pull back on the boom (or forward on the gooseneck) and rotate it 180 degrees, that ring on the GN will be pointing down. Tie a line to that, and bam, there's your boom downhaul. There should be a horn cleat below the boltrope slot that is screwed into a tube that rides in the sail track. That's your boom DH cleat. Loosen the screws and set the cleat where you want it and retighten.

Thanks for the reply. Oddly, there are no cleats/eyes on the other side of the boom.

I investigated the "roller reefing" business, and thought it would be easy to do, but then I started looking at reefing claws (spendy!!) and the additional rigging it takes.

"Boltrope slot"? I don't get that terminology. You actually loosen a cleat and set it and retighten? I'll need a pic or two to understand your description.

As for single line reefing, I'll do some research on that... Thanks to all for your replies.

Cheek blocks on one side only would indicate a setup for one jiffy reef (one set of reef points). My boat is setup for two sets of reef points to be rigged at the same time, so I have cheek blocks on both sides of the boom.

The "bolt rope slot" is the slot on the mast where the sail feeds into and where the boom gooseneck fits into the sail slot.

The cleat at the base of the mast that Tim refers to for tightening, only needs to be positioned and tightened once. The boom down haul line is then cleated to it. The attached picture is from my O'Day Mariner, but is set up the same as my Day Sailer II. There is a "Mast Gate" covering the "bolt rope slot". You can see the top of the boom down haul cleat at the base of the mast and the boom down haul line. One of the cheek blocks for one set of reefing lines is also shown.



John

I have a single set of reef points and have

• One eye on the rear Starboard side of the boom
• One reef cringle in the leech of the sail
• One cheek block on the rear Port side of the boom
• One cheek block at the front Port side of the boom
• One reef cringle in the luff of the sail
• One cheek block at the front Starboard side of the boom
• One cam cleat a bit aft of the cheek block at the front Starboard side of the boom

My single reef line connects all of these (in order from fixed to working end).

Now for reefing you want to pull the rear of the sail back and down. The eye and cheek block in my setup are not opposite of each other, so that one part of the line pulls down and the other pulls back. There may be some fitting near the end of the boom on the side that we can't see? Normally, by having the line go through the reef cringle, you pick up a 2:1 purchase. (And you have a line on both sides of the sail, holding the reefed portion in place.) Conceivably, you could also tie the reef line to the cringle, saving the eye.

At the front of the boom, you could have a setup where the reef line gets led down the mast. (And where the luff of the sail is held by a reef hook or by some line tied through that cringle and also led down the mast, or simply wrapped around the boom.)

If the previous owner used the front cheek block to lead the line down (instead of up into the sail) then there should be cleats somewhere on the mast for it (unless they re-used the cleat for the gooseneck downhaul). Or they could have lead the line up, but on the return, not used a cleat on the boom, but one on the mast or deck.