Can you reef in five minutes?

[Christian Williams]

I've been working on this goal, which greatly improves confidence. Slab reefing is speedy, but requires a bit of attention to gear.

What has helped me most is changing to lighter reef lines (down from Ericson-recommended 3/8th inch for the E38). Smaller goes through the blocks and clutches easier.

Using bowline loops* on the boom, rather than the sliding cheek blocks on many Kenyon booms.

Tides mast track for easy halyard adjustment under load.

Clutches to free up winches.

"Dogbones" on reefing tacks.

Downhauls on the dogbones. They allow all reefing to be done from the cockpit, but may require additional deck organizer.

Discipline for the lazyjack issue. It is necessary to coax the full-length battens up, which means letting the mainsail fully luff and timing the hoist.

Can you reef without altering course? Including dead downwind? Downhauls really help.

Can you reef alone, without asking for help, or causing concern to guests?

*The bowlines on the reef lines are made on the standing part of the line, not around the boom. That helps them stay in place. A loose loop around the boom tends to flog itself out of position, but a bowline on the standing part cinches tight.

 

[G Kiba]

Less than 5 minutes usually (upwind and single-line reef). Typically don't reef going downwind as it is the best point of sail being overpowered. But if I do, will heave too.

 

[Nick J]

5 minutes is a great goal... and I'm way off. No down hauls, reefing lines are lead aft, but I still need to go to the mast to secure the reef tack to the reefing horn, and the stock Kenyon mast with full batten sails and slides has quite a bit of friction under load. Oh yeah, did I mention lack of practice (warm weather in the Puget Sound is usually accompanied by light winds). I also have difficulty with furling my headsail under load (apx. 125 on an older Profurl without a dedicated furling winch). Your list of equipment is a good start. I typically don't have a lot of trouble going up wind, but when I'm on a deep reach or down wind in choppy seas is where it gets difficult.

 

[Bolo]

With all lines leading to the cockpit I can reef in about three minutes if it's a race to get it done. Five minutes when I really take my time.

 

[Kenneth K]

"Dogbones" on reefing tacks.

Downhauls on the dogbones. They allow all reefing to be done from the cockpit, but may require additional deck organizer.

Why would dogbones be required with downhauls? Isn't half the purpose of the downhaul (after lowering the sail) to fix the sail tack? I've been using my downhauls as the tacks for both single-line (first reef) and double-line reefing (second reef).

 

[Christian Williams]

Not necessary, just convenient to attach the downhaul to. Dogbones are useful in their own right, especially since Tides sail slides make a very high stack, and twisting the sail onto a horn would be difficult.

 

[bgary]

Yes.

I will say that changing reef-lines helped a LOT. I've found that 5/16" VPC works very nicely for me, runs through blocks nicely without kinking up.

My setup is very simple.... aft reef-lines go from bowline around boom, up through the relevant leech cringle, then into and forward inside boom, then down and aft through organizer and clutch to the cabintop winch (first reef to starboard, second reef to port). The forward reeflines are simple 2:1 tackles with a hook on the working end, a block with a snapshackle clipped to the mast plate on the lower end, and a tail long enough to reach either cabintop winch.

So, procedure is to lower halyard to a mark, wind in the forward reef line on one cabintop selftailer, re-tension the halyard, then wind in the aft reefline on the other cabintop selftailer. "normally" takes well under 5 minutes. Hardest part is keeping the boat on her feet and on a comfortable heading while doing it. I find that cracking the jib and heading off 10-15 degrees helps.

I'd note, my topping lift is pretty much always in use. I've found a setting that keeps the boom high enough to not hit my head when at the dock, and is still loose enough to not foul the leech of the main when under sail. So... I don't have to mess with topping lift to reef or unreef.

Bruce

 

[Loren Beach]

My setup is very simple.... aft reef-lines go from bowline around boom, up through the relevant leech cringle, then into and forward inside boom, then down and aft through organizer and clutch to the cabintop winch (first reef to starboard, second reef to port). The forward reeflines are simple 2:1 tackles with a hook on the working end, a block with a snapshackle clipped to the mast plate on the lower end, and a tail long enough to reach either cabintop winch.

If I understand it, you are not trying to put a forward reef eye (or dog bone) over one of the curved reefing hooks on your gooseneck?

 

[Alan Gomes]

So, procedure is to lower halyard to a mark wind in the forward reef line on one cabintop selftailer, wind in the aft reefline on the other cabintop selftailer, then re-tension the halyard.

I believe it is better to have the halyard tensioned up before you tension the aft reef line. This prevents damage to your luff slides.

 

[bgary]

If I understand it, you are not trying to put a forward reef eye (or dog bone) over one of the curved reefing hooks on your gooseneck?

Not at that instant. If the reef is going to be in for a while, I'll go forward to put the dogbone over the reef-hook at the gooseneck and then re-tension the halyard.

If - as is typical up here - the wind is up and down, by using a forward reef-line led to the cockpit I can put in a reef or shake one out without leaving the cockpit.

 

[bgary]

I believe it is better to have the halyard tensioned up before you tension the aft reef line. This prevents damage to your luff slides.

great point, you're right. Corrected (above) for posterity.

 

[Alan Gomes]

great point, you're right.

It is also worth adding that when it comes time to shake out the reef, it’s best to let off the aft tension first, and then make your halyard adjustments.

 

[Mr. Scarlett]

Does anyone lead their downhauls through a fairlead on the mast? Slightly forward and below the tack? Either a fixed padeye or a ring on a short lead?

 

[Christian Williams]

I think that would work, if the angle isn't too bad. I guess this is in lieu of a mast collar, which is the usual solution.

There's tension on the downhaul as the halyard is cranked tight, but I think I could live without a turning block, since the downhaul is set before the halyard is tightened.

 

[N.A.]

I read this the other day and thought, "sure"... then the very next time I went out the wind spiked from 14 to 22 in about 60 seconds, so I got to try

It worked great -- I had already set up (and tried, in lighter airs) tack downhauls based on what @Kalia here has, which I liked. Straightforward (once I got a new deck organizer and double block for the mast-foot fairleads). Fast, simple, and very welcome in the moment -- everything from the cockpit. The wind built to 25-30 sustained, so I roller-furled some jib, which I almost never do, and was still a bit overpowered even with two reefs in the main. Close reaching at 7.5 kts with that little sail is new to me.

But now I have question(s):

1. My downhaul faileads are attached to the mast collar, but on my boat this extends a few inches (3 or 4) from the mast base, so the angle is not perfectly straight down.

2. With the reef clew winched in, it seems like there must be some strain on the sail track sliders -- normally the tack dogbone would go over the horn, but now it's just pulled down by the downhaul -- not perfectly strauight down, and anyway a few feet of line, so the tangential force could pull it aft a bit I would expect.

--> Does anyone put an additional ring or something on the downhaul lines at/near the gooseneck to keep the tack close to its proper (horn) position?

I am not sure how big a deal this is, but it has been bothering me a bit, and the leech was flogging in the high wind, requiring a lot of leech line tension I am not used to needing (pretty new sail)... unsure if that might be related.

Any advice appreciated.

 

[Christian Williams]

If the downhaul angle isn't putting strain on something it shouldn't, no worries.

The leech flogging after a reef seems unusual, since a reef tightens the leech, and often actually raises the end of the boom a little. An over- tightened topping lift would cause that, though. It needs to be slack.

You can see the angle of my 2nd and 3rd reef tack downhauls in this photo.

 

[N.A.]

Thanks!

And duh... I had to mess with my topping lift to change a fairlead, and probably left it in a different position than usual, by enough so to cause this problem. Didn't even think to check that, though it seems in retrospect like it should be obvious... so the comment is extremely helpful.

 

[nquigley]

Adding a 3rd reef
My new main has 3 reef points, but my boom only accommodates 2. There's probably several ways to skin this cat - here's mine ... (one benefit is that it replaces a really long 3rd reef line, running most of the way up the middle of the sail, with a pair of light lines connecting just the 2nd and 3rd reef leech cringles)

Equipment purchased: ~35' of 1/4" dyneema-cored dinghy control line (West Marine); pair of 1/4" Ronstan line stopper balls ($13 @ WM); stainless cunningham hook (Amazon $11: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07HKPHBSB?psc=1&ref=ppx_yo2ov_dt_b_product_details), 17" towing strap (pack of 4 for $13 at Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01AS5QC1C?psc=1&ref=ppx_yo2ov_dt_b_product_details)

Reefing line length: carefully measure the distance between the 2nd and 3rd reef leech cringles with the leech tensioned a little. Double that length, and add ~4' to allow for some slack in the lines, short tails and knots in the line stoppers, and about 18" for the clew downhaul line and knots.

Installation:
1. run the line through the 2nd reef clew cringle (with the second reef line in the same cringle), up to and through the 3rd reef cringle, back down and through the 2nd reef cringle in the opposite direction (there will now be 3 lines running through the 2nd reef cringle).
2. install a line stopper in each end of the 3rd reef line so that the lines up to the 3rd reef are just a little slack when the 2nd reef is rigged normally (reef line and halyard fully tensioned), and the stoppers are up against the cringle
3. loop the towing strap around (under) the boom, tie the strap's eyes together above boom with a bowline at one end of ~18" of 1/4 dyneema control line (see above). The other end of this short line goes through the eye of the cunningham hook - put a stopper knot in this end.

Switching from the 2nd to the 3rd reef (or back) can be done equally easily on either tack:
1. Ease the main halyard enough to put the 3rd reef tack dogbone ring on the reefing horn
2. pre-tension the halyard just enough to stop the ring falling off the horn
3. on the windward side of the boom, grab the stopper ball on that side and pull the 3rd reef line through the 2nd reef cringle until the cunningham hook can be inserted in the 3rd reef cringle and then tension the short 'clew downhaul' line as much as possible, and secure it with a slip knot
4. lead the reefing line forward along boom and tension it around a horn cleat mounted fore and aft under the boom (I already had one near my topping lift line exit slot): being mounted under the boom makes it equally accessible on either tack. I use the halyard-bouncing technique to tension the reefing line - tension it just enough to flatten the foot of the sail - easy to do around the cleat as the foot is very short at the 3rd reef. Secure the reefing line on the horn cleat (in the last pic below, that other line is the rope end of my topping lift)
5. Tension the main halyard to the desired luff tension.

In the dock (I have not tried it while sailing), I can fairly easily switch from 2nd to 3rd reef, or the reverse, in 2 minutes.

Some pictures, roughly in sequence... (you can ignore that I have low friction ring dogbone clew eyes - the same 3rd reef system works using the regular clew cringles): 3rd reef lines when 2nd reef is deployed; close-up of stopper balls and 2nd reef cringle; 3rd reef line tensioned to install 3rd reef downhaul line; closeup of downhaul line; 3rd reef line secured to under-boom cleat (tail stowed under my topping lift line)