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I see this comment often about “reefing early.” Is “reefing early” reefing before the boat “needs” to be reefed in anticipation of increasing wind speed within half an or less, or reefing when not necessary just in case some bigger wind arrives sometime that afternoon, or just being reefed so not to work so hard. Seems like I’ve done all three. I don’t feel good about reefing for a surprise big wind that does not arrive.
Reminds me of my dad one time who I had to constantly remind to put on his seat belt when he replied, "I'm not planning on getting into an accident!" I've never been disappointed that I reefed and didn't need it. But I DEFINITELY have regretted not reefing when I should have. Blown out jib furler bearings, sunglasses knocked off my face by a flapping jib sheet (lucky I didn't lose an eye), startled crew grabbing for handholds as the boat suddenly heeled over unnecessarily - that's all on me. But hey, YMMVI don’t feel good about reefing for a surprise big wind that does not arrive.
I’ve been hearing this from the old and young salts, the young probably get it from the old, since me sailing days in the GOM, SW FL— > 30 yr past. Is it because at night it’s likely to be more difficult to reef due to dim light, or b/c of the darkness one might not be able to foresee conditions, or something other? Back in the day when you had to go to the mast to reef, darkness could be a factor. Now, with in-cockpit reefing systems, why as a matter of routine sailing be reefed at night, etc? I still wonder.
Seems more a matter of sailing lore than actual seamanship.
I can reef both my jib and main from the cockpit, but pre-reefing at night is still my preference. This is mainly because, as you point out, your ability to foretell rapidly changing conditions is almost nil at night. Last year I was sailing up the Chesapeake Bay on a nice 12 knot beam reach late in the day. As is common, scattered afternoon thunderstorms were forecast. We were flying full sails until I saw a squall approaching from the far western shore of the bay. It was roughly 5 miles away, so we couldn't hear the wind, but I could tell by the clouds and watching it roll over the trees onshore with my binos that there was some pretty heavy wind in that squall. Radar just showed a dense wall of moisture, but nothing - not even my online weather radar - showed what was going on over there in terms of wind. We reefed way down, put on rain gear and life jackets, and sailed through a pretty pleasant experience with winds gusting to 40 knots. By the time we started to "feel" the storm, we had mere seconds before the gust front hit us, but we were well prepared. But think about that scenario at night. No forewarning until it hit, and with full sails up that would've been a nightmare with possibly broken gear and a pretty shaken up crew. Maybe on a clear night with a good moon I would confidently carry full sails, but if visibility is limited I'm pretty conservative.I’ve been hearing this from the old and young salts, the young probably get it from the old, since me sailing days in the GOM, SW FL— > 30 yr past. Is it because at night it’s likely to be more difficult to reef due to dim light, or b/c of the darkness one might not be able to foresee conditions, or something other. Back in the day when you had to go to the mast to reef, darkness could be a factor. Now with in-cockpit reefing systems, why as a matter of routine sailing be reefed at night, etc. I still wonder.
