Hi all,
While we get out and sail pretty regularly, the Admiral (and our dogs) sometimes get a little nervous around higher winds, so we tend to be more fair weather and/or choose to motor. Not that we CAN'T operate the boat should bad weather come up, we just typically choose not to (given that we mostly cruise in a fairly secluded set of islands within 30 miles of our main port choosing to motor in rougher weather isn't a hard choice). This is a long way of saying, while I'm practiced at reefing, we don't actually sail under reef very often.
We have a single line reefing system -- a set of blocks at the mast that hauls the sail down with the line running through the boom that pulls the leech down and tensions to form the foot. Pretty straight forward, all doable from the cockpit. We have a Dutchman system, so presumably the excess sail is held in place by the filaments. This is also what leads to my questions:
When reefed do most folks rely on their sail flaking system (Dutchman, Lazy Jacks) to hold the flaked sail in place, or do you typically use sail ties/lines to lash the excess sail to the boom (I'm asking mostly of coastal/island cruisers -- I think tying off the excess sail would always make sense if you're going to be sailing in higher winds for many hours/days at a time while on an extended passage)?
If you do tie off the sail, how do you go about that -- do you try to do so while the sail is under power (which could be tricky, walking on the coach roof in an upwind sail while the boat heels), or do you do this while the sail is luffing (which, in my experience, can be quite violent in a relatively high wind situation)? If the latter, do you just keep the boom centered and the bow pointed into the wind? (I'll note, we do have grommets in our sail, so tying things down IS an option, I'm just not sure how to totally go about it).
Yesterday I ignored a few Admiral/pet protests and we did do some reefed sailing (winds were 15 to 20, gusting to 25). I raised the main with the reef in place, but I did not go on top to tie things off. I considered tying things off, but wasn't comfortable going up top with the sail luffing. I thought about heaving to, but in doing so, with the main sheet fully released, I can't reach the majority of the boom from the deck (so tying off becomes quite difficult). I ended up sailing just relying on the Dutchman, although pointing upwind was difficult as the sail shape wasn't great. Also, one of the Dutchman filament cars popped off the topping lift, so we had a bit of sail flopping around (this may have been more of a filament tensioning issue, though, not exclusively because we were reefed).
The sailing was fine, although eventually I was convinced to put the sail away and we had a nice (mostly up wind) motor back to port.
Curious as to others thoughts/procedures.
Thanks!
Doug
While we get out and sail pretty regularly, the Admiral (and our dogs) sometimes get a little nervous around higher winds, so we tend to be more fair weather and/or choose to motor. Not that we CAN'T operate the boat should bad weather come up, we just typically choose not to (given that we mostly cruise in a fairly secluded set of islands within 30 miles of our main port choosing to motor in rougher weather isn't a hard choice). This is a long way of saying, while I'm practiced at reefing, we don't actually sail under reef very often.
We have a single line reefing system -- a set of blocks at the mast that hauls the sail down with the line running through the boom that pulls the leech down and tensions to form the foot. Pretty straight forward, all doable from the cockpit. We have a Dutchman system, so presumably the excess sail is held in place by the filaments. This is also what leads to my questions:
When reefed do most folks rely on their sail flaking system (Dutchman, Lazy Jacks) to hold the flaked sail in place, or do you typically use sail ties/lines to lash the excess sail to the boom (I'm asking mostly of coastal/island cruisers -- I think tying off the excess sail would always make sense if you're going to be sailing in higher winds for many hours/days at a time while on an extended passage)?
If you do tie off the sail, how do you go about that -- do you try to do so while the sail is under power (which could be tricky, walking on the coach roof in an upwind sail while the boat heels), or do you do this while the sail is luffing (which, in my experience, can be quite violent in a relatively high wind situation)? If the latter, do you just keep the boom centered and the bow pointed into the wind? (I'll note, we do have grommets in our sail, so tying things down IS an option, I'm just not sure how to totally go about it).
Yesterday I ignored a few Admiral/pet protests and we did do some reefed sailing (winds were 15 to 20, gusting to 25). I raised the main with the reef in place, but I did not go on top to tie things off. I considered tying things off, but wasn't comfortable going up top with the sail luffing. I thought about heaving to, but in doing so, with the main sheet fully released, I can't reach the majority of the boom from the deck (so tying off becomes quite difficult). I ended up sailing just relying on the Dutchman, although pointing upwind was difficult as the sail shape wasn't great. Also, one of the Dutchman filament cars popped off the topping lift, so we had a bit of sail flopping around (this may have been more of a filament tensioning issue, though, not exclusively because we were reefed).
The sailing was fine, although eventually I was convinced to put the sail away and we had a nice (mostly up wind) motor back to port.
Curious as to others thoughts/procedures.
Thanks!
Doug