It depends on how your slides are set up compared to the reef cringle. On my 23, I have a pin that goes into the mast just above the top of the gate that lets the slides come out (that is, at the bottom of the track just above the gate opening). When the main is lowered, the slides stack up above this pin (if the pin were out, the slides would come out of the mast track, making it harder to flake, and more to the point, I'd have to feed them all back in next time I raised sail). I am not at the boat, but I think there are 3 or 4 slides below the lower reef point. When these are stacked, the cringle is located such that it cannot be pulled down to the horn. Picture a setup where the cringle is an inch or two above the slide immediately below it. The cringle would only be able to be pulled own less than an inch lower than that slide just under it. That slide would be say 6 inches or so above the top of the mast gate, depending on how many slides were below the cringle. So the cringle can't be pulled down to the horn.