Most mainsails have 2 or at least one level of reefing built in to them. However, hank-on jibs - say 110% -- usually have no reefing capability. Why is this? Is it less efficient with the jib than main? Perhaps since there is no boom, it is easier to use a separate smaller headsail. Henry
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Jib booms are mostly too scary to contemplate
Just imagine what would happen if you were to "slab reef" a hanked-on headsail onto the forestay. Even if you could think of a clever technical solution (other than roller furling) the resulting broad bundle of sail tied to the forestay would completely disrupt the flow of air, thereby destroying the ability of the headsail to draw (i.e. develop power). That leaves the option of a large jib boom. Well, if you have come to respect the mainsail boom for its ability to whack one over the head you should certainly be scared sh----s by a large jib boom's ability to "hit one out of the park", i.e. right over the lifelines just when you are most exposed by crawling forward. No amount of ducking will do you any good either with the boom practically sweeping the foredeck. So, that leaves only rollerfurling (with it's inherently poor sailshape, even when somewhat mitigated by Aeroluff and other tricks of the trade) or switching to a different sail. By far the least painful headsail change can be made by having multiple forestays, inner stays and baby-stays, as we appear to see more and more on cruising yachts in the Pacific. In fact, we fly a 110 roller-furled genoa from the forestay plus a roller-furled staysail from the inner stay ourselves. Flying Dutchman
Just imagine what would happen if you were to "slab reef" a hanked-on headsail onto the forestay. Even if you could think of a clever technical solution (other than roller furling) the resulting broad bundle of sail tied to the forestay would completely disrupt the flow of air, thereby destroying the ability of the headsail to draw (i.e. develop power). That leaves the option of a large jib boom. Well, if you have come to respect the mainsail boom for its ability to whack one over the head you should certainly be scared sh----s by a large jib boom's ability to "hit one out of the park", i.e. right over the lifelines just when you are most exposed by crawling forward. No amount of ducking will do you any good either with the boom practically sweeping the foredeck. So, that leaves only rollerfurling (with it's inherently poor sailshape, even when somewhat mitigated by Aeroluff and other tricks of the trade) or switching to a different sail. By far the least painful headsail change can be made by having multiple forestays, inner stays and baby-stays, as we appear to see more and more on cruising yachts in the Pacific. In fact, we fly a 110 roller-furled genoa from the forestay plus a roller-furled staysail from the inner stay ourselves. Flying Dutchman
reefed jib
Hello Henry: Had a 25 coronado, with a reefing jib. Never had to use it in the gentle winds of Biscayne Bay, but did put a reef in to see what the procedure was. Basically same as a main slab reef. Bring the new tack down to the fitting,reset the sheets to the new clew and tie up the reef points. Looked good,all excess sail hung neatly along foot. Read that the Pardeys use the same setup. Good luck red
Hello Henry: Had a 25 coronado, with a reefing jib. Never had to use it in the gentle winds of Biscayne Bay, but did put a reef in to see what the procedure was. Basically same as a main slab reef. Bring the new tack down to the fitting,reset the sheets to the new clew and tie up the reef points. Looked good,all excess sail hung neatly along foot. Read that the Pardeys use the same setup. Good luck red
My theory
Reefing a jib puts tremendous pressure on everything, including the poor schmo who has to reef. If I reef the main, the jib holds up full at 110 with no problem. If it's really windy, I sail with just the jib (fully deployed) and no main. Works fine.
Reefing a jib puts tremendous pressure on everything, including the poor schmo who has to reef. If I reef the main, the jib holds up full at 110 with no problem. If it's really windy, I sail with just the jib (fully deployed) and no main. Works fine.
Thanks for your replies - Henk, Red and Bill. I had exactly the experience of Red. My original old jib from Hunter had slab reefing about 4 ft up from the foot. I also only tried it once in a blow and I had my problems trying to reef it. Seemed okay once the reef was set though. What prompted my original post was that I had never heard a convincing reason for not having reef points on the jib yet most sails don't. I am thinking of adding the feature myself to the present 115% working jib. It is only a couple of cringles and bit of reinforcing with webbing and patches. What I found with the old sail was that it was dangerous to try to handle the flogging sail in a blow on the foredeck. The best method for reefing was to douse the jib; then put in the reef, and rehoist the sail. Thanks again for the comments. Henry
Roller furling
My original hunter 110 had slab reefing, and roller furling when we bought Lady Lillie 2 years ago. We did not get the slab reefing with our new Doyle 110 last summer, because our sailmaker advises we can hold good sail shape roller furling the 110 down to 80. We have done this several times, and it works well. David h27
My original hunter 110 had slab reefing, and roller furling when we bought Lady Lillie 2 years ago. We did not get the slab reefing with our new Doyle 110 last summer, because our sailmaker advises we can hold good sail shape roller furling the 110 down to 80. We have done this several times, and it works well. David h27
Headsail Slab Reefing
Building slab reefs into headsails is rarely done anymore. The advent of roller furling systems basically replaced these "reefable" jibs. One application that still seems to work well with slab reef jibs is the self-tacking jib boom. These jibs use hanks on the luff which is a requirement for jib slab reefing. Also the ability to tie the bottom "slab" to the jib boom keeps it neat and out of the way. You don't have to change the sheets on a jib boom either. Without the boom you end up with a roll at the foot of the free flying sail which tends to be awkward and hard to handle. Bill C.
Building slab reefs into headsails is rarely done anymore. The advent of roller furling systems basically replaced these "reefable" jibs. One application that still seems to work well with slab reef jibs is the self-tacking jib boom. These jibs use hanks on the luff which is a requirement for jib slab reefing. Also the ability to tie the bottom "slab" to the jib boom keeps it neat and out of the way. You don't have to change the sheets on a jib boom either. Without the boom you end up with a roll at the foot of the free flying sail which tends to be awkward and hard to handle. Bill C.
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