How do I reef my mainsail?

[Tonto's Revenge]

I'm sailing a 1974 MacGregor 25 that I just bought this spring. The boat sails great in light to moderate wind, but gusts have heeled us over to past 30 degrees, which scares the hell out of my wife and son. There are no ties on the sail to reef with...any thoughts on how I can reef the mainsail when it gets gusty so the family isn't ready to abandon ship?
Thanks in advance!

 

[Jim B]

REEFING A MAC 25

YOUR BOAT'S OWNERS MANUAL WILL TELL YOU TO ROLL UP SOME OF THE MAIN BY ROTATING THE BOOM. I FOUND THAT TO BE A PRETTY LOUSY WAY TO REEF (ESPECIALLY IF YOU HAVE ADDED A BOOM VANG). MY SUGGESTION IS TO HAVE REEF POINTS ADDED TO THE SAIL AND RIG THE BOAT FOR JIFFY REEFING. I THINK YOU WILL FIND YOUR BOAT WILL SAIL WELL REEFED.
HAVE FUN, YOU HAVE A GREAT BOAT.

 

[DeniseO30]

most likely

you will need to have reefing points added to the sail. Most times you can see gusts coming if you "read" the water. If your quick, you can let out the mainsheet or traveler. You also need to have a jib sail that is sized right for the conditions, or if you have a roller furler, know how to roll it in and set it for higher winds. Many people just seem to lock the boom in the center and don't understand how to de power the force of the wind. Playing with the main sheet in gusty conditions is all part of the sailing experiance. Also you may be tempted to sail with the main alone then you may have trouble steering the boat.

I would suggest that you don't take the family out in gusty conditions until you have enough experiance. You may also want to try and get them involved in the sailing of boat. If they are just sitting there, they tend to dwell on the negative. I always thank anyone that comes on my boat and try to make them feel they contributed something to the experiance. People never forget the first scary experiance on a sailboat and don't want to come back. But they will always want to enjoy another good experiance! It actually took me 2 yrs to get my fear of heeling under control! Now I'm able to dip (or almost dip) the rails and keep her on course!

 

[Timo42]

If you have a sewing machine

You can add the reefing kit from sailrite, I am doing that now on mine, kit comes with everything. Tim

 

[Ol' Dave]

My thoughts on reefing a Mac 25

Tonto,

I speak from past experience, the Mac 25 is a very tippy boat. You will heel over in wind that will not be a problem to anyone else. To make it family friendly you will need to "Reef" the sails early and often.

From the factory it came with a "gooseneck" fitting connecting the boom to the mast. There was no boom vang, no cunningham, no downhaul, no reefing hooks ... nothing ... just a smooth, round boom. To "Reef' with this system, you point into the wind and roll the sail around the boom. You roll as much or as little as needed. It is simple, straightforward and can be done singlehanded.

If a previous owner has added any of the stuff I just mentioned, the system won't work and you will probably poke holes in your sail when you try to wrap it around them.

When sorting through the advice proffered here, remember that this reefing system is more or less unique to MacGregor and some small types of dinghys. It is not anyone else's preferred system.

 

[Tonto's Revenge]

Thanks

I've had quite a bit of sailing experience in my younger days, so the heeling of the boat doesn't scare me at all, actually I find it quite exhilerating. Thanks for all the suggestions...my boom is actually triangular in shape and I don't think it rotates, I'll check it out next time. When we were hit by the gusts and my son was ready to abandon ship, I simply bore off away from the wind and the boat straightened right up. It did cost me quite a bit of speed, though. I never thought of releasing the main sheet, however. I had already let the boom swing out quite a ways, but the lift on the sail would probably have caused the boat to right itself. The reefing kit mentioned above says it will only work on boats up to 22 feet. I'm three feet over the limit.

 

[porsche]

video

There is a video from the factory about this boat which goes into some detail except reefing you may look it up and watch. They do show a person holding the mast down to a dock with the boat at 90 degrees and then they let go. Watch this it may help. I can not personally say about this boat having not been on one. Good luck. Alan

 

[Ol' Dave]

Once upon a time

My wife and I were out on our Mac 25 when the sky turned ominous and out of nowhere came a gust that caught us totally unprepared. I didn't look at the inclinometer ... BUT we went over so far that Sandy fell out of the cockpit and was held onboard with one arm and one leg caught over the top lifeline. We took about 5 gallons in the cockpit on the first knockdown and another 5 on the second and another 5 on the third as I worked to get the sails down and the outboard started.

The Mac 25 will take much more "weather" than most owners will want to put up with. I weathered a summer storm in the anchorage at Ship Island on the Mississippi Sound and it was much the same story, we did great achored out, eating cold fried chicken for lunch while the motor boats went into panic mode.

It is a tippy, tempermental boat made for beginners to make mistakes on. Once you get tired of porta-potties, no head room (please don't be tempted to sail in rough stuff with the pop-top up, a knockdown there would be disasterous) cramped V-berths, no sail locker, no anchor locker, no refinements for shaping either the main or jib, cranking swing keels and outboards you'll move on to something bigger and sell the Mac for more than you paid for it.

Oh ... one more thing. The factory won't guarantee that you will "pop back up" unless your swing keel is bolted down. Most people choose to sail with it unbolted in case they ground, also it is an extra, usually unnecessary step after you get it off the trailer ... if the weather is good. When it started to turn, I always bolted mine down. I also got the replacement "clips" from the factory that hold the pop-top closed in the event of a knockdown. The originals were long gone by the time we got our Mac 25.

Go out and enjoy yourself ... it is a simple, straight-forward boat with only two ropes to make it go. When you know the difference between a rope, a sheet, a stay and a line it might be time to look for something bigger.

Ol' Dave

 

[Jeff S]

tippy mac

If you have atravaler for the main sheet you may want to try adjusting that out 1 or 2 settings and that will help with the tippy feeling on your boat .

 

[Timo42]

Didn't notice the 22' limit,

but for $200 more you can get one with Harken stamped on it, that goes to 27' The 25 seems more tender than my 222, but Frank (Caguy) didn't complain when I dumped everything in the cabin sole today *sry I will let you return the favor when I finish putting holes in it ;D Tim

 

[Tonto's Revenge]

Thanks again...

It's nice to know that we had a lot further over to go when we hit 30 degrees before we got wet. We did have the pop-top open, that indeed would have been bad. Dave, you're right about the boat...I'm already yearning for something bigger. We bought the Mac 25 because it was relatively cheap and we could put it on a lake where our friends have their power boat. Next year we are heading for the Hudson and its rougher seas, faster currents and stronger winds. This year was for me to remember everything I've forgotten about sailing and for my wife and son to get used to boating. So far we are having a great time and our Mac has been outstanding. Right now we're "roughing it" with the lesser ammenities of the Mac, but in a year or two it will definately be time to upgrade.
Never heard of the clips for the pop top. I might have to look into that.

 

[caguy]

Thanks Timo

I think everything falling on the floor is just Newton's way of lowering the center of gravity. I think we were sailing in about 15-20 kt winds. When Tim checked it I thought I heard him call out 30 at one time. We had the 150 genoa up and never really felt ill at ease. We kept the cockpit top open and neber felt threatened. A little higher seas and I would have lowered the top. We did exceed hull speed with a pretty consistent 7.1 - 7.4 kts.
My 25 may be more tender than the 22 due to a 3 ft taller mast and a lot more sail.
All I know is that the Mac25 is a lot more stable than my old Hobie Cat.
Frank
PS: Thanks for a great day of sailing, Timo.

 

[Don Guillette]

Heeling

Tonto: I’m not that familiar with the sail trim controls on your Mac25 so I’ll just discuss the controls used to correct the situation and get the boat on its feet when your boat is heeling excessively. When the boat heels over, the first sail trim control you want to use is the TRAVELER. You should ease it down. What you are doing with that action is changing the ANGLE OF ATTACK. When you crank up on the traveler (pulling it closer to the center line of the boat) you are POWERING UP the boat. When you ease it down you are reducing power. If you don’t have a traveler the next control you should use is the mainsheet. Both the traveler and the mainsheet control angle of attack. Unfortunately, the mainsheet controls other elements of sail trim also so when you mess with it you have to bear that in mind.

Let’s assume the above didn’t actions didn’t control the heeling situation to the extent you desired. The next thing you want to do is induce TWIST in your mainsail and jib. What you are doing is spilling power out of the top of the both sails thus de-powering them.

At this point in time the necessity of reefing MUST be in the back of your mind and you have to start preparing for it but before you reef you want to try one more thing and that is to get both the main and jib as flat as possible. A flat sail does not have a lot of power. Additionally, flattening the sails will make the reefing process a lot easier. Try it both ways to see what I’m talking about. In other words, belly out the sail and see how easy IT IS NOT to reef.

Assume none of the above worked and now you have to reef the mainsail and roll up the jib. I would not worry about sail ties on your boat because the mainsail is not that big. The only function of sail ties is to TIDY up the sail. I see a lot of guys really tighten the ties, which is not necessary . The reef tie cringles are not designed to take load and the result could be that your sail will rip upwards from the cringles.

Try this at the dock. Raise the mainsail and then drop it about 1/3. Mark the mast and the halyard with a piece of tape. This makes reefing very easy as you just drop the halyard to the mark and cleat it off. Next, get two short pieces of line. Fasten one piece to the lowest slug on the mast and tie it off to the boom. Take the other piece and wrap that around the aft loose portion of the sail and secure it to the boom. Now the sail is not going anywhere.

Now how do we deal with the excess sail that the sail ties would tidy up? If it was me I would not mess with it. I’d just let it hang there. There is not a lot of sail cloth on your boat to deal with and your not trying to make a fashion statement – all you want to do is gain control of the boat and get back to the dock.

Any questions?

 

[Tonto's Revenge]

Don...

From what you said, I assume I was doing just about the right things. There is no traveler on my boat, just the main sheet. When we were heeling too far for comfort, I turned away from the wind and the boat righted itself. The next time around, I let the boom swing out with the wind and the heeling wasn't as pronounced and resulted in a much happier crew. A couple of questions, though...
How do I induce twist into the sails? My sail controls consist of the main and jib halyards, the main sheet and port and starboard jib sheets.
I was actually thinking about tying the main to the boom to reef. What is the purpose of the line that runs from the cleat at the base of the mast to the end of the boom? Do I tie the line holding the sail to the boom to it?
I'm sure I'll think of more questions, but much thanks in the meantime!

 

[Dick Westwood]

single line reefing

My Cal 20 came with the "roll the boom to reef" system that I believe you have too. I found it quite useless – way too clumsy and difficult to use. I disabled it. (Then I put in a rigid vang, which would have prevented me from using it anyway.)

The alternative is to lower some sail, then "tie the main to the boom". There are different ways to do this. The key principles are: you need to tie the front ("new tack") and back ("new clew") of the sail to the boom: the middle section doesn't matter so much. AND you need to have some "outhaul equivalent" to put tension in the "new foot".

In my case, I used a Harken single line reefing system. (See link.) It's a kit, and it cost me $100 or thereabouts on sale. Once rigged, you just ease the main halyard (I've marked mine to show how far to ease it), then pull in the single line and cleat it off; then you're ready to go again. The one line does the reefing and the outhauling. (As Don says, you can also tidy up the sail along the boom by putting loops around, tieing them with a reef knot, but it's more aesthetic than functional.)

When I'm going to reef, I heave to first. It's easier that way. Especially since I sail single-handed most of the time.

 

[Don Guillette]

Missed Your Question.

Tonto's Revenge: Sorry I missed your question so I'll get to it now. The twist controls for the mainsail are the boom vanf and the mainsheet. Since you only have a mainsheet your stuck with that. The twist control for the jib is the fairlead. Hopefully you have a fairlead track. If you don't your stuck.

The mainsail and jib halyards are of no use to you in the twist situation. All they control is DRAFT POSITION.

As far as the line that runs froma "cleat at the mast to the end of the boom" I'm not sure what that is if the end your referring to is the aft end of the boom. If it is the forward end of the boom I assume it is to prevent the boom from moving up the mast.t

 

[Phil V25]

US Sailing School

this is a great site. I added a link to the reefing section.

You should also learn to "heave to" as a way to "calm" the crew down while you contemplate your next step. Also good for have lunch, taking a potty break and for reefing the sail. Good luck.