Reefing without a Backstay?

[Dick of Sylvan]

I have a C14.2 which sails real nice in winds up to about 20mph. But the wind sometimes likes to go faster, so I plan to add reefing and wonder if anyone can tell me how to reef when it gets windy, with a boat without a backstay? When you loosen the main halyard, the boom comes down where its bound to be a pain. Any ideas? Dick K.

 

[Bayard Gross]

You need a topping lift

It's not a backstay that you need, but rather a topping lift to support the boom. Then use the mainsheet to keep it amidships.When I reef my C-22, I do not put the pig tail or back stay pennent on the backstay on the end of the boom. I have a boomkicker and center the boom with the main sheet.It should be resonably easy to secure to your 14.2 Capri in that you only need attach a line to the top of the mast, and then in some fashion with whatever adjustment schemes suitable, secure that line to the boom.An alternative would be a boomkicker which is two bendable fiberglass tubes that support the main yet bend when applying the vang.A rigid boom vang I think would be overkill for a Capri 14.2.

 

[tomD]

It can be done

Backstays and topping lifts are usually found on bigger boats. There is a way to reef simply and easily--under a minute when you get on to it--without a topping lift and without a backstay.When you are in position to reef, either in irons or preferably hove-to with the headsail and the tiller tied off:1. release the boomvang2. grab the CLEW reefing line and tighten. This will cant the aft end of the boom up high out of the cockpit. This is why the boomvang must not be in the cleat.3. Lower the mainsail halyard so the reefing tack can be tied off. The boom now returns to its normal horizontal position. Cleat off the halyard temporarily.4. Reach forward and put in the reefing tack at the gooseneck.5. harden the halyard and put in the reefing ties.On boats with large booms and large mainsails, topping lifts are needed to prevent the boom from clobbering someone in the cockpit. People get used to putting the tack reefpoint in first and the clew reefpoint in second. All you need to to is reverse this order and the boom never comes down in the cockpit.Hope this is clear enough to be of use: I do this every time on my C-22, no problems.

 

[Dick of Sylvan]

Many Thanks!

Good ideas Tom and Bayard. I'll try Tom's suggestion first since it sounds easy, then if need to will go Bayaard's way. Dick

 

[tomD]

adding a reefpoint

There is an incredible 16 ft open sailboat called a Wayfarer 16. They put in a reefpoint that reduced its mainsail to 65% of full main. With the headsail left alone, this really helped on windy days. If you do not have a reefpoint in yet and are going to send your mainsail out to do this, unless Capri 14.2's have all ready got this figured out, try for 65% Main with a reef in. The seaworthiness of a Wayfarer is in part its ability to reef and also a second headsail that reduced from 45 ft2 to 32 ft2. So with heavy weather sails on, it ran 90 ft2 total instead of 135 ft2. I think that every daysailer benefits from one reefpoint in its main. It lets you have fun in whitecaps when otherwise you are getting soaked and pounded.

 

[Dick of Sylvan]

65%

Tom: Thanks for the info. on the Wayfarer. My C14.2 manual gives one example of a sail with reef points 4 ft from the foot of its 17.3 ft mainsail; this intuitively looks like leaving about 2/3 of the sail after reefing. Their instructions for reefing say to lower the main then tighten the reefing lines. That's where I think the boom would really be in the way before the clew end was reefed, so I really like your idea of doing that one before lowering the main. Dick K.