With all the E-mails of late, someone mentioned having to shorten sail. To do this on my boat (17' O'day) I can pull the boom away from the mast and wind sail around the boom as the main sail is eased. The Problem that I have yet to figure out is what to do with my main sheet which would normally travel along the rear half of the boom before dropping to a pinch block at midships. Any suggestions. I've never had to address this situation through my many years on the water, but it sure would be good to have the answer, just in case.
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- Jan 22, 2008
- 519
reefing claw or reefing cloth
I am including a picture of a reefing claw. You disconnect your mainsheet, roll your boom as you say, then slide the claw back over the boom and sail, and reattach the mainsheet to it. These are hard to find. An eassier solution is to get a piece of canvas or sailcover cloth, (sunbrella) about 1 foot wide by two feet long. Fold and sew the two bottom corners on one short side, like you were starting to make a paper airplane. Wrap this point around a brass ring and sew it to the cloth again, so that the nose of your paper airplane has a bull ring in it. Wrap this into your sail at mid boom as you furl, and attach your mainsheet to the ring, which should dangle just below your fureled sail. The friction of the roll keeps it from sliding out.
I am including a picture of a reefing claw. You disconnect your mainsheet, roll your boom as you say, then slide the claw back over the boom and sail, and reattach the mainsheet to it. These are hard to find. An eassier solution is to get a piece of canvas or sailcover cloth, (sunbrella) about 1 foot wide by two feet long. Fold and sew the two bottom corners on one short side, like you were starting to make a paper airplane. Wrap this point around a brass ring and sew it to the cloth again, so that the nose of your paper airplane has a bull ring in it. Wrap this into your sail at mid boom as you furl, and attach your mainsheet to the ring, which should dangle just below your fureled sail. The friction of the roll keeps it from sliding out.
Convert to jiffy or slab reefing....
it's a lot easier, faster and safer. Set up correctly, one person can reef the main from the cockpit. You won't have to disconnect the vang and you'll have better outhaul control. Harken makes kits, but they're pretty pricey. All you need are some reef points in the sail, 3 cheek blocks for the boom an mast, a few padeyes and a cleat to guide and secure the control line and whatever hardware you need to route that line back to the cockpit. There are diagrams of the set up in most sailing manuals.
it's a lot easier, faster and safer. Set up correctly, one person can reef the main from the cockpit. You won't have to disconnect the vang and you'll have better outhaul control. Harken makes kits, but they're pretty pricey. All you need are some reef points in the sail, 3 cheek blocks for the boom an mast, a few padeyes and a cleat to guide and secure the control line and whatever hardware you need to route that line back to the cockpit. There are diagrams of the set up in most sailing manuals.
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