When you decide you are going to put in a reef, and if you are able to head the boat into the wind, then there is no need for a winch to pull in the reef. Without wind in the sail it has little weight.
I use a single line system very similar to those described, and I use it from the cockpit. The main halyard is secured by a rope clutch at the aft of the cabin top. I did add a cam cleat a few inches behind the main halyard winch, and I put a bit of whipping on the main halyard at each location where the halyard would be locked in the cam cleat when the reef was pulled in. In this case the halyard has three marks, one for each reef.
The routine is;
1) Pull enough slack out of the sheet/halyard bag to put the relevant mark in the cam cleat. There will be slack between the winch and the cleat. This hangs loose in the companionway.
2) Lift the lever on the rope clutch that locks the reef line, and make a mental note as to which line you will be reaching for.
2) Set up the topping lift so that it takes the weight off the leech, 18" or so. This helps reduce the friction through the leech cringle.
3)Come about and blow the jib sheet so that the boat, when she crosses the eye of the wind, will hang for a second before she falls off with any force. This is just to give you a bit more time.
4)With the boat in the eye, blow the main halyard and haul on the reefing line. When the reefing line has gathered the clew ring to the boom - lock it down. The sail, without any pressure from the wind, will drop until it is caught by the cam cleat.
5) Lock the main halyard and bring in the new jib sheet.
The boat is now reefed and you can make adjustments with some leisure. The slack in the other reef lines will need to be gathered in. Ease the topping lift. It will probably be necessary to adjust the halyard.
I like the system but it does have downsides. The extra line on deck sometimes jams in the blocks, and it would be a good idea to check they are clear before reefing. I have not found a good way to hang the blocks from the luff cringles. I use "S" hooks and they chafe the sail. I will need to sew in leather patches I think. The weight of the lines cause the leech to curl in light air. I removed the third line to alleviate that a bit (as a harbor sailor I doubt I will ever need the third reef)
A winch may be necessary if it were not possible to face the wind, because of seas perhaps, but I can't speak to that as I haven't tried it, and I don't think it would work on the first reef because top batten would catch in the crosstree. Just coming to dock downwind the batten has to be below them. The second reef perhaps, and then it may be possible to bring the reef line across the cabin to the jib winch.
Craig Tern 1519
