trim when reefed

[Roy10289]

Hi Don,
I have your book and it has been a great help,thank you. I would appreciate it if you can clear up something I don't really understand about sail trim while being reefed.
I own a Hunter Legend 37.5 and the main needs to be reefed early as the wind picks up. I have the Dutchman reefing system.
What do I do about outhaul tension with 1 or 2 reefs in the main? How do I control any of this? Also,if I tie the sail to the boom with the reef points,I have less control with draft or haylard tension,so how should this situation be handled corectly?

 

[Joe]

Hi roy...... I'm not Don, but I'll comment anyway. First of all, the purpose of reefing is to de power the sail by reducing its area and making it flatter. The outhaul won't work when you're reefed. You can adjust the halyard, mainsheet and vang, of course, but that would seem counteractive to your reasons for reefing. If you want more power, shake out the reef.

Secondly, I would not tie in the reefing grommets unless I knew I was going to be reefed for a long time. Their only purpose is to clean up the unused portion of the main. If you do insist on using them, don't tie them in too tight. Then, if you're still adamant about easing foot tension you could tie down the clew to the boom and ease the reefing line to let it slide forward a bit. That said, I'd leave the main flat and small and concentrate on headsail shape.

 

[timvg]

We have a 40.5, which is very simliar to your boat and the boat respond well when reefed early. In fact, since we are not racing and our main is so large, we skip the first reef and go to the 2nd reef point when reefing. The outhaul tension is controlled entirely by the aft reefing point. Since we have the dutchman system, we don't use the sail tie grommets. Since we are only using the second reef point, we have it set up with separate reefing lines for the forward reefing point (tack) and the aft reefing point (clew). This enables us to get a reefed sail shape that is as good (sometimes better) than the entire sail without leaving the cockpit.

We had to add a turning block on the mast at a point just slightly lower than the height of the forward reefing point when the boat is fully reefed. This allows us to get a very flat luff, which is desireable in heavy air. Without this forward turning block, you won't get the required sail shape. Before we added this, we would occasionally break the lower sail slugs due to the pulling pressure of the sail.

So when we reef, this is how I do it single handled, all from the cockpit:

1. I put the boat on auto pilot on a close hauled course and let out the main to luff.

2. While I am dropping the main (to a premarked spot on the halyard), I am pulling in on the forward reefing line at the same time. Once I reach the pre-marked spot on the halyard, I keep pulling in on the forward reefing line to it's pre marked spot (or until I like the luff tension).

3. I then pull in the aft reefing line to it's pre-marked spot.

4. I then go back to sailing, usually much faster.

5. If my wife is with me, she pulls in on the aft reefing line, while I am similtaneously lowering the halyard and pulling in on the forward reefing line.

 

[sailingdog]

If you are reefing from the cockpit, one thing that will help a lot is using a two-line reefing system rather than a single-line reefing system. The two-line reefing system gives you far better control of the reef's tack and clew and allow you to really flatten the reef a lot better than a single-line reefing system generally will. Pineapple sails has a good post about this, located here.

 

[Don Guillette]

Here's my simplistic view on reefing. First, since it just myself and my wife 95% of the time (which means it is mostly just me) I always think ahead of the conditions I'm sailing in. Prior to having to reef I've adjusted my sail trim on the main and jib to keep the boat under control. In other words, I've twisted off the top of the main and jib to spill as much power as I can. Assume that isn't working, so next I've flatten the sails as much as I can - a flat sail has no power. The flattening of the sail is merely a quick step I use for 2 reasons. The sails have to be flat to reef and it might solve the problem but if I see the conditions are going to get worse I don't waste time fooling around to see if the flat sail will work. l just reef both sails.



The time to reef is when you FIRST think about it. Don't wait, just do it as you can always shake it out. Additionally, if I think it is going to get real nasty as I encounted once coming back from Catalina Island, since I'm not proud, I just flaked the main and rolled up the jib and motored back to long Beach. Wasn't a bad ride at all. Also, as Joe mentioned, don't cinch down on the reefing cringles as that is an excellant way to rip your mainsail. These cringles are not designed to take any load. Also, a small piece of line tied to the clew and wrapped around the boom is good insurance that the reef won't come undone.

As far as sail trim when reefed - it is the last thing on my mind. In fact, I don't even think about it. I could care less what the mainsail looks like from a sail trim standpoint. All I care about is getting that sucker back to the dock in one piece and neatly secured.

I've mentioned this a number of times and that is a Catalina30 National event in Santa Cruz. winds were in excess of 40 knots. We sailed with NO reef and neither did the 2 boats that were chasing us - one eventually caught and passed us. We pulled it off because we were an experienced crew that had sailed together many time. I would never attempt it with just my wife and myself.

 

[RichH]

Roy -
Here's my technique as a long distance sailor (and former racer).

Sometimes when reefed you need to 'power up' but not heel excessively. To control heel (and skid to leeward) you 'reef'. To control the correct amount of power from the reefed mainsail you can adjust the reef-outhaul tension so that you boat has enough 'oomph' to blast through any oncoming waves. If you trim the reefed outhaul position sooooo tight that you remove all the 'drive' from the mainsail (which by aerodynamics 'bootstraps' to the jib and makes it more efficient) then you may not have enough 'oomph' to drive through the oncoming waves.
Flat sails (tight outhaul) = 'speed setting' / high gear
Sails with moderate to full draft = 'power setting' / low gear
.... overtension the outhaul and you get a 'flat' sail with reduced draft.

.... and sometimes you need to be down in 'low gear' (lots of draft.... even when reefed) to punch through very deep/steep 'chop'.

 

[Stu Jackson]

Wouldn't it just be a lot easier

to center or even up the traveler and loosen the mainsheet? This will give the mainsail mode depth. Once the leech cringle is reefed, I wouldn't recommend loosening it.