Using on mainsail, reefing, cant head into the wind

Joe11688 · Oct 12, 2008

Winds of 15 to 17 knots really don't require a reefed Main unless you run a Jib or reefed Jennie with it. A friend of mine always sails his 34' Columbia with a reefed Main, but he always has his roller furling Gennie in use with it. You need to get some sail ties and install them on your Main. Some sailboats don't sail well with just a Mainsail. Fortunately, my O'Day 222 sails great with just the Main, but if I reef it for 10 to 15 knot winds, she just doesn't handle too well.
Joe

Lucky Bum · Oct 12, 2008

Joe,

How about using just the genoa. Wondered if that is harder on the rigging? Seems on the 222 O's mine seems to sail better than just the main. Yesterday my son and I went out when the wind was on the rise so we just put up the main. We were doing 5 & 6 knots which was fine but I see son many other boats just flying their genoa.. What's your take.?

Joe11688 · Oct 12, 2008

Chuck,
My boat doesn't handle for beans with just the Jennie. I tried sailing up to a dock one day with just the Gennie and it was almost a total disaster. Out in open water with plenty of room, I can probably get away with it especially on a run, but if there's any kind of fancy maneuvering involved, I'd much rather rely on my Mainsail, because it's never let me down yet.
Joe

Joe11688 · Oct 12, 2008

Re: when to reef

I think that you should go with your own gut feeling right now as to knowing what you're comfortable with, and as you become more and more familiar with your boat and how it sails in different wind strengths, you'll have a good handle on what you need to do to get the most out of her with good maneuverability. A few weeks ago I took a friend with me for a sail out on the river, and the winds were horrible that day. I had the sail reefed, but at times the wind would die down and my boat would get caught in a foul current and go off course and lose "way on." Then the wind would pick up quick and like to knock my boat down. My friend thought this was great and said that he loved these sailing conditions. I told him, " you're kidding me, right?" "This isn't sailing, it's pure punishment!" It got to be close to noon time so I pulled into a protected cove on the river and anchored for a while and grilled some hot dogs for the both of us. If I'd have known that the sailing conditions were going to be like that, I'd have gone sailing on another day. All I can tell you is; if the wind is strong, reef the sail and set your boom vang and above all, try to leave yourself enough room on the waterway just in case you can't get her to come about the first time, and you need to fall off and give it another try. If worse comes to worse and you can't tack or fall completely off and into a run to avoid hitting something, get your engine started and use it to get the boat to come about. Then you may want to find a quiet little cove and hunker down for an hour or two like we did.
Joe

Boat n Bus · Oct 15, 2008

kdnichols said:
Today I singlehanded in 12-17 knots and decided to not use the jib and reef the main on my Oday 23.

This was my first reefing experience...which by the way didn't look right. I used a line and tied it through the three reefing holes of my mainsail. At the bottom, the sail was very loose.

Anyway, I noticed that as I close hauled into the 15 knot wind (w/o a jib), that the boat wanted fall off the wind, even when I pushed the tiller all the way to port. For example, I'm on a port tack and can't steer starboard into the wind.

What is my problem?

Kevin

When to reef is easy, sooner than later!

Sounds like you need more help with the 'how' of reefing. What didn't look right about your reef? There are the reef lines in the main belly of sail that serve to keep it clean after the reef points, luff and leech, are set. On my main sail you can see that there are three white reefing lines in the belly of the sail. If you look at the mast, you can see a 1/4" red line. That is my 'jiffy reef' line. That is the one that actually does the reefing. The bitter end is in the cockpit, it runs through a block at the base of the mast, up to the reef tack, back down to a block on the other side of the boom, back to the aft end of the boom, thru another block then up, thru the leech reef eye and then ties back down to the boom. Of course, this is all very simple in my head and I appologize if it is dizzying. The main idea though is that you haul in on the red reef line and it pulls down both the front and back of the sail. Then you tie the reef lines to keep the foot clean. Clear as murky water in your cruising grounds? -BnB

stevec22206 · Oct 15, 2008

Kevin,
I've sailed our 23' both ways and have found that I have better results with the jib/genny rather than just the mainsail. I've rigged the boat for singlehanding and can safely sail under reefed main and the 110 when the wind pipes up now and don't care for the unbalanced feel with just one sail. When I have sailed with the just the jib/genny the 150 offers better performance. Don't have a furler so I've rigged a jib downhaul and can safely douse it from the cockpit. When the wind speed is questionable I reef prior to setting off. Easy enough to shake it out if the situation changes. I have a two line reefing system for the main and it is fairly simple. The real question is: what is the determining factor for setting the reef? For me it is my experience with the boat and the current conditions. I wouldn't take it out the first year when the wind got up but now have a better feel for it and look forward to it now.

Steve

Boat n Bus · Oct 15, 2008

Trimming while singlehanding

Hey Kevin, IMHO, if you are trimming the jib nice and tight for both close hauled and beam reaching I would say that is not OK. Sail trim is fairly dynamic and singlehanding requires a slight bit of multitasking

Using on mainsail, reefing, cant head into the wind

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