What are the options when considering a boat that tacks its own sails from one pointofsail to another. To some extent, mainsail reefing has turned full circle. I also wanted something i could reef without moving much once on deck as you usually reef in poor weather and i am also usually sailing single handed. This question developed out of a thread in the smaller boats forum trailerable hunters only, and i thought it was interesting enough to ask a wider audience. First there were simple reef points short rope pennants that could be used to gather up parts of a sail to reduce its area. Several slides are attached to the line which extends from the tack to the luff reef grommet. On this boat, the reefing line runs through the cringle at the sails luff rather than using a horn. I have bought many books and researched weather and sea conditions best i can, but personal experience of others would be the best source. What is the difference between in mast and slab reefing. The kind of reefing system depends on the boat and the mainsail. If you have roller furling jib, take in some jib and come close hauled with the traveler set to leeward. I am aware that there might be a performance penalty but would accept that for the ease of sail handling.
You can always get into a situation where your partner or team on board fails. Single line reefing essentially means that the outboard and inboard reef cringles use one line. On any well set up boat of around 40ft one person should be able to tuck each reef into the mainsail within 90 seconds. Reefing and tacking singlehanded with pauly dangerous and.
If conditions dictate further reduction in sail area, reefing the mainsail will reduce the power in the sails and balance the rudder better when sailing with a reefed foresail. Traditional or inmast or boom furler sailboat owners forums. Single line mainsail reefing system 430 for boats 22 27 ft 6 8 m with mainsails under 150 ft2 14 m2 installation manual intended for specialized personnel or expert users 4171 12 reef mainsail with one line easy to install reef from cockpit in. Weve used a slab reefing main as found on many boats, but inmast furling and single line reefing mains will obviously make life easier, although these systems do have their drawbacks. Reefing a sail is simply the name we use for the process of reducing sail area. View 129 photos, 1 video, features and a detailed description. A tutorial with hints tips and techniques to make it nice and easy duration. I single sail my h36 by my self all the time and while cruising from anchorage we would get early start and my wife would be down below making breakfast and i would get the sails out with my inmast main sail and my rollerfurling jib and all while she is below and me never leaving the cockpit and hand me up my coffee and than my eggs. It was usual for yachts even relatively small ones to. On an unfamiliar river, at night, using our roller reefing mainsail for the very first time.
The system described allows for progressive mainsail reefing, either by a freely chosen amount or in two distinct stages depending on the system used. My friend was adamant that his sail was just blown out and he needed a new mainsail. There isnt much to it but i do show you a couple of tips that make all the difference. Single line reefing is the devils work, the bits that tangle are not accessible.
Reefing the mainsail and tacking three times singlehanded aboard sobrius, my 1972 dufour arpege. Hello, i am preparing to get a sailboat and single hand cruise the caribbean in about 4 months. Inmast mainsail furlers have persisted in spite of an increased mast weight package and a mechanism buried inside the mast profile. This book is only available as a free download from the singlehanded sailing society at. Eric has everything at the mast on sea child, so he can do this single handed. To make your reefing truly single handed you must choose from one of two additional options.
Shorthanded sailors should reef their sails early and often, as the old rule advises. Newer boats are being designed a bit more mast forward, with. Singleline reefing, in which a single line runs to both the tack and the clew, simplifies the reefing process and is the most popular method of slab reefing today. An important fea ture of a roller furling headsails is having a foam or rope luff, that is, a tapered piece of material sewn into the luff that takes up the camber of sail when it rolls around the headstay, ensuring that the sail still has a clean flying shape when its rolled down. This video covers the basics of what is involved in reefing a mainsail, as well as tips on how to safely and easily carry out the operas while sailing in heavy weather. A mainsail furling systems like this, enables much easier handling of the mainsail, without even leaving the cockpit. A line at the leech is secured to an eye strap on the port side of the boom. As i sail all year round i played around all last year with various methods of reefing as my problem is i have to go on deck coachroof for any adjustments to the mainsail. Without a topping lift of some sort you cant take the load off the mainsail while raising, lowering or reefing it making these evolutions more difficult and putting a strain on the mainsail that will stretch and distort it, possibly tear it. I have single handed sailed my last boat, a sea wolf 40, but in the protected waters of puget sound and salish sea. Single line reefing properly set up from the cockpit can work very well. I convinced him that the problem wasnt the sail but the single line reefing system. Being in my early sixties, and with an eye to the future when i might not be as ablebodied, i was considering replacing the present, original, mast with in mast reefing.
Single or double line systems can be set up to allow you to reef without leaving the cockpit. An inboom reefing system which is ideal for fast and efficient reefing when sailing single handed or short crewed. If singlehanded, it can be worth putting a smaller jib. Could not get the bag out of the sail even with the full battens. So you should ease both the traveller and sheet before tacking. Not coincidentally, nikkis crew had trained in heavy weather and could reef the mainsail in 40 seconds or less. Information on trimming the mainsail, get great boat handling skills information from the rya, using main sheet, kicker and traveller to the best effect, creating twist in the mainsail. If we are racing, we pull the pin on the mast slugs and drop them out and. Changing headsails, etc seems to always involve a lot of back and forth from the headstay to the mast. Reefing single handed and other sailing discussion in the seabreeze general forums, page 1. Inboom furling systems for reefing advanced rigging. The position of the aft turning block on the boom is a little back from the cringle when the sail is reefed.
One to ease the halyard, the other to do everything else. Most reefing systems are designed for full crews, but there are things you can do to make reefing the main single handed much easier. Single line reefing works best with slides installed on the luff. Singlehanded or onehanded sailing means to sail a sailboat or a sailing yacht all by yourself. The single handed community is fairly small and a few names are well known. I have a westerly longbow 31 ft which i sail single handed. This helps keep the sail taut for better trimming when reefed.
By the way, there are great books for single handed sailing, which also have many tips for single handed sailing, read them and try out some things beforehand. A singlehanded reefing system for a sailboat including a sail, halyard, reefing line and winch mechanism. Its drawbacks include the increased friction induced in the system through the inclusion of yet more turning blocks. Roller, slab, jiffy and single line reefing are among the choices. I pull the boom topping lift up to the reef cringle, release the mainsail till the front drops to near the horns, then pull in the reef line and release the topping lift. A doubleline system is a little bit simpler design but it can take more time to use. In order for any mainsail reefing system to work correctly with a mast that has a slug opening for bending on the mainsail, there should be a way to. Thats the kicker to being able to do almost any maneuver with these boats single handed. How to step a mast single handed with or without using the boom as a gin pole. Using a singleline reefing system sail fanatics youtube. A reefed sail using a slab reefing system is illustrated in the photo shown. Then there were rotating booms, around which a sail could be wound to achieve the same effect roller reefing, in fact. In this article ill outline some ideas to make your own catamaran sail better.
On wildling we have the leech reef lines at the mast, but the main halyard is led back to the electric winch at the helm, so its easiest to reef with two people. First thing i try to keep in mind is that i dont care how long it takes. Reefing systems for trailerable sailboats typically come in two types. The luff cringle will pull tight while the leech cringle is just starting to pull down. Then it is run up through a jiffy grommet on the leech above the clew and down to a bullet block on the other side of the boom. Opponents of single line reefing will point out that a single line system cant pull both reef points of the sail evenly at the same time and theyre right. How do you step the mast on your trailerable sailboat, with a gin pole.
Lowering sails single handed sailing forums, page 1. Sailrites jiffy reef system focuses stress on the strongest parts of the sailthe leech and the luff. Know your limits and consider any sail with inexperienced sailors a singlehanded operation. Be adept at reefing, heaving to, and depowering the main in a flash. Ive been sailing on catalina 22s and a choy lee 27 now for about a year, usually with a couple people, but id like to get into single handed sailing. To make your reefing truly single handed ask your local sail loft or send your sail to us for installation of jack line on the luff of your main. Single line reefing since more and more boats these days are leading the halyards aft, single line reefing has become a very popular method for reefing your mainsail. The best solution for a short or singlehanded sailor is a rollerfurling headsail, which can be deployed or put away at a moments notice. Reefing it makes sense to be able to reduce sail easily if youre sailing short handed, yet few boats are configured to do so. Only change i have made for short handed slab reefing is adding downhaul lines to the luff, just 1. Anything single handed in any kind of weather takes exponentially longer that it does on a nice day with help. The reefing line is secured to the leach of a flexible sail approximately half the distance between the head and foot and passes alternately through rows of grommets spaced generally horizontally on the sail and fairleads secured on the boom and a turning block on the mast to a winch. Not that many years ago, the sailing sloop or ketch would have reduced sail by either reefing the mainsail or changing the size of the headsail.
Just a short fim this week showing you all how we reef sea horse when sailing single handed. He finally got rid of the single line reefing system and this past june i helped him again bring his boat north. We finally get around to finishing our single line reefing project, and show you if it works or notwe also manage to get out sailing. As you reef, the grommet can be snugged right down to the boom without anyone going on deck to remove slides from.
There are a number of effective reefing arrangements, but all have two common elements. Individual ties work fine to snug the sail to the boom, but the process is laborious and less practical for the singlehanded sailor. Shortening sail single handed practical boat owner. Usually the problem is because if a big roached mainsail is sheeted too tightly then it will weathercock and the boat stay head to wind.
Single handed reefing a mainsail sailing wisdom youtube. Sailing single handed wouldnt want to have to add the hike back to the cockpit to raise or lower a sail. Filmed on the st johns river on christmas morning 2017. As you reef, the grommet can be snugged right down to the boom without anyone going on. An overview of how the single line mainsail reefing system is setup and operates on a pearson 312. Best mainsail if ease of use single handed were your sole criterion would be junk rig. Its the best change ive made to the boat and would never go back to at the mast reefing. A singleline system has fewer lines to attend to, which can make it faster to use but its a little more complicated than a doubleline system.
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