After yesterdays escapade, where I got to see what it would look like if the inside of my cabin went through a tumble drier, today I decided to try to hook up some kind of reefing system.
I ended up doing it like this
My artistic skills are improving BY THE DAY!
Here are some pics of the various things,
Here is the reef line / outhaul that ties onto the cringle (that’s the reinforced hole in the sale)
Here is the line coming out of the other side of the boom. Note the mast hook on the other cringle, nearest the mast.
Here is the block at the boom I installed, and it going back to the cabin.
Now, when you want to reef, you release the halyard, go up to the mast, and hook the reef hook (big metal hook on the boom/mast join) through the cringle nearest the mast. Then you go back to the cockpit and yank on the reef line to tension the sail out along the boom.
Then, you go and tie all the reef lines at the bottom of the sail together, to stop the sail flapping around
Like so
Presto! A reefed main
To be honest I THINK I could manage to set up jiffy reefing (theoretically less effort to reef) but this is totally fine for now.
Other things I did was take a couple of swivels off the blocks at the bottom of the boom since they kept breaking, and just put on straight shackles.
I also reran the genoa sheets – hopefully they won’t catch on the life lines anymore!
Lastly, I had a boom nap.
+1 for MS Paint diagram. You could be making up all this sailing terminology for all I know though.
Only around 20 percent of it!
Hi Matt,not sure if you have it but in addition to the outhaul on the reefed sail you also need a downward line to hold the cringle to the boom stopping it lifting.In the case of standard in-boom reefing where you have two additional outhaul lines for reefs these are taken through the cringle and then tethered to s/s loops on the boom,each vertically below the position of the tensioned cringle ( plus an inch or so).You might need a separate line through the cringle to do this.
Hey! I found in practice that single line holds the cringle pretty close to the boom – but I do get some lifting. I will look into that extra hardware you mentioned, as it would be good to get as good a reefed sail shape as possible. Thanks for the tip!