taming track sails

[JeffM]

Paul, I hope your trip went well!  I hope to get in the water a few times this year for "sea trials," then more ambitious sailing next year. 

 

Now I'm trying to decide how to rig the boat for reefing.  I want to be able to make the first reef from the cockpit.  Can anyone who does this tell me how your reefing is rigged, and the order of operations when you reef?

[Don Silsbe]

Check out this video, starting around the 16 minute mark.

 

[JeffM]

Thanks, Don.  It seems as though the reef downhaul is rigged through the appropriate cringle with the same kind of hook as the regular downhaul.  (So they're the same thing.)  That was one of my questions.  The clew reefing seems way complicated, so I'll likely simply handle that directly on the sprit.

[Don Silsbe]

That might be difficult to execute in a blow.  With the setup shown, you just pull a few lines, and bingo-bango, you’re reefed.

[Steve W]

Hi jeff, I just noticed this thread. It took me a minute to realize you added a cabin. That makes things a bit trickier. I really like the B & B setup in the video, but I'm constantly dialed in to figure out how to launch Skeena, my 20.3 faster and running all that line seems complicated. 

 

I have my mizzen like Graham's. My main has two downhauls both with enough line to extend each hook to the first reef point. If I need to reef, I start by sheeting the mizzen in tight. If I'm solo, I pull up the C-board and rudder. The boat will just drift backward, under nice control as the mizzen keeps it head to wind. If I'm not in a place where backing up is desirable, I'll drop my outboard down, start it and put it in gear a bit faster than idle, without the rudder or c-board down. She'll stay head to wind and just sit still.  This trick works great if you need time to sort stuff out, but my reefing is fast so I rarely do this. If I have crew, they steer me head to wind.

 

Next, I lower the halyard to a spot I have marked with a sharpie, then pull on my second downhaul that was hooked during rigging. My aft reef is as designed with the cleat on the aft end of the main sprit and I reach up and pull it tight. If I'm ambitious I'll tie a few aft sail ties so things look a bit neater. A little snotter and I'm sailing again. This takes a minute at most unless I add the motor, than it's two. 

 

Taking the reef out is the reverse and is simple. It get's trickier if the wind speed is predicted to increase. If that is the case I go forward below decks and pop my head out of the hatch and move the original looses downhaul to the third grommet.  Looking at your cabin and the distance the cabin hatch is from the base of the mast makes this look tricky. It might be wise to think of a third downhaul. Adding the second reef is a continuation of the steps above. 

 

If I didn't make myself clear, LMK. I'm heading to the MASCF and I can take pictures/ video. 

 

I will mention that a few of my sailing buddies and I have gone to boats with cabins. We refer to ourselves in our group as "Cabin Class" Welcome to cabin class. 

 

Take Care,

Steve

[JeffM]

Don, do you have the main sprit clew reefing directly on the sprit, or the fancier version of Carlita?

 

Thanks, Steve.  Very detailed reply!  I'm used to anticipating the need to reef, since in the past I moved the mast to accomplish this; can only be done at anchor or even on the trailer.  Also, I have no engine.  I've now ordered hardware to do most reefing from the cockpit with clew reefing on the sprits.  We'll see how it goes.  If I'm very lucky, I'll be doing sea trials this season.

[JeffM]

Figured I'd report after a couple shakedowns, but I think a couple hours on the water a month ago in light/moderate air will have to do for this year.  First surprise was how hard sails went up with the wind less than 45° off the nose.   Assumed raising sails sails at the dock would be much easier.  Main snotter was also very hard to tension -- even with 3 part purchase (upgraded from 2 part on my sleeve luff sails), but my run needs a little improvement.  Mizzen sprit, which is longer than plan at 10 feet, still seemed marginal for tensioning mizzen adequately.  (Vertical crease in the sail emphasized by the battens never completely went away.). Reefing will take some fiddling, but I'll get the hang of it.  Now the good news: this rig is noticeably more weatherly than the old.  Not enough experience yet to talk tacking angles, but going to weather felt more*expansive* than ever before.  When I get things better tuned...

[Don Silsbe]

@JeffM— I plan to cleat my reefing of the leeches to the sprits.  What Graham did is clever, and worth considering for a cabin.  But most of us, even cabin versions, cleat to the sprit.

 

I agree that raising sails off-wind is difficult.  I don’t do that.  I always raise them headed into the wind.  This is how I do it, if I’m away from the dock:

1. Point the bow directly into the wind, and quickly raise the mizzen.  
2. Snug up the mizzen’s snotter & sheets, and cleat them off.  The boat will naturally weathervane, if you keep your hands off the tiller.  (We call this heaving-to.)  Kicking the rudder helps, too.  I like the centerboard down for this.  I heave-to all the time, when sailing soli.  I do this when I need something that’s out of reach, want to take a lunch break, or need to use a bucket for biological matters.

3. Now, with the boat pointing into the wind, you can easily raise and adjust the mainsail.  Just be sure the mainsheet is uncleated, and free to let the sail luff.

4. To get under way, bear off the wind by reaching up and backwinding the main.  Be sure to lower your rudder first.

 

Off you go!

[JeffM]

Don, I have no motor, so must raise sails at the dock.  At anchor it would certainly be easier.

 

When I tried to reef the main, I moved the sprit to the first reef loop, without considering the mess the lower part of the sail would make until tied off.  (My main sprit simply pokes into the loop at the clew.). I wonder if I could leave the lowest loop on the sprit and simply put the reef loop over it?  Then the sail would be neater-- as the mizzen was when reefed with reefing line and downhaul as in the cs20.3 plan.

 

Another issue I'm trying to figure out is how to keep my rolled sails from rolling overboard as I raise them.  Maybe a line tied to the clew and run aft?  And one more: should my sails be rolled and tied loosely so as to avoid unnecessary wrinkles?  I'm trying to store them neatly and not consume too much space, but have them ready to go without a lot of futzing with battens.  I'm chewing my fingernails over the wrinkles I see in my bundled -- and very expensive -- sails.

[Reacher]

Hi Jeff,

I use the loops to hold the clew on my CS20. If if I'm setting up to be reefed before I go out I will just put the reef loop (or loops if it's double reefed) over the top of the clew loop. If you want to unreef when you are on the water it is fairly easy to pull off a loop.

 

However, if I'm on the water and the wind comes up it isn't so easy to grab the clew and pull the reef loop over the end of the sprit. Grabbing the clew loop and pulling it in tends to fill the sail and make it hard to hold. In this case I let the sail down maybe halfway until the end of the sprit is in the cockpit and the reef loop is easily controlled.  It just takes time. Then it is also easier to tie up the loose sail at the foot.

 

For quicker reefing underway I have reef lines on the sprit so I can pull the new clew into position. I do this if I have a crew. 

 

As far as raising the sails I use two long sail ties to keep the sail in a loose bundle until the hoist. As long as the boat is upwind I haven't had a problem with the sail going overboard on the hoist. But, when dropping the sails, if the clew end of the sprit comes down on the side deck then there is a chance for the sail to slide overboard.

 

I use a dry lubricant such as McLube on my sail tracks to make everything slide better. When dropping the main it helps to hold up the clew end of the sprit.

[Don Silsbe]

Lube is good.  Just be sure to not use petroleum-based lubricants on any plastic.  It attacks the molecular structure, and will cause it to fail.   By the way, Armor All is petroleum-based.  My friends in the Chrysler Materials Lab can't stand the stuff, and they have the data to prove it.