Reefing sail ties

[DISTELTK]

I have a BRS 15 and have added sail track.

I would like to add reefing to the sails.

I can add the gromets for the sprit and mast attachments with no problem.

Question what is the best method to include mid sail ties?

What have others done to add these ties.

I am 70 and out of shape and overweight so I don't sail in much over 15 MPH wind.

I am going to a large inland lake in late August and would like to have reefing available.

Thanx tom d BRS 15 127

[ecgossett]

I wanted to restart this topic.. The forcast for this weekend is gusts of wind up to 20kts on Saturaday when I plan to be out sailing to Cumberland Island. That means it time I learned how to use my reefpoints.

I saw an article on reefing lines leading to cockpit but not sure that is cheapest option to do. What do you guys do for reefing and how is everything tied down? Is the second grommet above the tack on the sail for reefing?

Oh and to clarify my reefpoints are just grommets right now. We are waiting for a drawing from Graham to arrive showing where to install the second row.

[MisterMoon]

I don't have jiffy reefing set up on mine. I just dont see a good way to do it compared to a boat with a conventional boom at the foot of the sail.

The picture below shows my boat with a single reef. Yeah, I know it looks messy. The mizzen is also too low on the mast.

My reefing sequence goes as follows: With the boat head to wind, ease the snotter. Move the downhaul up to the reefed tack. Then pull the dowel out of the clew attachment and move it up to the reefed clew. Lower the halyard to the marked reef position and cleat off. Then haul on the downhaul until it looks right and then snug up the snotter again. Finally roll the up the bunt on the bottom of the sail and tie off the nettles.

The trickiest part IMO is moving the clew attachment point. It's easy for the clew to get away from you in strong winds which is why I prefer to reef earlier than later.

[Howard]

As Moon's post shows........there are reefing point grommets above both the tack and clue. To reef, the sail is lowered (think window shade) and the sprit is moved to the reef point on the clew (difficult to do with a flogging sail and pitching boat) and tack is secured to the higher reefing grommet. Then it's tensioned up. A lot of things have happened in the process. First, because the distance between the reefed clew and tack is shorter, and because the sprit is the same length, the sprit moves forward, so there has to be at least some extra length in the line used to tension the sprit, which also has to be slackened a bit before you start the process to allow for this. Second, there is the fall of the sail to contend with. With sprits, sails generally do not have any attachment points along the foot as they would with a boom. Best solution is probably to roll up the fall "window shade fashion" and to do that is going to require some additional reefing tie points to hold this bundle of joy in place. Generally, this means additional grommets through the body of the sail with nettle lines already tied in and generally left hanging (see Moon's picture). Process would be the same, one reef point or two. With two reefs, sprit moves forward even more. You can see the nettles for his second reef point hanging at the ready. Simply putting grommets there is not enough. They need the reinforcement patches too.

Jiffy reefing, which is tough to do with sprits, avoids the need to swap the dancing / flailing clews on the end of the sprit......you just pull a line. But that line is also always present and in the way much of the time. Something you really don't want to ever see, until you need it and then can't live without it. If a boat was going to be left rigged for extended periods of time, you might go to the trouble of devising a way to run your jiffy reefing lines up the bottom of the sprit to the mast and cleat them off there. Then to reef, all you likely would have to do is take up a position at the base of the mast and start tugging on the various strings. But you still have the fall of the sail to contend with either way.

One of the advantages of wishbone sprits is the ability to tie in lines that resemble lazy jacks below the sprits. The fall of the reefed sail then just accumulates there without the need to bundle it all up......unless you can't stand the look of an untidy glob of bunched up sail along the foot.

[Peter HK]

I have a somewhat more sophisticated reefing system on my CS17 with reefing lines always attached.

I made a short video (on a calm day) to show how you can reef by just pulling on a few lines.

Cheers

Peter HK

[ecgossett]

I attached a photo with my new reefing system.. The orange and red lines I'm not sure about but trying to figure out a way to easily roll sail up with out having to tie things.

Is it easier to use regular cleats where all the lines run to or use the same camcleats that everything else uses?

The mizzen I'm not even sure where I want to end reef lines because the mast is starting to get crowded awfully fast.

For the main/mizzen halward I figured I would use the same color thread I used on the head of the main (so I don't accidentally put up wrong sail), and stictch it into line at location to stop at camcleat when lowering sail for reefing.