Again, on her transatlantic, Jennifer struggled with the reefing system, having to go to the
mast to manage both the luff and leach lines. After some consultation, she arrived at the following solution, where blocks at the base of the
mast are used to turn the reef lines back to the helm station ... we now have blocks on the three luff reef points, as well as the factory-installed blocks on the leach line reef points, and all the lines come back to the
cockpit and to two three-line
clutch cleats.
Once reefed safely, as conditions
permit, we do go forward to the mast and engage the factory-installed jam cleat at the mast-end of the boom, and also secure the luff reef point using a sail tie. We then ease the tension on the helm station
clutch cleat and thus avoid any chafing that might otherwise occur if the reef lines were permitted to remain on the mast-based turn blocks for an extended period.
If you do this, don't forget to fill the foam
core interior of the
salon roof with
epoxy before installing the clutch
cleats. By careful positioning, you can line this up so that the clutch cleat lies just inboard of the existing
single clutch used for the main
halyard. See the interior picture, situated just forward of the
stove.