First posting: Greetings / Need advise

[Trevor777]

A friend and I recently sailed in 20+ mph winds with a 35 foot 1972 Morgan. The Morgan simply has reef ties and grommets, and not jiffy reefing. We put in the first reef, but had a time tying the most aft reef point, because the wind would not allow us to trim the boom in far enough to reach it. Do you suggest (a) reefing with the boat in irons with the jib centered or dropped or (b) reefing on a close haul? Any other ideas would be appreciated.

Thanks

Trevor

[Vasco]

Head her up. Let the jib flog a bit. Stay on the high side.

[rtbates]

Run a line thru the aft reefing point and lead it along the boom to close to the mast. If you run a single line from one side of the boom back through the reef cringles and back along the other side with cleats on both sides you can always reef from the high side. It could a life. Trying to corral the end of the boom in a good blow/seaway is a very very dangerous business and totally un-necessary.

[Weyalan]

Originally Posted by Trevor777

A friend and I recently sailed in 20+ mph winds with a 35 foot 1972 Morgan. The Morgan simply has reef ties and grommets, and not jiffy reefing. We put in the first reef, but had a time tying the most aft reef point, because the wind would not allow us to trim the boom in far enough to reach it. Do you suggest (a) reefing with the boat in irons with the jib centered or dropped or (b) reefing on a close haul? Any other ideas would be appreciated.

Thanks

Trevor

The reef point(s) at the outer end of the boom should have reef lines permanently installed. The reef line should be tied to the boom, go through the reef eye, back to a turning block on the boom, forward to a block on the boom near the gosse-neck, down to a block on the deck, then back along the cabin top to a jammer. This allows the reef to be pulled in from the cockpit.

Frankly, if you have decent sails, and the ability to flatten them, you probably don't need to reef in 20mph breeze (17 knots). If you can downsize your headsail, you should be able to carry a full main until 30mph... on the other hand, reefing early is good

[Trevor777]

Thanks for the information. We'll make the adjustments suggested.

Trevor

[upsidedown]

I agree with everything everyone has mentioned. You need to figure out a way to reef your boat as quickly and safely as possible. In most circumstances, on a small boat, this would be from the cockpit. I strongly suggest you have a separate down haul and separate out haul. One item I will disagree with is to bring the boat into the wind to reef. I had a most serious knockdown when I first started cruising by doing this.
Let me explain: When you bring the boat close enough into the wind to reef your sails, the boom is nearly amidships. There is the possibility that a wave, a tap of the helm, a bad helmsman, etc could push the bow that few degrees into the eye of the wind and she may tack. If this happens, the jib sail is backwinded, the main comes across which could knock the person reefing overboard. I suggest you look into something like lazy jacks or something that will support the sail on the boom while reefing. The lazy jack can act as a topping lift and support the boom. If you have something like this, the boom can be left out even on a run and reefed. The sails can be lowered by using the down haul. Then the out-haul can be used to take in the foot to give the sail shape and firmness. The stronger the winds, the flatter you want the sail. The problem with most lazy jack is that the headboard gets caught under them when raising the sails. The can be prevented by tying the top of the lazy jacks on an upper or intermediate shoud far enough away from the sail so the head will not catch on it. The other method is to eliminate the sail headboard altogether. This may not be possible on some sails without totally modifying the sail. Another issue is battens. Anyway, if you can find an issue of my book titled "Plot Your Course To Adventure", "How to be a Successful Cruiser", I have a chapter devoted to storm stratagy and reefing is covered extensively.