When to reef and change sails for optimizing performance.

[Mabel Page]

I’ve been a boat owner for about a year. I got to sail the boat in conditions mostly averaging 18-25 kts on the way back from the Bahamas. It was exhilarating sailing. We maxed out at 13kts in our monohull with the help of the Gulf Stream. We always felt in control and never felt like it was too much for the boat. I only have a 135% Genoa, which we furled PRN in addition to reefing the main. The timing of reefing seemed intuitive as winds increased and the boat heeled beyond what seemed effiecient, but we never felt out of control.

13 kts is fast, but are the any other indicators/factors I should use to help determine the timing of reducing sail while still optimizing speed? Maybe I left a couple of kts out there? I’m sure a larger inventory of sails is key. Obviously the furled Genoa is not ideal. I realize I have proposed less than specific questions, but I am hoping to glean any incite you might be willing to share.

[Breaking Waves]

angle of heel and angle of helm are two typical metrics for when to reef.

Where exactly the reefing point is will depend of the design, but for a common modern boat . . . perhaps 15-20 degrees of heel and 4 to 8 degrees helm (eg rudder).

more qualitatively - when the boat starts feeling squirrelly or unhappy.

[billknny]

Like soooo many things, especially things sailing, "It depends."

Using a GPS reported speed over ground is highly deceiving when you are in a current lie the Gulf Stream. It is the speed through the water that matters.

When to reef for me is as much a matter of comfort as anything else. I am not a racer--ever--so I am not so much concerned about when I get to a place as long as I get there safely and comfortably. In my case "optimum" performance has a very different meaning than it would for someone hell-bent to a finish line.

Close hauled I rarely ever drive the boat at hull speed, which for my boat is 8.6 knots. By the time the boat speed has climbed to 7.8 or so, I am reducing sail because it is more fun that way.

When reaching, speeds greater than theoretical hull speed are not unusual. If trying to drive the boat at 9 knots is possible, but leaves us wet and pounding--we slow down.

On a lot of modern boats with flat bottomed hulls, the crew demands reefing long before the boat needs it because they pound so badly to windward. IMHO this is one of those design "features" that should never have been transferred from racing to cruising boats.

If the boat is close hauled, and heeled WAY over, and you are carrying 20 degrees of rudder to hold course, you will almost certainly get there FASTER if you DO reef.

[Bruce K]

When I sailed (now a powerboater) I would reef or change headsails when the boat said "It's time to reduce sail now". The boat will tell you!

[Don C L]

Originally Posted by Bruce K

When I sailed (now a powerboater) I would reef or change headsails when the boat said "It's time to reduce sail now". The boat will tell you!

... or your wife will...
What kind of boat is it? 13 kts if it's through the water is pretty darn good, sounds like a larger boat... For my boat it is when she's at about 20 degrees or when I feel like it.

[Mabel Page]

Originally Posted by Don C L

... or your wife will...
What kind of boat is it? 13 kts if it's through the water is pretty darn good, sounds like a larger boat... For my boat it is when she's at about 20 degrees or when I feel like it.

It’s a performance cruiser type boat. A 2018 Salona 44. I’m not a racer, but just it was pretty darn fun flying through the water like that. Also a slight northerly component of a 20 kts breeze in the GS which made it a little more interesting. I understand most the typically indicators for reefing people suggested here, I’m just fishing for nuggets I haven’t thought of. Trying to learn something which I can always do. Speaking of fishing, caught a Mahi too and that’s right about the wife.

I need some more sails....

Thanks for the responses. Happy Mother’s Day to all the moms.

[gmakhs]

You should make a table with sail plan and performance on angle and power of wind that will help you eventually to find the best set-up.
In general the boat should heel 15-20 deegres on normal wind and more during a gust, the rudder should be between 5 and 15 never more (again with exception of gusts,which then you should ease the main )
Before you reef take advantage of mast bend and mainsail track to flatten your sails this will give you speed and comfort .
A trick that I use is to set a way point ahead (usually destination) and check how much I drift away of it ... Sometimes I had to get more sails up (boat on 25 degrees to be on spot other times and most of them on 15 degrees.)
Do not under canvas the boat, people tend to.believe is more comfortable, for me is not ... You have to find the perfect balance .

Practise practise practise and you will find the perfect compilation sailingn is fun
Speed doesn't really matter for reefing, I have done 15 knots sog and 2 knots sog with the same wind and sailplane, but different waves and current .


She is a big boat and is harder to get a feeling, but you will eventually, on my boat with 12 knots of wind and spinnaker you can almost tell when somebody farts (joke about how sensitive small boats are hehe , if you get the chance race with a smaller 26 to 34 feet boat it will help you to get a better sense of you boat

[daletournier]

You need to learn the feel of your boat, numbers are misleading as sea state etc can vary. Trial and error is the only way to understand when your boat is under to much load. Sometimes faster is better, sometimes slower is better......it depends, no rules set in concrete.

[Cheechako]

Too much heel? Reef or change.
There's an old saying "when you are asking yourself if you should think about reefing... it's time!"
But it sounds like you are more thinking about more speed. Sail fairly flat with as much sail up as possible I would say.

[s/v Jedi]

Heel directly results in more rudder angle to keep a straight course, so you only need to check one of those to make a reefing decision. Heel is the traditional measure for this.

Speed through water (STW) is a required piece of data. In order to use it, you also need to know the hull speed of your boat.

So reefing when heel reaches 20 degrees or STW reaches hull speed. That is the easy part of reefing: the difficult part is finding out how to balance the reefed sail plans. This is more difficult for a sloop than it is for a cutter. With a ketch it becomes easy because there are much more options that are all easy to implement, while a sloop may need a sail change to achieve the same.

[kas_1611]

If you have a lot of weather helm or the boat is fighting you and wanting to broach and round up to wind then it is time to bring a reef in, or as some might say 5 minutes after you should have brought it in.

You are faster going to windward when the boat is as level as possible, lots of heel feels exhilarating but isn't the most efficient sailing angle, plus you have a tendency to spill the G&Ts

As for shaking them back out as the wind eases the rule is "if you think it is time to un reef, put the kettle on and make a cup of tea". As sure as you like if you don't wait a few minutes to shake out the wind will pick right back up again.

There's no hard and fast rules but we generally have a reef in the main at 15kts and put a wrap or 2 in our 109% Jib at 20kts then balance the sails from there if the wind gets stronger.

[dcstrng]

I like those answers that essentially advocated listening to whether the boat is happy -- know thy boat. Boats of a certain type and rig, probably have the similar, tell tails -- had a heavy Irwin ketch for many years that almost never seemed to need reefing in Bay weather and on a broad reach would happily wet the rail and kick up a stern wave that frequently thrummed the dinghy in the davits, steering stayed light an manageable the whole time -- thanks Ted... when we'd had enough excitement, the usual reef with her was just to drop the main. On the other hand, my favorite little munchkin, our former B24, was slack bilged and would almost immediately heel to 12-15 degrees with any sincere wind, but then would stay there up to 22-25kts of wind at least -- the downside was eventually oodles of weather helm, so I'd throw in a reef or two just to get the tiller back in the middle of the cockpit (the B24 never seemed terribly unhappy, just dragging the rudder). Our current ODay hasn't been in as much wind (yet), but has proportionally more fore-triangle, -- I've never reefed it, but have slacked the main sheet a tad once or twice, but there are times I think the ODay main is just along for the ride -- and she sits more upright and points higher than either the old Irwin or B24, but is a bit taciturn and sterile, and I am not yet sure what makes her happy or unhappy...

[hellosailor]

"I need some more sails...."
A good loft would be able to work out a sail plan with suggestions for what to carry and when to use it. Ignoring of course the fact that they'd love to sell you more sails.
Generally if there's excess heel or leeway or too much rudder (or you're rounding up despite full rudder) it is past time to reef or change sails. If you can get access to the polars for your boat, or for a similar hull, those may surprise you. Often the time to reef can be WAY sooner than you thought, based on just keeping maximum boatspeed.

[jmschmidt]

In the Gulf Stream there can be a big difference between GPS speed, which is useless for sail trimming, and boat speed. You may have been making 13k sideways. If you let go of the wheel did she want to round up or down? Weather or lee helm? Or was she perfectly balanced? Reefed main vs reduced headsail also depends on the relative sizes of the two sails. When I raced my boat (back in the day) with a long boom but a relatively short mast, with the 135% gen on she need the first reef in the main at 17k apparent wind going to weather. If I waited until 17k apparent and put the 1st reef in she would pickup a half knot like clock work. You need to experiment with her in no current conditions with various wind speeds.

[Bill O]

Originally Posted by hellosailor

"Generally if there's excess heel or leeway or too much rudder (or you're rounding up despite full rudder) it is past time to reef or change sails. If you can get access to the polars for your boat, or for a similar hull, those may surprise you. Often the time to reef can be WAY sooner than you thought, based on just keeping maximum boatspeed.

Excellent call on the polars as they are available from the manufacturer.
https://www.salonayachts.com/uploads...542a8cff1b.pdf

Easy to find and I also wanted to see what new boats have to offer!


Bill O.