Main Sail Reefing Points

[nicholson31]

Have no hesitation reefing, do it on a regular basis, allows me to enjoy those 20-25 plus knts with ease of mind. My normal reef method is by the tack and clue, but I don't secure the centre foot reef points to the boom. My thought is this puts alot of strain on this area that is not inforced a whole lot, just around the grommets. invesly, by not securing these am I inducing strain on the tack and/or clue?
How are all you off shore experianced reefers securing your mains, do you tie these off or leave the foot loose?

[MarkSF]

The reason to tie off at the foot, is to stop the unused part of the foot of the sail dangling in the way (and causing a bit of windage). If you don't have a problem with the foot dangling, don't bother.

If used, the foot reefing lines should be left loose enough that the foot can form it's natural belly, such that the reefing lines aren't under strain. They should just be supporting the unused foot.

"by not securing these am I inducing strain on the tack and/or clue? (sic)". Yes, but that's what they are there for.

It's a "clew", btw.

[model 10]

I tie the clew in with length of spectra around the boom. I leave one end tied all the time. They have hardly ever gotten caught on anything

[jtsailjt]

Originally Posted by nicholson31

Have no hesitation reefing, do it on a regular basis, allows me to enjoy those 20-25 plus knts with ease of mind. My normal reef method is by the tack and clue, but I don't secure the centre foot reef points to the boom. My thought is this puts alot of strain on this area that is not inforced a whole lot, just around the grommets. invesly, by not securing these am I inducing strain on the tack and/or clue?
How are all you off shore experianced reefers securing your mains, do you tie these off or leave the foot loose?

The reef points along the new, reefed, foot of your mainsail aren't designed as structural parts of the sail like the tack and clew are. They are only there to keep the part of the sail, below that reef, from flying and flopping around, causing windage or chafe or blocking your view. Because of that, they do not need to be tied around the boom, but instead are routed between the foot of the sail and the boom, and to avoid strain on un-reinforced areas of your sail, should not be tied too tightly. When it comes time to shake out the reef, make sure that you first untie these reefing lines before either the tack or the clew.

[nigel1]

I use thin bungee cord to secure the bunt of the sail to the boom. Not tied tight, and in the event that someone forgets to remove them before the reef is shaken out, no harm done.

[StuM]

It depends on whether your main is loose footed or not. If it is loose footed, I would tie the reef pennants around the foot of the sail above the boom.

[mikereed100]

I have always used lazyjacks to keep the bunt from flopping around.

[KeepInTune]

There is a good article in one of the recent sailing magazines about reefing. It might be Cruiser World (?). The author does not advise tying the reefed foot with anything other than a loose reef knot, and this purpose is to contain the reefed sail from flopping around. The eyelets/grommets along the reefed foot (other than tack and clew) are not designed to support any tension/pressure and will rip with too much tension.

[nicholson31]

The main has slides along the boom, not loose footed. I have a stack pack which has lazy jacks so there hasn't been an issue with the foot flopping around when reefed and actually stays fairly tidy even at the 2nd point in 30 knt. So I guess my question is answered, no requirement to reef tightly along the boom, only loosly to keep the foot from flopping, if neeed .

[JohnT]

No, if you have a stack-pack, it is designed to hold the loose sail - thus no need for any ties at all.