Reefing? Just for Safety?

[Orion Jim]

The old adage “reef early and reef often” made no sense to me as a young man. Now it makes a lot of sense. It just took decades to sink in

[thomm225]

Originally Posted by Orion Jim

The old adage “reef early and reef often” made no sense to me as a young man. Now it makes a lot of sense. It just took decades to sink in

Watching one race start in heavy winds could have taught you this in about as long as the first leg of a Thursday night buoy race took.

Usually in a buoy race, the first leg is upwind.

I was watching them one Thursday evening after work many years ago.

The boats that didn't reef were blown way off course whereas those that reefed sailed up very close to the mark then rounded easily ahead and headed back downwind.

[Auklet]

Originally Posted by thomm225

Watching one race start in heavy winds could have taught you this in about as long as the first leg of a Thursday night buoy race took.

The boats that didn't reef were blown way off course whereas those that reefed sailed up very close to the mark then rounded easily ahead and headed back downwind.

Maybe so. But in short buoy races with strong wind the most “competitive” boats usually will not reef for the weather mark. The fact that they all did not reef for the start suggests the conditions were not so overpowering. There are other ways to control heeling and to stay on course. There is a definite “penalty” in speed heading downwind, esp. DDW, under reefed mainsail. The ones getting blown off course likely are not applying those upwind techniques. If they were, they might end up in the lead over the reefed boats.

The most simple thing is to drop the traveler and lug the mainsail. Basically, power under the headsail. The headsail is the power driving upwind performance in the first place. If that gets too onorey flatten the boat by pinching slightly, sometimes called feathering up. This a good way to fetch the weather mark w/o much loss of speed b/c there is much wind to compensate the loss of optimal trim, and so forth. These boats want the mainsail at full hoist heading down.

We really cannot compare reefing debates for racing short buoy courses versus for overnight passage making in strong, or so expected, conditions. That’s the proverbial “apples and oranges.”

[Kd9truck]

I am compiled to add, that sailing to a boat full potential speed is the equivalent of redlining your car. Your vessel will not hold up to getting the max out of speed all the time. Look at race boats, they get beat up, the standing rigging, the running rigging, the hull, the contents inside, and for that matter the people sailing it are under more stress. All these things will have a shorter useable life span.

I crewed with a 4 time circumnavigator who told me when I first met him “ I sail my boat at 80% during the day and 60% at night”. What does that mean? Well when the wind speeds are under hull speed you are getting everything out of it. But when you start to approach your vessels hull speed (based on your boats polars) with the wind building you should be reefing.
At night having the vessel sail very conservative sail plan will ensure the captain an event free time off watch.
This philosophy continues to prove as sage advice too me.

Cheers.

[Orion Jim]

Originally Posted by Kd9truck

I am compiled to add, that sailing to a boat full potential speed is the equivalent of redlining your car. Your vessel will not hold up to getting the max out of speed all the time. Look at race boats, they get beat up, the standing rigging, the running rigging, the hull, the contents inside, and for that matter the people sailing it are under more stress. All these things will have a shorter useable life span.

I crewed with a 4 time circumnavigator who told me when I first met him “ I sail my boat at 80% during the day and 60% at night”. What does that mean? Well when the wind speeds are under hull speed you are getting everything out of it. But when you start to approach your vessels hull speed (based on your boats polars) with the wind building you should be reefing.
At night having the vessel sail very conservative sail plan will ensure the captain an event free time off watch.
This philosophy continues to prove as sage advice too me.

Cheers.

I never reduce sail at dusk just because…my preference is to keep the boat moving efficiently given the sea state and weather conditions. The longer I am at sea the better the chances are that encounter unpleasant conditions so I like to keep moving. I’m a singlehander so I only have to keep myself happy.

[Montanan]

When just cruising about recreationally, I reef whenever the boat becomes more than a half bubble off to keep things level for comfort of friends and spouse.

A sailed boat is not a speed boat. Drop a knot and drop the heeling.

[lockie]

Or heave to with main loose & flapping.

[Foswick]

I sailed for years without ever bothering to reef. My boat was nearly impossible to capsize if I was even half-way paying attention, so my (ignorant) reasoning was that since I and my boat could "handle" 25 kts without reefing, then why bother? The heeling didn't bother me.

I always used to reason that I knew that the boat was not sailing as efficiently as possible, but that didn't matter because there was so much wind, I had no problem maintaining hull speed (or as close as possible). I had power to spare.

What I didn't really think through all the way was the fact that the boat speed maxes out somewhere approaching hull speed. At that point, while you can have more sail than you need to achieve that speed, the force generated has to go somewhere.

All you are doing, at that point, is putting stress on your rigging and sails, even if the crew isn't stressed by it. All of the additional force has the effect of trying to push your boat faster than it is willing to go. And, that's a lot of force.

As an analogy, imagine pulling your boat up onto land in 15 kts with sails up and the hull firmly bolted to the ground. Imagine the strain on your rigging. Well, for every knot of wind above what is required to take your boat to hull speed - that force is straining your rigging as if the boat was bolted to the ground.

By reducing sail area, it takes more wind to get your boat to that speed, so there is less wind above that threshold that is being diverted to doing nothing but stressing your boat.

OK, any physics nerds will note that it is not that simple and the math is not linear, and this doesn't account for the difference between true wind and apparent wind. I know that, but it doesn't change the underlying truth that any extra sail area only has the effect of straining your systems.

(By the way, if you are a physics nerd, the underlying math is really pretty interesting because there is no simple calculation - it is a very layered problem.)

I should add that this changes completely if your boat will plane. OK, technically any boat could plane. A brick will plane under the right conditions. But let's ignore that theoretical possibility. If your boat is likely to plane then the reefing decision looks very different. (If you are uncertain if your boat planes, then it almost certainly does not.)

[CyKlop]

Just a quick misnomer about "hull speed". Boats can, and do, regularly exceed hull speed. However, the force required to do so increases enormously. I.e. the water speed versus wind pressure hockey sticks right near hull speed.

[Apollo19.5]

We have the taller race rig on our boat, so have definately found that there are only positives to reefing early for safety, comfort, but have been surprised on how little sail area is needed to make good average speeds. If yours is a bit difficult to reef, start off reefed and then shake it out if wind drops out. Easier out than in!

[billyehh]

Reefing is especially important on a cruising catamaran. With not having heeling as a safety method it is more important to reef when the wind comes up. My catamaran has 2 reef points with 2 line reefing. Safety in enhanced by not having to go to the mast. Comfort is also enhanced with very little if any reduction in speed.
The Eastern Caribbean has lots of wind so you get plenty of practice reefing. If single handing, I also occasionally use the engines while reefing since it can take longer.

[trswem]

My boat is very tender, but if my point of sail has me consistentaly over 15 degrees of heel then I put a reef in. Not because I'm uncomfortable, but because we're actually faster at 10-15 degrees.

[NormanMartin]

Practice reefing on a calm day maybe even at anchor. Calm...
Set up the system so it is easy when the wind pipes up. It takes some practice.

Long time sailing instructor here. How we teach new to cruisers. Always works.