How many reefs should we have and where should they be positioned?
Generally, whenever this comes up the debate quickly centres on how many reefs are “best”. Two, three, or even four. But if you really think about it, that’s a backwards way to approach the decision. A better order is:
- What is the smallest amount of sail area we need for the type of boat we have and the sailing we plan to do?
- Only after we have answered that, can we think about how large we want each reduction to be (granularity).
Another great post, just in time for Thanksgiving! So Thanks, and happy Thanksgiving!
Hi Richard,
Thanks for the kind words. And have a happy Thanksgiving. (I always forget since ours here in Canada was over a month ago.
Dear John,
Just a very well put and argued article and I support all elements.
One word of advisement to all who go with a third (or quite deep) reef is to find some gnarly weather and practice with the deepest reef. Getting the tack positioned correctly is often hard as the amount of sail that collects at the gooseneck in deeper reefs is impressive. The temptation is to just pull the tack down on top of bunched up sailcloth. There is so much cloth with such deep reefs that the deep reef tack ends up to high away from the gooseneck and too far aft away from the mast. Positioning the tack neatly in preparation at the mooring, it is easy to get a compact sail bundle. Not so easy at sea and the wind is howling. The danger is (in the likely lousy conditions one will be working in) that the tack of the sail will reside high up and well aft on top of the bunched up sailcloth and, when the luff is tensioned, will then load (overload actually) the first car above the tack and in time, the car will rip away from the sail (this car will take loads that should be on the tack). Having reef lines marked ahead of time ensures good tack placement and the major load on the tack.
There are remedies in tack cringle placement that can be addressed at construction for deep reefs. A further help might be shock (bungee) cord between sail and car, a technique we have been living with these last 2 years with our new sail and liking a good deal. It also can’t hurt to take the tail of the reef line and, in a belt and braces manner, secure that tack forward around the mast. Then check it after tensioning the luff and sailing it for awhile.
My best, Dick Stevenson, s/v Alchemy
Dick/John,
On our mainsail we have Antal sail slides and the slide stack is quite high on our mainsail. On the 3rd reef (deep) we can’t hook the tack reef cringle to the the rams head hook. So we had our sailmaker build a piece of webbing with a snap hook and sewn eye that: snaps onto reef cringle, runs around mast, goes through reef cringle on other side and the eye slips on reef hook at the boom. After setting the reef and hoisting the main, the webbing strap tightens up around the mast to secure the reef point and takes the load off the sail slide.
Keith, s/v Pearl
Hi Dick and Keith,
Good point about the problem of hooking the third reef tack cringle (and good solutions). Thanks for bringing it up.
On “Morgan’s Cloud” we have a piece of webbing passed through the cringle with a floating ring on each end that we drop over the hook at the tack. Works a treat.
The other issue is that sailmakers are often not careful enough about the position of the sail slides (or cars) either side of the reef cringle. If the attachment points are too close, particularly on the third reef, there will be problems. So well worth discussing this with your sailmaker to make sure its right.
Super insightful design comments! I am having a 3rd reef built into our mainsail, so this is extremely relevant. Just to confirm, the luff reef cringle should be placed between slide cars, so that the cringle can be lowered as much as possible, toward the reefing hooks on the gooseneck, right?
Hi Conor,
Yes, that’s right, and as long as the car stack is designed correctly, even a third reef cringle will come all the way down to the goose neck, or at least within a few inches of it.
You are a legend John! Thank you for the quick response. Our sailmaker had never heard of rocker before, while discussing the layout of the reefs, so now I am a bit concerned and now trying to research and explicitly describe all of the small details that I thought he would already be implementing. Thanks again!
Hi Conor,
Yikes a legend? Sounds kind of old to me…oh wait…
Seriously, thank you for the kind words.
As to your sailmaker, that worries me a lot. Is this person really a sailmaker or perhaps a salesman for some loft in a far away country? The point being that I’m not at all sure that it’s a good idea for you to be researching and sorting these details out because it’s unlikely that you will get every single thing right, but in so doing you are taking over responsibility for a good outcome from the “sailmaker”. More thoughts here: https://www.morganscloud.com/2009/11/18/how-we-buy-sails/
John, I have called what you described as earrings and used them for years to good effect. For the third reef where there is so much more cloth and boisterous conditions, I did get nervous about hurting myself when I would be wrestling the ring over the horn/hook. I worried I would get a hand/finger caught between ring and horn as I used effort to wrestle the ring down and over the horn. So I came up with an alternative that works for me: basically a pre-marked line to an un-used cleat that feels safer to use and pulls the cringle forward.
My best, Dick