Reefs: How Many and How Deep

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:

1. What is the smallest amount of sail area we need for the type of boat we have and the sailing we plan to do?
2. Only after we have answered that, can we think about how large we want each reduction to be (granularity).