Some time ago I wrote a piece on reefing from the cockpit and promised to follow it up once we’d decided whether we would stick with it. For those of you who expected something, well, timely, I apologise, but I like to take my time to make up my mind!
Basically, when we had Pèlerin built we had a choice of either leaving all of the reefing at the mast (as we were used to) or leading all the lines aft. Apart from a few short jaunts, I’d not had a lot of experience with single line reefing, but I hadn’t been impressed; however, others claimed to like it, and the idea of reefing from the safety of the cockpit held a strong appeal.
Having now sailed many thousands of miles with single line reefing I feel better qualified to decide whether it was the right choice for us, and indeed whether I’d recommend it for you.
