Cruising World - June 2018

june/july 2018

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72

tion built in to this most simple

system. Then, if your lines lead

to the cockpit, go back and re-

peat the procedure from where

you would normally hoist the

sail. Note how every bend and

turn adds friction.

It’s important to have a solid

understanding of your boat’s

base-line resistance. When

something jams in the dark,

at sea, and you’re alone in the

cockpit, you have to know na-

ture’s little warning signs. Your

evil inner voice will say, “You’re

just tired. Put that thing on the

electric winch!” You have to be

able to argue back, “No, this

is not the normal amount of

friction. Something’s wrong.”

Remember: There are no snag

problems an electric winch

can’t make worse.

While you’re at the mast,

study the gooseneck. With

the fi rst reef in, look at the

way the reef line is led to the

deck and back to the cock-

pit. Look for friction and

chafe. Push the boom out and

back, making sure the reef

line doesn’t change tension.

Look back at the tail end of

the boom, where the reef line

passes through the leech. The

reef line should pull both reef

points in two directions: down

and forward at the luff, and

down and back at the leech.

It should run through all its

turns, from boom to cockpit,

with minimal resistance. It

might appear to be all clean

and peaceful at the dock, but

on big seas, everything is in

motion. The slightest chafe

whittles line down to bird-nest

fodder in no time.

Next, work out your own

checklist for reefi ng. It should

be a simple list of the basic

steps, in an order that goes

something like this: 1) Ease

mainsheet. 2) Set topping lift.

3) Ease halyard. 4) Tighten and

secure reef line. 5) Re-tension

halyard. 6) Trim sheet.

REACH FOR IT

Once you’ve got it down pat at

the dock and you’re ready for a

test run, pack a lunch and look

for a steady 15-knot breeze with

plenty of sea room. Set a head-

ing on a close reach, check sea

room again and punch in the

autopilot. Watch the autopilot

drive for fi ve minutes while you

review your checklist.

When you’re ready, ease the

mainsheet and let the traveler

down until the main is com-

pletely de-powered. Adjust jib

trim and autopilot heading

until the boat stays on course,

powered only by the jib; don’t

fall off and let the luffi ng main

fi ll again. The speed will go

down sailing only on the jib,

but the boat should balance,

still on a close reach. Now go

through your checklist and

practice it step by step for

both the fi rst and second reef,

hauling the sail up and down

until you have it down cold or

run out of sea room.

Reefi ng on a close reach has

its own tricks and hassles, but

I fi nd it far easier than start-

ing engines, pushing the bow

into the wind, leaping off wave

crests, pounding in troughs,

watching for stray lines in

the props and minding the

fl ogging boom.

In the distant past, when

mainsails had short (or no)

battens, the sail fl ogged when

luffi ng. This was considered

hard on the sailcloth. The

full-length battens on modern

catamaran mainsails take the

fl og out of the sail but put it in

the boom. This is considered

hard on skulls, should they be

in the way. An out-of-control

boom also fl ails slack lines,

which snag, bend, remove

hardware and tie themselves

in weird knots. It’s a deadly

menace to life and proper-

ty. I try to avoid it at every

opportunity. Still, it’s good to

practice reefi ng nose-to-wind,

and also heaving to. It’s dif-

fi cult, it tests boathandling

skills and it helps prepare you

for the toughest challenge:

reefi ng while sailing on a run.

Before we head off down-

wind, let’s heave to for a

minute and review. We like to

practice at the dock, in dead

calm, because, well, it’s calm.

Everything’s easy.

So how to know when to

reef? The fi rst obvious answer

is the wind-speed indicator. If

your boat has an owner’s man-

ual, it probably recommends

reefi ng at 18, 28 and 35 knots or

The gooseneck is a busy place. When reefed, the reef block

shouldn’t interfere with the boom (top). Set properly, the

reef line pulls forward and down on the sail (center). Overly

tightened, the lead of the reef line through the bracket on

the mast creates a lot of friction (bottom).

DON MARGRAF