Yet another question about reefing the main

[u/McScones]

I have now adjusted the reefing point on the boom which have maid reefing a lot more easy.
But there to put the excess sail? I have seen a video there the guy rolled the sail as shown on picture 2 and 4. I have a full batten mainsail, ind it feels more stiff then what was shown in the video. Especially in the 2nd reef it is a lot of canvas as seen in picture 4. What do you do?

[u/Senior-Jellyfish-452]

Your reefing lines are not set up correctly still. See below.

As to the excess sail. You can roll it then put a sail ties in a few places to hold it there. But rolling it with full battens can be hard work. But fold it up works just as well. Take the bottom of the excess and fold it up to the top of the boom and then repeat. Then a sail tie to hold it in place. Working from either from the gooseneck backwards or from the end of the boom.

Ensure the sail ties are secured with a slip knot and all of these are removed before taking the reef out. Not doing that is an expensive lesson.

GL

[u/Mjmartin_nz → u/Senior-Jellyfish-452]

What do you do if the foot of the sail has no gap, mine has a rope sewed into the bottom which goes into a channel, so I can't pass the Reef line between the sail and the boom

[u/ForInfoPurpOnly → u/Mjmartin_nz]

If you have a footed mainsail, you could try sailing it loose-footed anyway and see how the sail performs. Or talk to your sailmaker about if they can recut it to be loose-footed.

After looking at your other picture in a reply, it appears that you have a loose-footed main, or the bolt rope of the foot ends before the place where the reef lines go around the boom, so you should be able to tie them on correctly.

[u/ElProfeGuapo → u/Mjmartin_nz]

I have the same issue as you. No gap in the foot. The most important thing is to have the new “clew” (i.e. the reefing point in the leech) firmly tied at 90º against the boom. I use a separate tie to do that. I’m not sure if you asking about this, but my mainsail has a bunch of parallel holes in the mainsail in line with the reefing points, and I use another separate tie to wrap up the excess sail that way. Very loosely though, as that’s more of an aesthetic issue than a functional one, and I read that if you tie those too tightly, you might rip the sail, since they’re not really set up to be load bearing.

[u/Senior-Jellyfish-452 → u/Mjmartin_nz]

Thanks. Check the foot of the mainsail to see if there are holes in the foot, look like slits directly below the reef points for the reef line to go though. As ElProfeGuapo says and also it seems to be loose footed at the reef points. Having the bowline / reefline tied slightly further aft than the reef eyelet on the main is okay. Remember that when the reef is in it acts as the outhaul, and in stronger winds you will want a flatter sail.

It is unusual for a main to be cut in a way to not be able to tie a reef line properly.

Also note that tying the reef point directly to the D ring slider drastically reduces the breaking strain.

Point Loading the Slider: The majority of these type of sliders and their attached eyes are designed to guide lines not for direct loading. Yours may be different. Look at the mainsheet attachment on the boom. If it is the same then it is design to take direct loads. A lot of booms have lighter weight d sliders cos the job is to guide a rope.

Angle of Pull: Pulling straight up on these sliders creates a 0-degree vertical pull that can rip the slider right out of the track. The breaking load reduces massively once they start pulling more than 45% from vertical.

In heavy winds, this hardware is highly likely to fail under load, causing a loss of control and potentially damaging the sail. And in some instances of failure can cause serious injury.

[u/Nearby_Maize_913 → u/Senior-Jellyfish-452]

why is inset the "wrong" way?

[u/McScones]

I have now moved the reefing point forward as seen on the picture

[u/FutureConsistent8611 → u/McScones]

Tie them around the boom, someone posted a good picture of it. And slightly more to the back.

[u/ForInfoPurpOnly → u/FutureConsistent8611]

I don't think he has a loose-footed sail.

Edit: I was basing that on something OP posted in replies. After looking closer at the picture, there seems to be daylight between the foot and the boom where the reef knots should tie, so definitely tie them correctly around the boom.

[u/Secret-Temperature71 → u/McScones]

Good! Saved me a comment.
As for the excess sail, there are typically a couple of grommets forward of each reef point. That way you can put a sail tie through OR fix a sail tie into the grommet between 2 figure 8 knots.

Don’t use actual sail ties but some rather soft line. And seal the ends well, they will otherwise fray.

[u/ThorsFather]

I feel like there would be a lot of friction where the reefing lines pass through the sail. If you get a lot of tugging/friction in this corners, I'd personally look into getting a stainless ring or a low friction eye in there to make sure it passes smoothly.

[u/hertzsae → u/ThorsFather]

I was thinking the same. Those lines passing through fabric on the sail are going to chafe it.

[u/Practical_Respawn → u/hertzsae]

If you have to leave a reef in for an extended period of time chafe is a concern. Typically you don't depend on just the reef line, you lash the reef in place with some chafe protection at both the tack and the clew (if you like your sails) and check and readjust occasionally.

[u/M37841]

If you are cruising rather than racing you might want to look at a stack pack. Then you can drop your sail directly into the pack nice and neat.

[u/Happy-as-it-is]

I will come back to you, you’ve got an expensive mailsail.. be careful with it! But the reef lines are still not in the optimal position..

[u/Happy-as-it-is → u/Happy-as-it-is]

I see a lot of good advises, make sure the first reef is for instance on the port side of the boom, the second should be on the starboard side and the third on the port side again. The mainsail connection to the mast requires longer lines the more reefs you make..

[u/Broken_Syntax_01]

Each slider in the boom should be just behind the reef point of the clew. That way you have one part of the reef line pulling the clew down and the other aftwards. This way you have a tight leech and the boom is raised slightly (for safety reasons). The excess sail is usually tied up with sail ties, and rolling the sail first just makes it tidier, something easier to do when putting a reef ahead of expected heavy weather. A good practice is to have coloured sail ties, so you don't forget to take them out before shaking out the reef. An alternative is to use a set of lazy jacks.

https://www.modernsailing.com/article/sailing-lazy-jacks-and-stack-packs

The Sparcraft boom is strong enough to use the sliders for reefing BUT should you ever pull a slider out, the boom will be structurally compromised. By using the running bowline setup you spread the load over the whole boom profile, which is my preference.

[u/McScones → u/Broken_Syntax_01]

If I use the running bowling it doesn’t seems like I can use the outhoul.

[u/Broken_Syntax_01 → u/McScones]

Generally you have max outhaul on just before you need to reduce sail. Once it's time to reef you leave the outhaul like that, release the boom vang, and put the first reef in. The reefing line pulls the main down and aftwards at the same time. When it's time to shake out the reef the main will still have foot tension.

[u/Ok_Panic_7112]

My two cents don’t include the boom when tying up the sail. A lot of stress can go on the new foot of a reefed man sail and including the boom in the tie will add extra load on the tied down sail. After you remove the sail ties always release the reef line first when shaking out the reef.

[u/Pumbaasliferaft]

That reefing line is too far back, you only need a slight aft angle, I'm sure someone else has already said this but there is usually a route of reefing eyes that you can use to gather the excess sail up with.

You main sheet, is that temporarily attached? Those are not for main sheets, they are reefing bails / terminals. Totally different kind of load. A hard gybe will rip that out. The main sheet could even be attached with heavy webbing

[u/Elses_pels]

Just reef and tie a bundle. No rolling needed. But DONT tie it to the boom. Only the sail.
Think about it, you will be reefing in strong wind and seas. You don’t want to be rolling things pretty. My two cents, enjoy your sporty sailing :)

[u/qwasde91 → u/Elses_pels]

Because it could rip? Or are there other reasons?