Speaking of reefing setups, I just stumbled over this interesting video tip on setting up reef lines to the clew: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XbXlEsrlo1s Makes a lot of sense after fussing with my 1st reef line setup, trying to get the direction of pull to give a decent sail shape. My problem was that the pull was too much up-down and not enough horizontal (the video talks about the opposite problem, too much horizontal pull, but the tip it shows would help either way I think). So what I ended up doing was using a short piece of line as a clew strap, to hold the clew down close to the boom. Helped a LOT. Including with full main. What the video shows makes the reefing line into a combo of rearward and downward pull all in one, since it forms a sliding clew strap around the boom using the reefing/outhaul line. Changing the tension on that one line will adjust both down and out tension on the clew at one time. Gonna try it next time! cheers, John S. On 10/07/2016 10:56 AM, John Schinnerer wrote:
On 10/06/2016 11:53 AM, David Rifkind wrote: ...
I’m curious how you handle multiple reefs. My main has only one. I assume you don’t have three full sets of reefing tackle on the boom. What do you do with them?
So far I have only used the first reef - what GO said might be a "flattening" reef. It takes a decent bite out of sail area and seems to match very well with the "small" jib that came with the boat. And it does flatten the main some compared to no reef.
There are two cheek blocks and two horn cleats on starboard side of my boom. The horn cleats I plan to replace with jam cleats for quickness and ease - making fast with good outhaul tension on a horn cleat with sail and boom bouncing around in rising wind is less than optimal. The upside is, they provide something to wrap the excess reefing line around...which a jam cleat doesn't...what have others done for this conundrum?
Interesting GO what you said about a "flattening reef" - because the cheek blocks do not seem to be positioned right for what I was assuming was the "first" and "second" reef (I figured the block & cleat for the 2nd would also be used for the 3rd, or, that nobody had ever put on a block & cleat for the 3rd).
The rear-most cheek block, which I assumed was for the "first" reef, is not far enough aft to give an effective outhaul for the first reef. But it would be well located for the "second" reef. Likewise the other cheek block is not aft enough for the apparent "second" reef, but clearly is aft enough for the "third" reef.
So I think you've clarified why that is...I was one off in my thinking, those two blocks are for the 2nd and 3rd reef, not the 1st and 2nd.
So to use my "first" (flattening?) reef, I've just run the regular outhaul through the first reef grommet, using the same end-of-boom block as for full main. Which is a bit less convenient than I'd like. So I'm pondering how to have a quick-n-easy setup for that first/flattening reef.
cheers, John S.
-- John Schinnerer - M.A., Whole Systems Design -------------------------------------------- - Eco-Living - Whole Systems Design Services People - Place - Learning - Integration john@eco-living.net - 510.982.1334 http://eco-living.net http://sociocracyconsulting.com