Downwind Reefing Setup
On Navasana we reef going downwind which is much safer and easier than bashing into big swells and waves especially in the ocean. We have the main halyard and reefing lines all pre-marked with a sharpie marker so we can quickly set them. This is our procedure:
- Place the boat on a deep but safe downwind heading (160 TWA on autopilot wind mode)
- Pull in the mainsheet until you can take off the preventer
- Tension the topping lift, ensuring the boom is elevated at the outboard end
- Grind in the mainsheet all the way, which will centre or blade the mainsail. This will have the effect of scandalising and depowering the mainsail
- Lower the main halyard to the right black mark and at the same time bring in the reefing line so that both the luff and leech are reduced in unison. Ideally you want one person at the mast pulling the reefing line through the boom so that the leech doesn’t get too loose.
- Continue to tension the reefing line until the black mark and the sail is tightly bound to the boom. Ease the mainsheet a fraction to allow the sail to be reefed tight to the boom. In heavy winds you need to ease more. The sail is now reefed!
- Ease the mainsheet half way to attached the preventer
- Ease the topping lift
- Attach the preventer
- Ease the mainsheet to the desired setting and back to the cocktails 🙂
Great post! How did you mark the lines, is a sharpie sufficient or did you use something else? Have you used this procedure for all 3 reefs? How are you ensuring the leech and luff tension are maintained equally when using a single reef line to pull both?? Am I missing something
Yes sharpie. Used it on reefs 1 and 2, not 3 yet thankfully 🙂 At the mast I pull in the reefing line coming out of the boom as the sail comes down to make sure the leech doesnt go out to much. Maybe I will elaborate on that.
Gotcha, so one person at the mast and one on the halyard and reef line? Wasn’t sure if maybe you guys were just reefing from the cockpit
Yes exactly, updated the post with more detail on that step. Can be done with one person in the cockpit and one at the mast.