[alberg30] Slab reefing

[FINNUS505 at aol.com]

From: FINNUS505 at aol.com

Hi Dick,
Three spinakers!?!?!!!!  Boy, you lucked out!!  Previous owner must have been 
quite the racer.  Stargazer came with one spinaker, and I think it is the 
original chute from 1967, and it looks like it has never been used.  Weird 
thing; it has a zipper that runs down it's entire center; only thing I can 
think is that it was some brilliant 1967 idea to combine a runner and 
reacher; zipped up, the sail is flatter for reaching, unzipped, the sail 
opens more, and is fuller for running. I haven't tried it out yet. Stargazer 
didn't come with a spinaker pole, and that has not recieved 'priority'. :)

To answer your question about the poles; the adjustable one is a whisker pole 
to boom out your genny when going down wind.  The heavy one is the spinaker 
pole.  The whisker pole would not be strong enough to handle the force of the 
spinaker in all but the faintest of winds and I mean less than 5 knots, and 
even then, I would use the spinaker pole.

Even the small chute will be a handfull on a 30 foot boat, and so use caution 
when playing with it.  In anything over 8 knots of wind, you will be amazed 
how much pull will be on the sheets and halyard.  It is easy to get a rope 
burn, or get the sail all fouled up and torn on the mast, even in light wind. 
 In 10 knots or over, the sail can be downright dangerous to someone who is 
learning, so be very careful.  Though I hate getting this advice myself, in 
the case of spinakers, you really should sail with someone experienced until 
you learn the in and outs of flying one.  It sounds like you have a nice 
inventory, and it would be a shame to tear them, or get hurt yourself. Two 
experienced sailors can handle the chute on a 30 footer, but it is alot 
easier with 3 or 4 hands on board.  Singlehanded, I don't think that is 
advisable. Once you learn, though, it is a lot of fun flying with that kite 
in front of the boat, and you'll get  the attitude of the more wind the 
better!!!  I learned how to fly the chute while racing with some really good 
racers in  Ensigns in Brooklyn in the '70's.  What fun we had!!!

As for the main, if the previous owner had three chutes, then I'm sure he had 
the boom rigged for slab reefing.  the 'pigtail' ss hook at the tack is as 
you describe, to hold the tack grommet for the reef.  It sounds like you have 
to rig the leach reefing lines.  Somewhere in the boat he left a 5/16" or so 
line for you, that
1) gets dead ended on the boom, 
2)goes up through the reefing grommet on the leach, 
3)back to a cheek block or turning block on the boom,
4) through fairleads on the boom leading forward, 
5)and then to a cleat on the boom.  There may or may not be a winch on the 
boom, to facilitate tightening the leach reefing line.

He may have only set up the system for the first reef if he was a serious 
racer, or there may be set up for both reefs.  Hook the tack of the first 
reef into the ss pigtail hook, yank back along the leach grommet, and find 
the fairlead that the reefing line will dead end to on the boom- it should be 
about a foot or so aft of the grommet, to give you a good angle to be able to 
pull the foot tight when reefing.  This is very important, that pulling the 
foot tight.  If the foot is not pulled tight, you will get a belly in the 
sail, and it will heel you over.

Once you have your reefing line dead ended on the boom, then rove through the 
grommet on the sail, there are three possibilities that you will find;
1) there is a cheek block on the boom, directly on the other side of the boom 
from the fairlead to dead end the reefing line, in which case, the reefing 
line goes through this cheek block, then leads forward to fairleads along the 
boom and a cleat, or...
2) There is no fairlead to dead end the line to, but there is a cheek block 
on a track.  In this case, you dead end the reefing line on some part of the 
cheek block, then go under the boom, and then up to the grommet on the sail 
leach, then back to the sheave on the cheek block, and then forward. 
3)There is a fairlead to dead end the reefing line to the boom, but no cheek 
block on the opposite side of the boom. In this case you will have to attach 
a block at the aft end of the boom.  The line will then lead from the 
fairlead on the boom, to the grommet on the sail, to this block, and then 
forward on the boom.
I actualy prefer the last arrangement, because what you will find  with the 
first arrangement, is as you tighten the reefing line, the leach of the sail, 
and the battens, can become 'tangled' or ensnared in the loop of line from 
dead end, to grommet, to cheek block, and you have to go back there and 
straighten it out before getting your nice, tight foot.  With the block on 
the aft end of the boom, the sail is free on one side, and the sail does not 
become entrapped.  Much faster, easier reefing results.  Most new booms, with 
internal reefing lines, work this way.  Look at some in your marina- you will 
see the reefing lines led to sheaves built into the back of the boom, then 
run forward inside the boom.  Very nice.  On Stargazer, I put a fiddle block- 
a block with two sheaves, one over the other, on the back of the boom, so I 
could have both reefing lines rigged all the time.  The fiddle block is 
better than a two sheave side by side block, because this way the force of 
both lines keeps the block straight, as opposed to one line pulling the block 
to one side or the other.

If this description is unintelligable, send me your snail mail adress, and 
I'll send some diagrams.  It is really easy to see in pictures.  I think 
Rousmanierre's Anapolis Book of Seamanship has some good diagrams of all 
this, or Chapman's, anyway. Do what I do-go to the library, and once you find 
the sailing section, sit there for a few hours looking at all the sailboat 
pictures!!!!!!  On a rainy day, of course!!!!
Hope this helps,
Lee
Stargazer #255

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