[alberg30] reefing

[finnus505 at aol.com]

In a message dated 5/3/00 10:12:38 PM Eastern Daylight Time, 
daf at mobiletel.com writes:

<<  don't believe I'm
 rigged up properly for quick reefing of the main,and so am kind of
 hesitant to try reefing.My main's "slides"?come down and stack up,and
 the reefing grommet is much too high to hook onto th >>

Hey Dick,
What you need (We're from the govt. we're here to help you) is a jackline. 
this will allow the slides to stay on the mast track, but allow the sail to 
go aft and down so you can reef.

A jack line is easy  to set up. here is one way to do it.

!) remove the slides from the sail, starting at the second reef, and all 
below that point.

2)Get a 1/4 or 5/16th's thick piece of Sta Set, or something similar, that 
will be as long as the luff from the second reef down to the clew, plus the 
length needed to adjust and belay, another two feet about.  After using the 
line for a while, you'll see how much 'tail' you actualy need, and you can 
cut off any excess, if you want to.

3)-tie or splice  the jack line to the upper most grommet freed up when you 
removed the slides from sail.

4)put some kind of small fairlead on the slides that were removed from the 
sail. Small SS shackles, used to attach the sail to the slides in the first 
place, will do..

5)-reeve the jackline through the gromets on the sail that formerly held the 
sail slides, and the fairleads on the sail track slides.  The line will go 
from the dead end at the top of the line to a sail track fairlead, back to 
the next gromet down on the sail, then to the next sailtrack slide fairlead, 
etc. etc, until you reach the last sail track slide. 

6)lead the tail of the jackline through the tack cringle, or the shackle that 
holds the tack to the boom, whichever is easier.

7)hoist the sail, getting the luff tension you  are used to.

8)-take the slack out of the jackline by hauling on the tail.  Make sure all 
the slides have pulled up into positions as close as possible to the gromets 
on the sail, and the jackline is making the shortest distance possible 
between the farileads on the slides, and the bolt rope of the sail.  the sail 
must be pulled as close to the mast as possible.

9)belay the tail of the jackline to the tack cringle or shackle. Don't let 
the tension out of the jackline while making the knot. a slippery half hitch 
is good.

A jackline made up this way will allow the sail to pull aft and down when you 
want to reef, without having to open a gate, and drop the bottom slides off 
the track every time you reef.   When reefing, for the first reef, you will 
have to untie your knot at the bottom of the jackline to the tack, so you can 
tighten the jackline so that the luff between the first and second reef will 
be pulled up to the mast.  When you go to your second reef, none, or maybe 
just one, slide on the jackline will still be pulling the sail luff to the 
mast, and so no adjustment will be needed.

When you go to shake out the reefs, remember to untie the tail of the 
jackline, so it can allow the sail to be hoisted.  then, once the sail is 
back up and luff tension is what you want, re-belay the jackline snugly to 
the tack fitting.

You tie the tail of the jackline to the tack fitting, and not a cleat on the 
mast because when attached to the boom, the tension of the jack line is not 
changed as you move the boom in and out.  If the jackline dead ended on the 
mast, then when going from a beat to a reach, as you let the boom out, the 
jackline would tighten, and possibly tear the sail.  Likewise, if the 
jackline tension was adjusted for reaching and it dead ended on the mast, as 
you sheeted in to beat, the line would become slack, and the sail would pull 
from the mast, allowing it to belly, and lose shape. The line could be reeved 
through the tack fitting, and then led to a cleat on the boom, if you wished.

the above 'installation' of a jack line is the easiest to tackle by yourself. 
No new gromets have to be added to the sail.  The disadvantages might be that 
friction where the jackline goes through the sail gromets will keep it from 
'self adjusting' as you hoist the sail, and so you would have to watch and 
help the line and the slides find their best positions every time you used 
the sail. This setup will also allow the sail to pull a bit further from the 
mast, hurting sail shape.

When a sailmaker adds a jackline, he will put in a gromet above the second 
reef to attach the jackline to the sail. This gives the jackline better 
purchase, or a better angle, to pull the sail to the mast.

The professional will also add a gromet a couple of inches below every 
existing gromet in the luff of the sail, where the slides attached 
previously.  This allows the jackline to lead from the upper gromet, to the 
fairlead on the sail slide on the track, and back to the sail to the second 
grommet, and then down to the next set for the same pattern.  This reeving of 
the jackline with two grommets on the sail at each slide will allow the sail 
to be pulled to the mast more efficiently, cutting down distortion of the 
sailshape even further.

If there is too much friction with the line going through the sail gromets, 
fairleads can be attached to all those gromets, and the jackline is lead 
through the fairlieads instead of the grommets, but in the same 'pattern' as 
was used before. The problem with the addition of these fairleads, though, is 
that the sail will be just that much further from the mast, and so sail shape 
will be just that much distorted. 

If a new sail is cut knowing that a jackline is to be installed, the 
sailmaker will account for the half inch or so of room the jackline and it's 
attachments will occupy between the luff and the mast, and so can give the 
sail it's proper shape. If a jackline is added to a sail that was not 
intended to have  one, then there will be some bellying of the sail shape as 
the luff is basicaly  moved aft a bit from it's normal position. The sail 
could be recut, of course, at sailmakers rates, if you are really fanatical 
about sail shape.

The other 'components' to the reefing system are at the luff and leach.  At 
the luff, a ss reefing hook attached to the boom is all you need. The sail is 
lowered until the luff reefing cringle can be slipped over the hook, and the 
luff tension is then restored with the halyard.  
If there is no hook, and no easy way to attach one, then you can either lower 
the sail until the reefing cringle is at the boom, and use a tie of some sort 
from the sail to the boom, or have a ss hook belayed to a 5/16ths line. Lower 
the sail, put the hook in the reef cringle,and use the line to belay the hook 
to the boom.  A real fancy set up would have a reefing line dead end on the 
port side of the boom, go up to the reefing cringle, and return to a turning 
block on the boom.  the tail could lead to a cleat on the boom, or be lead to 
the cockpit by turning blocks at the foot of the mast.

At the leach, there are several options.  All involve a line dead ending on 
the boom, going up to the leach reef cringle, back down to a turning block on 
the boom, and then forward to a cleat on the boom.

The older system-a fairlead is attached to the boom on the port side,just aft 
of where the reef cringle will meet the boom when the line of reefs is 
lowered to the boom. On the other side of the boom, a cheek block is 
attached. Sometimes this is simply a cheekblock, or you can install a cheek 
block on a one or two foot long track, so the position of the cheek block can 
be adjusted for and aft, and then the angle of the reef line to the sail can 
be adjusted for optimum sail shape.  From the turning block, the reef line is 
led forward to a cleat on the boom.  Fairleads on the boom are installed to 
keep the line from 'drooping' around the hats, glasses and necks of the crew.

With this system, you can eliminate the fairlead for dead ending the reefing 
line on the port side of the boom if you wish.  Dead end the line on some 
part of the track and turning block on the starboard side of the boom.  you 
can buy a turning block that has an eye on it, or a seperate track slide that 
has an eye.Fom the dead end, the line leads under the boom, up to the reef 
cringle, and then back down to the turning block, and then forward to a 
cleat. 
 Newer boats have the reefing line dead end on a track on the boom, 
positioned just aft of where the reef cringle will be on the boom.  From 
there, the line leads through the reef cringle, and then aft, to a turning 
block at the end of the boom.  The newer boats have the turning block 
installed in the boom  end, so that the reefing line can then be led forward 
in the boom, to exit at the forward end of the boom, where it will be belayed 
to a cleat on the boom, or led to turning blocks which will lead the tail of 
the line to the cockpit.  For us to fit this system to our older boats, the 
boom end turning block can be attached to an eye on the end of the boom.

The advantage of having the reefing line lead to a turning block at the end 
of the boom instead of to block just aft of the reef cringle, is that with 
the older system, the leach of the sail,and the battens, can get caught in 
the reefing line as tension is taken up.  With the line leading all the way 
aft, this is not a problem.

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