We can reef at any time, in any conditions at any point of sail
Every boat owner should be confident that they can reef their mainsail in any conditions. We can reef our mainsail at any time – this means that even if it is blowing dogs off chains and we are heading downwind we can still reduce sail without having to round up into the wind. It’s really, really important that your boat can do this too. It’s a critical safety tool. It’s safe for the boat and safe for the crew and passengers on board.
Reefing reduces the area of the mainsail and is the primary measure used to preserve a sailing vessel’s stability in strong winds. In our case, we use the slab reefing technique. This means that the sail is hoisted on cars on the sail track. When we drop the sail the cars direct the sail into our sail bag and fold it into “slabs”. It is an extremely efficient method to get your mainsail down as quickly as possible and is the same as most racing boats’ systems. It has minimal parts involved, it is light and aerodynamically efficient. We can also do the whole process from the safety of our cockpit. There is no need for anyone to go forward to the mast. The only exception to this is the cunningham which can be done when it’s safe to go up to the mast and reclip it in the correct position.
When we are restoring sail area or taking or shaking out the reef, the process for us is again, quite simple. All control lines are located in the cockpit and do not require anyone to go forward to the mast, unless it is to clip the cunningham back on. By the very nature of the fact that we are increasing sail area, it would mean conditions have eased, and going forward should not be as risky as a reefing maneuver.
You may already know that we can 5 reefs on Paikea. That means we have 5 different gears we can use when we are sailing. In the previous video, we touched on the fact that our carbon fibre mast is our 5th reef. The other 4 of those gears are located on the mainsail. This week we are looking at how we set up and use the slab reefing system on Paikea.
If you are interested in our mainsail lock check out our video and blog here