Yuku free message boards

David: FWIW I have done both on various boats, but getting rid of the single line system is good. Anything else is better than that.

The "hook on the mast" works well, keeps lines simple and we could reef our older boat in 90 seconds, from start to finish. But one had to go forward. It also helped to have a cam clutch on the mast to temporarily hold the main halyard until you could get back to the cockpit to tension it, as we didn't have winches on the mast. (this cam clutch is a good idea in any case, allowing a quick "grab" of the main halyard for a multitude of reasons. It is placed so that a slight load from the cockpit end will cause the halyard to release itself from the cam.) In this system, we stitched some whipping line into the halyard at the exact place it would be on the winch when the halyard was low enough to make the dingle ring over the hook. When we lowered the halyard to this mark, we could go forward knowing it was in the right place to make, but not have too much halyard to tighten up later. We could feel this stitch at night when it was dark and it never bothered the line as we laced it through the cover so it didn't bind the cover to the core.

We now use the "two line" reefing system like Gene described and it allows complete reefing from in the cockpit. It is quick to reef but has the disadvantage of extra lines and can be slow to raise the main again as there is a fair amount of friction pulling the reefing lines back through the turning blocks. Still, if one is cruising short handed or doesn't want to move out of the cockpit, it works quite well. Everything is a trade-off on boats.

Good luck on this project as the ability to quickly and easily reef can completely change the way one looks at sailing, no matter where you sail.

James
White Star #450
Puerto Vallarta