Single Line Reefing per Mike Inmon

[delevi]

You guys asked, and here they are. Video of the setup. All credit goes to Mr. Inmon who provided the valuable info for the setup. It works very well. Per my previous thread, I scrapped single line reefing because it didn't work well, but with Mike's changes, it is a wonderful, efficient system, creating a prefectly shaped, flat sail. I have used it several times now in winds between 20-35 kts. All good.


Single Line reefing



8:1 outhaul with control to cockpit


Vang to cockpit


Later that day

PM me if you have questions.
fair winds,
Leon

[cuisto]

Nice Job of documenting your setup. I'm not saying i cant follow directions bud the visual helps with the natural dum dumb factor.

Thanks for your work!

[Bransher]

Leon,

I am going to assume that you keep your boat in the water. How practical is this setup for someone who always trailers to and from the water?

It already takes me too long to get the boat rigged and ready when I arrive at the launch site. It seems that this will just complicate the situation even more. What do you think?

[delevi]

Bransher,

I keep my boat on the trailer, fully rigged. I also have a part-time slip so I do leave it on the water for a few days to a few weeks at a time. Most mods which deal with sailing/rig will add time to rigging and derigging, unfortunately. I have shackles on all the mast mounted blocks, so all I need to do is pull the reefing lines out of the deck blocks and bundle the lines. The blocks on the mast come off to free up the boom w/sail, so no need to pull the reefing line out of the sail, which would be a major pain. As long as nothing gets tangled, I would say an extra 5 minutes.

Leon

[Bransher]

Leon,

Thanks for the info.

[Bob McLellan]

That is some of the best documentation and explanation I have seen. Thanks, just like being there. (Wish I was).

[Love MACs]

Delevi, you did so well even I understood the procedures and believe I could follow your instructions. And that is no small feat! Thanks for making it appear easy.



Allan

[c130king]

!!! REHASH OF OLD POST !!! (Sorry about that)

I was day-dreaming about my recent Christmas sailing adventure back in the US and was thinking about all the reefed sailing I did and the "issues" I had in executing the reef. So I did some searching of old posts and found some good stuff.

First of all, can anyone tell me how to get these videos, that Leon posted, to play. When I click on them I just get a new window with the picture of the slide strip...no video will open. I think I figured this out a long time ago when I had problems with other videos but now I can't remember how I got them to play. Any help?

I currently have single-line reefing led back to the cockpit. The line goes through the tack cringle first and then is run back along the boom to the clew cringle. Thus I had issues getting the clew down low on the boom...sail shape was baggy. Also had a few issues getting the luff tight so I had some wrinkles in the sail. But it worked, made sailing in the 15 mph winds more controllable...but it didn't look very good.

Here is a pic:



And we all know, it's not how you sail...it's how you look while you are sailing. Thus I need to make some changes to make my reefed sailing easier to accomplish and more "salty" looking.

My new plan for my reefing set-up will be a conglomeration of a few ideas I have seen posted here. I think I will run the single-line reefing only to the clew cringle. After I release the halyard I will go up on deck and physically place the tack cringle on the hook. I pretty much have to go up on top of the cabin anyway to loosen the vang...which I have learned is also important to getting the reef to execute properly. I will follow the Mike Inmon advice and attach a small block to the clew cringle so that the reefing line does not actually run through the cringle but through the block. And finally I will mark my reefing line and my halyard with black marks of some sort so that I know the "sweet spot" for both of these lines when releasing/yanking on them to execute the reef.

Does anyone have this sort of set-up? Any suggestions? Does anyone have pictures of the block in the cringle as Mike Inmon suggested?

Thanks,
Jim

[Moe]

I have the same problem. Click these:

http://s274.photobucket.com/albums/jj25 ... 3b9cea.flv

http://s274.photobucket.com/albums/jj25 ... a67d58.flv

http://s274.photobucket.com/albums/jj25 ... 59cdd0.flv

http://s274.photobucket.com/albums/jj25 ... 22bdba.flv

[Oskar 26M]

Jim: Thank you for reactivating this thread.

Moe: Thanks for the .flv links because I had a similar problem viewing the videos.

Leon: WOW! Thank you for the excellent instructional videos on your set-up.

I don't know how I missed the original post - maybe Oskar was in dry-dock awaiting trailer mods or was still so new to me that I was focussed on elementary stuff like how to dock "the pig on ice" in a cross wind. Whatever the excuse... I missed it, and went ahead installing a Harken-style single-line jiffy reefing system.

The Harken-style reefing system does not work at all well in my hands. Although it enables me to reef the sail from the cockpit, the reefing line pulls the tack first and binds as the tack is locked in place, so I cant get enough tension on the clew to flatten the sail without adding an additional reefing line. Kinda defeats the purpose.

Mike's modification, as illustrated in Leon's video, reverses the order in which tension is applied to the clew first and then the tack. It makes a great deal of sense and I cant wait to give it a try.

The vang and outhaul cockpit lines have been on my 'to-do' list for quite a while, but thanks to Leon's videos I know have a good idea of how to set them up.

Thanks also for the sailing video. I found it inspiring because the wind and sea conditions look so similar to ones I encounter often.

Many thanks guys

[delevi]

Everyone considering single-line reefing, please read!

This was an old thread. I put this setup together per Mike Inmon's suggestion, and though it was a big improvement over a traditional single line setup, I was still unhappy. My conclusion: single line reefing sucks. Sorry Mike. I have switched to two-line reefing and am much happier with the reefing process and the shape of the reefed sail. Now the mainsail has a pefectly flat shape. The issues with single line reefing was that the sail still had too much draft, and it would frequently bind, requiring a trip on deck, thus defeating the purpose. The lines were also very difficult to pull, which was a pain. If you guys grasp the single-line process, you can probably figure out splitting the wholde deal into two lines, working the reefing tack & reefing clew independently. The only drawback, especially in my case, is many lines. I have 3 reefs, thus 6 lines. In San Francisco, this is essential, though when trailering, I will probably derig all the reef lines and not re-rig... reefing the old fashioned way if needed. If anyone is interested, I can take video of my current (2-lline x3) setup when I have a chance. Just post here and I'll post the video. Although this thread has some archive value, I want to go on the record that this (single-line) setup is not what I currently use and not one I would recommend. Perhaps one of the moderators can make a notation to that affect.

Fair Winds,
LD TRIPPLE REEFED

[Shane]

Everyone considering single-line reefing, please read!

This was an old thread..... .... If anyone is interested, I can take video of my current (2-lline x3) setup when I have a chance. Just post here and I'll post the video.....

Fair Winds,
LD TRIPPLE REEFED

Leon,

I, for one, would appreciate it. My boat projects for the next month or so include a boom vang, outhaul with some purchase, cunningham, and some centerboard purchase (so the kids or admiral don't have to strain so much). Rather than running the lines down the mast & around/back down the gunwhales, I playing with the idea of mounting cleats (or combi block/cleat) right on the boom itself. The pluses would be less line & induced friction (from running lines around), but it would increase line mess/clutter in the center of the cockpit. I'm still undecided, but am leaning towards the boom mounting. If you (or anyone else) has any thoughts/experience of one method over the other, I'd love to hear them.

Regards,
Shane

[Oskar 26M]

Thanks for the prompt follow-up post Leon.

I too would be most appreciative if I could to see a picture of your six-line system when its convenient for you.

Meanwhile I've taken note of your opinion of single line reefing (which matches my opinion of the jiffy system I have - it sucks), so will rethink the layout of my system to convert it to double lines.

[delevi]

Shane, Oskar

Will take some video next time I"m at the boat.. hopefully within a week.

Shane,

I don't quite understand your description of lines on the boom. Are you talking jiffy reefing? Certainly less work running the lines, but it's difficult to actually get to the boom to set a reef without sheeting in, which means you have to motor into the wind. With my setup, I reef without even stopping. I luff the main while the jib still moves the boat, reef and keep going. I got it down to about a minute or less. This doesn't incldue tieing off the loose sail after reefing. With the Dutchman setup, it's actually not much of a mess so I leave it alone most of the time. If I know I'll be reefed a while and not being lazy, I'll put her on autopilot and tie off the sail... another few minutes.

My outhaul is also lead aft and uses 8:1 purchase. I used to have the vang lead aft as well, but went back to conventional since I was simply out of room with 6 reefing lines, outhaul, halyard, daggerboard, furler, and topping lift. Yep, that's 11 lines aft. My vang also doubles as a preventer which wouln't work while it was lead aft. Having gone through many configurations, this whole setup looks like a keeper. It does take an extra 20 minutes or so to rig/derig, but since I only do that a few times a year, it's well worth it; however, probably not the best situation for someone who rigs and launches every time out.

fair winds,
LD TRIPPLE REEFED

[c130king]

Moe, Leon,

Thanks for the info and the links to the videos. Good stuff for me to consider the next several months. Pretty sure I will go to a 2-line reefing system (for my single reefing point).

Cheers,
Jim