We put the first reef in quite a bit. When the wind pipes up to about 18 the boat balances nicely with the first reef. When we put the asymmetrical up I put the first reef in. At sunset I put the first reef in. All of that makes for quite a bit of 'first reef'. I hardly ever put the second reef in as the wind has to be about 30 before it's needed. The fact that we're 40,000 lb. and 50 feet make it pretty stable in deteriorating conditions so the only time it's bad going forward is after a few hours of bad weather and by then the second reef has been in for quite a while. It takes less than a minute at the mast to pull the cringle over the hook, a quick dash to the mast, hook, and back to the cockpit so it's not bad at all. The main halyard is on an electric winch as well as the reefing line. Both are in the cockpit.

On a smaller vessel I'm sure it would be a lot different.