Cruising Sailors Forum Archive

Re: October winds are here, early. How do you tie your second reef in(or third)? / I ease

the halyard down past a pre marked spot and connect a snap shackle (instead of the hook) to the dog ears. Then I haul in the outhaul which passes through a block at the bottom of the gooseneck, down to a block at the bottom of the mast back then up through a cam cleat on the mast and on up to the mast winch. Then I haul on up the mainsail to the pre marked spot. During the day when I can see I don't need the marks but at night with no moon, 30 knots of wind at three in the morning, marks are good! I like snap schackles because they don't fall off like the hooks do. I like the cam cleats because it's quick and simple. Three in the morning in the dark with 30 knots, simple is good! Both sets of reef points are set up this way. As for the outer end of the boom, I tie a boland around the boom with knot laying on the right side of the boom for the reef. The line goes up through the cringle and back brown to a turning block that's built into the end of the boom. The boat started out with a single line reefing system but that was such a PITA that I soon got rid of it. The good thing is that it left a nice turning block at the end of the boom.

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