As we head into autumn in the Northern Hemisphere, it’s a perfect time for a little reefing refresher. Cooler temperatures and changing winds make it an ideal opportunity to review how to reduce sail efficiently and keep your boat balanced and fast.
Sailing your boat overpowered might feel fast, but it actually hurts your progress toward the next mark. Excessive heel increases leeway and reduces the efficiency of your keel and rudder, making your Velocity Made Good (VMG) suffer. Plus, the rudder has to fight excessive weather helm, which acts like a brake and slows you down further. To regain control and speed, you need to reduce sail area. You have two main options: switch to a smaller jib or reef the mainsail.
In short upwind legs around the buoys, you can often wait until the next mark to change to a smaller genoa and simply flog the main in gusts. But in distance racing, flogging an overpowered main for hours can lead to a damaged sail. When the next turning mark is hours or even days away, reefing is usually the quickest and simplest way to reduce sail. Additionally, the helm will often feel more balanced sailing with a mid-sized headsail and a reef, rather than a small blade and a full main. On a well-prepared boat, two people can tuck in a reef in under five minutes—much faster than waking the other watch to change headsails.
To get the most benefit from reefing, make sure the reef outhaul and halyard are tensioned tight. Loose controls let the sail become too full, increasing heel in strong winds. Notice how flat the foot of the sail is in Photo 1. Properly built sails are reinforced to handle these strains, so go ahead—winch that reef outhaul hard.
This article covers a common reefing technique for loose-footed mainsails, but your boat may be set up differently. If so, talk to your local rigger or your nearest UK Sailmakers loft for tips on the best approach for your boat.
Step 1: Rigging the Reef Clew and Outhaul
Rigging the reef clew correctly is the first step toward a smooth reefing experience. You need to rig the reef clew line so that it also acts as the reef outhaul, pulling the clew both aft and down when tightened. Diagram 1 shows the proper setup.
Lead the line from the end of the boom, up and through the reef clew grommet. Then bring the line down and under the foot of the sail, then around the the boom. Secure this low-friction loop you’ve created by tying a bowline around the portion of the reef line that is coming down from the grommet.
For sails that use low friction rings instead of grommets at the clew reef point, use these same general steps. When leading the reef line through the ring, determine which direction the ring naturally wants to rotate and lead the line without fighting that direction.
Step 2: Setting the Reef Tack
To put in a reef, drop the main halyard far enough to set the reef tack. If your sail uses a bolt rope instead of slides, this step can be tricky in heavy air because the luff must come out of the mast groove as you lower it. Be prepared to control the loose sail immediately. Most boats have reef hooks on each side of the boom that catch the reef tack (Photo 2).
- You have to lower the mainsail enough to get the reef tack’s ring onto the hook.
- Once the reef tack is made, the halyard is re-hoisted very tight.
- Next, ease the mainsheet and vang, then pull and winch the reef outhaul tight; otherwise, you won’t be able to get the outhaul tight enough to properly flatten the sail.
- The reef outhaul is tight enough when the reef clew is down to the boom and the mainsail reef foot is pulled straight between the reef tack and reef clew.
Standing on the cabin top with the mainsail flogging in the breeze makes it difficult to get the reef tack onto a standard hook. Plus, if the halyard isn’t tensioned quickly, the tack can easily flog right off the hook. A more secure and controlled method uses a reef strop, as shown in Photo 3.
This system uses a piece of low-stretch line (often Dyneema) with a snap shackle on one end. To set the reef tack, pass the shackle through the reef tack grommet and clip it onto a padeye located on the opposite side of the mast. This method ensures the tack is securely held in place. Remember that you will need different, dedicated strops for each reef point, as the height of the reef tack increases when multiple reefs are stacked.
Step 3: Attach Sail Ties
Once the reef tack and clew have been set, there is loose sail that needs to be controlled. Just roll up the sail parallel to the boom and tie it in place with a sail tie or bungee cord with high visual contrast to the sail. Whatever method you use, make sure the ties are visually obvious, or you risk ripping the sail by shaking the reef with the ties still in place. This is a common mistake at night. See Photo 4 for an example of sail ties in use.
For visual contrast, notice the blue ties (very easy to spot) versus the white ties (harder to see against the light sail). When choosing ties, select a high-contrast color—like white or neon against a dark sail, or blue/black against a light sail—to reduce the risk of ripping the sail by shaking the reef with a tie still in place.
Some sails do not have the grommets or webbing reef diamonds between the reef tack and clew at the first reef because there is not enough loose sail to worry about.
Do not tie the sail ties around the boom. The sail ties are only meant to bundle the loose sail, keeping it from flapping or collecting water from spray and rain, not to fasten the sail to the boom. Tying them around the boom creates hard points that distort the sail’s shape and can lead to chafe or tearing along the reefed foot when under load.
If you are going to be reefed for a long period, good seamanship calls for rigging a safety line that goes through the reef clew and around the boom. Rigging a safety line or using a velcro Dyneema strop will keep your sail from getting ripped if your reef outhaul breaks or the clutch opens.
With practice, you’ll be able to put in or shake out a reef quickly—an essential skill as wind conditions change during long races or passages. Reefing is another key sail trim technique to master if you want to perform your best on the water.
