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Submitted on February 19, 2007 by Guy Austin

Question: Coding for my Bavaria 33 requires a 3rd reef of 60% what does this mean? Is it 60% sail area left or 60% of the sail area reefed in or is it 60% of the height of the sail left up the mast or 60% of the height of the sail reefed in?

Also what reefing systems are available that can be operated from the cockpit? There are already two single continuious line reefs in the sail but these offer a lot of resistance when shaking out a reef. Would these be better off changed to another system?

Thanks Guy

Answer: Dear Guy -

The area reduction is in the luff length, not the actual area of the sail, in other words your third reef is above the half height of the sail and the logical next step would be a Trysail that would have a similar luff length, but less area do to a hollow leech.

Modern Single line reefing systems are good and should be able to operate from the cockpit, but smaller production boats do not tend to have leech and luff blocks, hence the reef line friction is increased. So you may like to invest in some leech blocks to help get the lines to move easier. You should be able to retrofit these.

Hope this helps.

Regards
Neil Mackley
North Sails, UK

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