Reef Clew Line, a closer look

An alternate method to rig the reef clew line discusses leading the reef clew line over the leech of the sail and back onto the same side. This will ensure that the sail is pushed out like a window blind during reefing rather than getting bunched up under the clew line.

You can see how the clew line is led through the sail and up to the clew reef cringle, back over the leech and through the reef block on the boom. This will ensure that the sail is kicked to port as the sail is reefed and the vertical sections of reef line will shield the sail cloth from getting pinched in the reefing system.

The downside to protecting the sail in this manner is the leech will suffer from chafe as the clew line will constantly rub this area. This is easily maintained with a chafe patch (a sacrificial piece of sailcloth placed in an area of wear that can easily be replaced while protecting the underlying sail).

Self tacking Staysail

Staysails are the smaller jib on a cutter. They are mounted to the inner forestay, which is the stay inboard of the headstay and attaches only partway up the mast. When tacking a cutter, you have the jib and staysail to sheet on each tack. This can become quite a chore when short tacking through narrow waterways.

To reduce the number of sheets that need to be adjusted, I have made the staysail self tacking. This lets me short tack up a narrow waterway, while only having to adjust the sheets of the jib (if I'm flying it). If it is a very narrow waterway, I will lower the jib and fly just the main and staysail, allowing me to short tack without having to adjust a single sheet. This lets me direct all of my focus to avoiding obstacles and other boat traffic while working to windward.

The reduced sail area does lower my speed, which is a good idea when sailing in crowded and cramped waters. If we were to collide with an obstacle, our slower speed will give us more time to react while lessening the damage of the collision. 

Self tacking staysails are nothing new, but most require very complicated systems and hardware to work properly. There are a few requirements that must be met for a headsail to self tack:

The sail can not overlap the mast
The sheets must be free and clear of any deck hardware
The sail needs a clew block to allow for trimming twist from the sail (optional but very helpful)

If the sail overlaps the mast, any self tacking hardware would hit the mast on each tack. It simply would not work.

The sheets need to be free and clear of any deck hardware to avoid them getting hung up on said hardware. Also, laying on hardware can cause stress points that will lead to chafe on the line.

Source: http://ipy.com/wp-content/themes/ipy/yacht-gallery/estero/estero-overview.jpg

Some common self tacking systems include the Hoyt Boom which is used on Island Packets to make their staysail self tacking.

Source: http://www.harken.com/uploadedImages/Tech_Corner/Systems/jib2.gif?n=4850

Booms are wonderful for sail control, which is why your mainsail has a boom under it. The problem with booms on the foredeck is they hurt when they smash into your shins! If your headsail is flogging around, so will the boom under it! The alternative is to negate the boom and instead mount a traveler on the foredeck ahead of the mast. 

All these extra parts, in the form of booms or traveler tracks cost a fair amount to have made and installed on your yacht. There must be an easier way?

There is! Simply installing a block on the clew will convert your staysail into a self tacking staysail. The block runs on a bridle which allows the sail to slip from side to side as you change your tacks. If you get hit by the block while the sail is flogging, it doesn't hurt that bad (as long as you use a light weight block). 

While this self tacking system is inexpensive, it is also less than perfect. The sail will have less than ideal sail shape while sailing to windward and significant twist when sailing off the wind. This is because the sail is sheeted onto a bridle. To help counteract the twist, I attach the block higher up on the clew block. This is effectively the same as moving the sheet blocks forward to apply more tension to the leech. 

The first version of this system involved my old staysail which had a clew cringle and a very heavy block. The bridle was sheeted to the toe rail, fixed at one point with the other end running back to the cockpit. The principle concept was there, but it needed a lot of tweaking to get to its current state.

The theory was: "As the sheet is eased, the bridle will loosen and the clew can rise and fall off the wind towards the leeward side. As the sheet is brought in, the bridle will tighten and the clew will stay more midship. As you tack, the block would slide along the bridle to fall onto the other tack. Sheet control was simply bridle tension, the sail would always fall towards the leeward side." This worked, but the lead angles were so wide that I was never able to point very high with it; I simply was unable to sheet it in all the way.  It was also a tripping hazard when walking forward on the deck. This led to the second version of the system.

The second version involved the new staysail which had a clew bock installed on it. The clew block allows for adjusting the lead angle on the sail instead of moving the lead blocks fore and aft. I also moved the bridle leads inboard to the staysail track. This version worked better to windward and I was able to remove some of the twist by attaching the block further up on the clew board. As you can see, the sail still cups at the clew and doesn't have the best of sail shape. For short tacking, this isn't such a big deal, but when on a long tack, this is lost efficiency.

This led to the third and current version of the self tacking staysail. The self tacking block is left attached to a higher hole on the clew block. On a lower hole, a standard sheet is attached to the staysail, allowing excellent sail trim and shape to be achieved on long tacks. The self tacker is also a very lightweight Carbo Harken block, further reducing the agony from getting hit by the block when the sail is flogging.

Development of the self tacker has finished, because I am pleased with where it has come to. While short tacking into or out of a harbor, I can set the self tacking sheet on the winch and work my way to windward. Once out of the harbor and into larger water ways, I can set the non-self tacking sheet on the winch and work my way towards my destination with perfect sail shape. 

While the self tacker is not perfect, it only cost me a few blocks (three to be exact) to rig and is easy to convert back to a regular sheeting system if I were to require it. This was very important to me since I heave to during storm conditions and a self tacker will not allow the sail to be backed. The simple act of switching the sheet on the winch is all that is required to convert from self tacking to regular sheeting.

I use this on my staysail, but if you have a sloop rig, you can use this on your non-overlapping headsail to convert your regular jib into a self tacking jib for short handed tacks.

Headsail Reefing

Roller furling headsails have the distinct advantage of limitless reefing. If you feel that your headsail is a bit over-canvased, simply pull in on the furling line to reduce the amount of sail area exposed. 

The goal of reefing is to produce a smaller sail that is nearly flat, that way any excess wind is spilled off and does not overpower the smaller sail. Roller furling does make the sail smaller, but baggy instead of flat. Foam luffs can help reduce the amount of bagginess, but it will still occur to some extent. While a smaller baggy sail may be more powered than an unfurled flat sail, the truth remains that the sail can simply be furled up even more, making the exposed sail that much smaller. While roller furling can't produce the best sail shape when partially furled, it does have the distinct advantage of being able to always make the sail smaller.

Hank on sails are known for their reliability and excellent sail shape. There are much fewer moving parts involved in setting a hank on sail as compared to all the mechanisms needed for a roller furling sail. The problem is sail makers don't have a method in place to reef your headsails.

When I talked with my sail maker about this, his suggestion was to purchase a smaller jib. This means that I would have to perform a headsail change during reefing conditions. This might be the standard operating procedure on board racing sailboats where there are plenty of crew to help execute a speedy headsail change and a limitless budget to buy all of these sails, but I don't have either of these faculties on my boat. I needed a way to reef my hank on sails that could be quickly carried out alone and not break the bank!

Yes, I had a juniper bush growing in my bow. It died because I forgot to water it for a few weeks (and maybe the salt spray).

The old staysail that came with the boat had a reef point in it, and this gave me the idea to have reef points added to my current headsails. I talked it over with my sailmaker and they decided to give it a try. They told me that most people with hank on sails are racers and the rings add too much weight to the sail, which is why they don't typically put reefs in headsails. I told them I would be fine with a bit of extra weight in the sail and they went to work installing the reef points in the sails!

The standard way to reef a hank on headsail is to:

Lower the sail into the deck
Attach the reef tack point to the deck
Attach the sheets to the reef clew point
Raise the reefed sail and adjust the sheet leads as needed

The problem with this in my opinion is when I lower the headsail, the boat becomes unbalanced. This will make the boat head into the wind as it has lost all lee helm from the headsail. The other issue is I would have to crawl all the way out onto the forepeak to switch the tack point during rough seas. I know I should reef before it gets bad, but at some point, I'm going to be caught off guard and need to do it in sloppy weather.

I have installed a downhaul system for the headsails so that I can lower them all the way from the mast in a controlled manner, never setting foot further forward in heavy weather. Why not rig something else up that will keep me at the mast where my halyards are when I need to put in a reef? I did just that.

Photo courtesy of Anastasia Forrestal

I attached a 7mm piece of polyester covered dyneema to the deck tack point, up through the reef tack loop, back through the deck tack point, and then aft towards the mast. This lets me stand in front of the mast, lower the halyard while pulling in on the tack line (through a 2:1 pulley system). Once the tack is drawn down, I can cleat it off on a spring cleat and attach the reefed sheet lines to the reefed clew.

Once the tack and clew are attached, I can easily crank on the halyard to tension the luff again, producing a very flat reefed headsail. 

With the sail up and loaded, the foot will blow in the wind like a skirt. Simply rolling it up will get it out of the way and make it compact for the reefing lines to hold in place.

I also like to tie the clews together to help keep them from flopping around. A flying clew plate can cause a serious amount of pain!

The reef lines are simple to make. I took 1/4 inch 3 strand nylon and passed it through the reef holes, tying double fisherman knots on either side to keep them in place. The ends of the lines are crown knotted and backspliced to keep it from unraveling. Since these lines will be rubbing on the sails, it is imperative that the ends be fuzzy and not melted into hard points!

On a side note, I am using a snap shackle during the dockside test fitting of this sail. Never use a snap shackle in stormy conditions! If that shackle were to open up by accident, the sail is going to turn into a flag, balance will be lost, and it will be really hard to attach another sheet in its place. Always use a sheet that is tied securely with a bowline or a larkshead knot for any reefed sails.

Name Brand vs Econo Brand

When you look at the prices for ropes, you may be shocked at how much some brands want for their line. Why pay several dollars per foot when you can buy the same size line from another brand for pennies?

There is actually a difference! I'm in the process of making rope fenders and I need a lot of line that will wrap the whole fender up in a nice package. This line will be under no tension and is purely decorative. I was paying $1.25 per foot for 1/2" Three Strand from New England Ropes and thought this was going to be too expensive to wrap the fenders. I decided to go with an Econo Brand of line where each foot only cost me $0.50 per foot. When you are talking 600 foot spools, that's a difference of $450 per spool!

The differences are greatly apparent! The more costly New England Ropes has tighter wrapped yarns, stronger lays, and resists unraveling. The Econo Brand has much larger yarns which are hardly wrapped and will unlay if the ends are not taped tightly. 

The tighter yarns also translate into better chafe resistance which directly affects the longevity of a line on board your yacht. The simple act of tying many half hitches has led the Econo Brand rope to pull apart. The line is riddled with little blebs where the yarns are pulling out of the lays from tying so many knots. If this were a working line on the boat, those blebs would be quickly chafed open, leading to premature chafe failure. 

Imagine your docklines, chafing on the chocks as the boat bobs around the slip, or the anchor rode dragging on the bottom of the sea floor. These actions would wreak havoc on a cheap rope, causing yarns to pull out and break. In these working situations, the consequences are much greater. Your boat could break free of the pier and begin to drift, causing damage to your vessel and those around it. If the anchor rode were to chafe through and snap, you will begin to drift through the water with the added cost of buying a new anchor!

If you are buying rope for your boat, don't let price dictate your decision. Do buy quality ropes that will protect your vessel as they provide a long and reliable service life!

Halyard Safety

In the event of a Man Over Board emergency, you will want to have as many tools to aid in recovery of the crew member as possible. Once the person is alongside the vessel, it can be a distinct challenge to pull the person back on deck. This is where the halyard comes into play.

You want to have at least one halyard that is long enough to reach the water to allow for crew retrieval. On board Wisdom, all the halyards are long enough to reach into the water alongside of the boat. 

The reason I have all the halyards able to reach the water is simple: What if you are using the retrieval halyard when someone falls over? Freeing the halyard simply adds one more step to the retrieval process. For this reason, all my halyards are long enough to reach the water so that any free halyard will work during the emergency situation.

When purchasing new halyards, be sure to add enough length for them to reach the water.