reefing the main sail at a catamaran

[p435]

As I am hearing many opinions about reefing the main sail at a catamaran, I am interested to learn about the ways catamaran main sails are reefed by members of this forum's Multihull Sailboats section.

Reefing the main while sailing

• upwind,
• with the wind abeam,
• sailing downwind.

I am thanking you in advance for your replies.

[Mr B]

I have a 2003 Gemini 105MC, With a 150 Genoa,

I dont sail or motor upwind as it slams to much with the low bridge deck,
Over hundreds of miles on the one voyage,
Downwind and beam on,
I had my mainsail up and in every position imaginable, With the full Genoa out,
I managed an extra one knot on the GPS, 24 nautical miles a day,
Im a cruiser, not a racer, So 24 knots in a day is not worth worrying about,

So I put the covers on the main and tied it down,
I tied off the boom so it would not move sideways, My life line runs along the top of it,
And its been like that ever since,
I do get 9 to 11 knots on the Genoa, with a 20 knot breeze,
I have got 14 knots with my 30 foot sailchute up, in a 20 knot breeze, DW,
Im not keen on anything over 10 knots as things happen too fast,
Being single handed for over 6000 Nmiles, All ofshore, I err on the safe side,
70 knot winds and 6 metre seas, I drag my drive leg and keep it between 3 and 10 knots, Beam on or down wind,

I asked the sail maker about using only the Genoa when Im sailing, I was getting the Genoa restitched,
She said in a Cat, The main sail was unnecessary, The Genoa was enough to sail with,
I had considered taking the main and Boom off the boat totally, But then I thought, Its a great back up if the Genoa and Jib sails ever get wrecked, I still have a sail I can use,

My Gem is only a small Cat, 34 feet x 14 feet, So bigger Cats may be different,

Cheers, Brian,

[chris mac]

On our lagoon 42 TPI the numbers are basically 25 knots reef 1, 30 knot reef 2, 35 knot reef 3, above is reducing headsail.(apparent wind speed, any heading)
What we actually do is exactly the same as monos. We reef because of weather helm. When we start getting too much helm, we reef. Same speed, much smoother ride and less rudder. Typically that's boat speeds of 12 to 15 knots. (Although our best speed was 22, in the Gulf stream, surfing waves, so we put our second reef in)

[chrisr]

we have in-mast furling, so no set steps when reefing. just roll a bit in / out until we feel comfortable. often rolling a bit in / out multiple times in an hour if it's gusty

never go up wind in conditions where full main cannot be carried.

cheers,

[p435]

Thanks for your replies so far.



My question concerns the way you do the reefing. For example do you start the engines and turn the boat in the wind and reef.

Or for upwind sailing, do you keep genoa up, turn the boat into the wind for something like 50-70 deg, move the boom towards lee as much as possible so that the sail streams in the wind and reef under this conditions.

[Mr B]

To raise or lower my main, I face the boat into the wind,
Then raise or lower the main, I have lazy jacks,
So the main gets stuck in the lazy jacks if Im not into the wind,
Im single handed,
So I drive on the motor on Autopilot into the wind,
Keeping in mind, I dont tack, Its all in a straight line for hours on end,
Its also all offshore that I sail in,
Reefing was fully dependant on wind strength, I do that by feel,

[Rapanui]

Generally, the first reef I take in on our FP Athena is the mainsail and we do that without engine. I stay close hauled on autopilot wind control, ease the main traveller and mainsheet which de-powers the boat so the speed slows, ease the halyard to drop the first cringle on the bullhorn, winch halyard to tension luff and belay, haul in all 3 leech reef lines to remove slack, winch in 1st reef line and belay. Haul in mainsheet and then traveller to resume sailing. Topping lift remains set to both support boom while reefing but not hinder sailing. We have a stackpack and this takes about 1 minute plus another minute or so to tidy the halyard and reefing lines. All our controls apart from sheets and traveller are at the mast.

Off the wind, if judged not advisable to luff up to close hauled, sheet genoa in hard to backwind main, bring traveller in midships, winch in leech reefing line while 2nd person in cockpit if available eases mainsheet whilst easing main halyard until on bull horns, then tension luff. Ease main and genoa to resume sailing.
The only issues that can occur is if you do not shorten all the reefing lines together, the 2nd or 3rd reef lines can get trapped by the 1st and hinder pulling in a second or 3rd reef.

[chris mac]

Originally Posted by p435

Thanks for your replies so far.



My question concerns the way you do the reefing. For example do you start the engines and turn the boat in the wind and reef.

Or for upwind sailing, do you keep genoa up, turn the boat into the wind for something like 50-70 deg, move the boom towards lee as much as possible so that the sail streams in the wind and reef under this conditions.

Typically when downwind i will maintain course(no higher than 150 deg), and reef the tack, retention halyard, the reef the clew. Adjust the sheets and continue on.
Upwind I do the same but ease the sheet a bit to allow the clew reef to tighten up.

[Moontide]

When hard on the wind I just drop the traveler to leeward, ease the main and then reef and then re-trim the main. With the traveler down and sheet eased a little there is no load on the main and it is easy to reef. This pretty much works when close reaching and can do on a beam reach by just heading up a little.



Have never tried it going downwind. To do so I would trim the main in, keep tension on the reef outhaul as I lower the main. Then take in the reef tack. Figure keeping reef clew tighter will help pull the battens of the shrouds.

[HBrew]

Upwind/beam/downwind - I change course and set autopilot to 40 degrees AWA. Let traveller slide out so the main loses power and reef.

Because the roach on my square top main is significant, I don’t try to reef downwind unless the winds are very light.

[thinwater]

Originally Posted by p435

Thanks for your replies so far.



My question concerns the way you do the reefing. For example do you start the engines and turn the boat in the wind and reef.

Or for upwind sailing, do you keep genoa up, turn the boat into the wind for something like 50-70 deg, move the boom towards lee as much as possible so that the sail streams in the wind and reef under this conditions.

Funny about the responses. You did say how, not when.


Regarding lazy jacks, they are fine when lowering but can be trouble when hoisting in rougher conditions. Pull them forward, out of the way (they should be designed to retract in seconds). Leave them retracted while sailing, if you like, but re-deploy before lowering or reefing. They REALLY make reefing easier.


I disagree with sailing head sail only in strong conditions, and this relates to how you recover the headsail. If you can't blanket it behind the main, it is generally hard on the sail and the gear. Your choice. I would much rather run deep reefs in the main, and I would rather sail with 3 reefs in the main than jib only. Obviously, I have done both on several (every) boats.


Lowering and reefing off downwind is possible on some boats and not on others. You'll need to keep the main off the diamond wires and light on the shrouds. It can be very tricky. The best way to find out is to try some stuff. Lowering or reefing on a beam reach is possible, depending on the track, but it is NOT a heavy weather plan, since being beam-on is bad. It is a moderate weather thing.



The simplest methods are motoring into the wind or sailing close hauled with the jib in TIGHT. Both should be easy. Too rough to head up wind? That means you waited way to long to reef. In general, you will have more jib up than main off the wind (better balance), so roll up some genoa before heading up wind, reef the main more, and then turn away and let some genoa back out.


Note: I never actually used the self tacking jib in my avitar. I hated that sail. Poor balance, not enough power reaching, and very limited roller reefing range. I used a larger genoa that roller reefed very well.

[Paul Howard]

In about 70,000nm of catamaran sailing, including high latitudes north (arctic circle) and south (rounding Cape Horn) I have found the easiest and most secure method of reefing the mainsail is to heave-to on my catamaran, same as you heave-to a monohull, jib backed and mainsail sheet slack, helm turned about half-way as if you were steering the boat into the eye of the wind.
When the boat is stopped and jigging back and forth, alternately the bows blow off slightly down wind, then rounds up closer into the wind, but does not tack.
The boat is lying on a diagonal to the waves, across the longest and most stable length of the catamaran, think, on a port tack with jib backed and mainsail boom to starboard, a line from the port bow to the starboard transom. The boat is steady and will stay like that with no need to tend the helm or run the engines.
Let the mainsail luff by further slacking the sheet. The mainsail is partially blanketed by the backed jib and the apparent wind is now at the level of the true wind, as the boat is not moving forward. Lower the main halyard until the desired reefing point is at the gooseneck, (I have to go to the mast to hook the reefing cringle into the horns at the gooseneck) and I use a light line to tie the cringle onto the hook so it will not shake off while I tension the main halyard.
Once the main halyard is tensioned and made fast, I then haul in the clew using the winch. There is plenty of time and the boat is relatively stable, as my catamaran will remain hove to like this for hours.
Once the foot of the sail is tensioned and the luff reef cringle is nearly at the boom and you are ready to begin sailing again, let the backed jib free and sheet in on the leeward side as per usual. you may need to let the reefed mainsail luff so the boat falls away to gain steerage. Sail off to gain some speed and then tack to your desired course.

[DEAN2140]

I'm surprised only one person suggested heaving to. I don't have catamaran experience so maybe they don't all heave to very well. On a monhull this is by far the easiest and safest way to reef IMO.

[meirriba]

A one time experience:
Crossing the Biscay almost dead down wind.
Wind gusting 25-30kn, waves estimated at 2.5m.
I was with alone on deck, other guy was a handicapped person with no use of his legs and asleep.
I turned the boat precisely downwind. Brought the mainsail to the middle of the traveler (and boat).
Then by small steps, eased the halyard, took down the first reef line until both were tight.
Collected/tightened lines of second and third reef.
Then made the repeated the first step.
I repeated until first reef was fully tight.
During the night, wind got up to 35-40kn, and I repeated the downwind closed main exercise to deploy second and third reef (third reef requires a trip to the mast on our cat (L400) as the line only collects the clew and the tack needs a cringle on a horn).

[catsketcher]

I usually go from full main to none, when I am sailing deep downwind. By the time it gets scary to sail under main, I am happy to glide just under genoa. I can raise the main under in under 20 knots on a square, slowly raising the sail each surf - it takes about 5 minutes. Much of the time I can drop the main on a square run, but when the wind blows up I have to round up.

The best time was last time in about 30 and really freshening quickly. I rolled the genoa up, got the main halyard all nice on deck (I have halyards on the mast), rounded the boat up and by the time we got to about 70 true the main started coming down. I pulled it down like crazy and ran back to the helm and bore away with no sail up - she still had way on. The whole thing took about 30 seconds and then I unrolled the genoa and we took off again. No engine and it went well. I then put the autopilot on and got everything squared away.

I really like the heaving to idea and will give it a go. My little piece of advice is to always bear away to furl or reef the genoa. I see people winding in their genoas head to wind or sailing upwind with genoas flapping and smashing themselves to bits. Bear away to a deep broad reach, the main blocks the genny and then quickly hand pull the genny in and then head back up. If I do it fast I lose 100 metres to leeward and it is all furled in 10 seconds.

cheers

Phil