Toller,

I'm glad you asked.

I was telling Willian, that there is no chance you, I or anyone I've
ever known could reef a little boat under deteriorating conditions.
The wrap the mast trick used on a few small boats can't work because the
head stray will prevent a smooth wrap of the mast.

And - Yes this is a skil you should learn.
If you run (release) the main halyard, the boom will fall and the sail
will be loose. This is not a workable situation. If you can maintain
way enough for control, you will not be able to bring the boat about.
The mainsail will end up overboard and that will stop you pretty fast.
You may also get beat up by the boom and sail trashing around on top
of you.

Your thought - though - is mostly correct, but unload the main by
running (releasing) the sheet (yes - the main will get flogged - sorry).
You might also trim the jib about as flat as you can to carry you as
close to the wind as possible. We are talking about little boat
survival sailing here and style points don't count until you are safe.
It is important that you maintain enough headway to have control of the
boat, because as soon as you do not have control the weather will.

You DO want to run into the wind. It is less likely to get you into
trouble because you can go back during the lulls.

Enjoy the boat, I'm here a lot if I can help at all

Matt Colie


Toller wrote:
"Matt Colie" wrote in message
...

William,

He doesn't stand a snowball's chance.

The boat carries a jib, so he can't do that trick at all. Not to
mention that pulling a reef in under in a small boat just isn't going to
happen (experience speaking here).

He need to learn to dump the main strap in the jib in and head up under
the weather breaks.


What does that mean? In retrospect I probably could have dropped the main
and sailed home with just the jib.


Matt Colie

William R. Watt wrote:


A piece of shock cord from the top of the daggerboard forward and down

to

some point on the boat will keep it from floating up in the slot.

Letting out the mainsheet to dump wind will do more for stability than
adding lead to the daggerboard.


The main was out almost to the point of fluttering when it happened.
Perhaps there was a wind shift with the gust; that is pretty common here.


Can you reef the sail? Can you add reef points to the sail? Can you wrap
some sail around the mast? Reducing the size of the sail will reduce its
power.


The sail has reef points, but I don't go out when the wind is that strong,
and there is no way to reef it if the wind picks up.

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