On Wed, 23 Jun 2010 19:52:54 -0700 (PDT), Katie Ohara
wrote:

Not directly related to reefing, but becoming a very popular mainsail
management technique, is the so called "stack pack" system which
utilizes something called lazy jacks to guide the sail back on to the
top of the boom when it is dropped.

I do have a set of lazy jacks which I have not yet installed mostly
because in my older and wiser age, I am now afraid of going up the
mast. I do agree that slab reefing is so simple as to be hard to
match. Mine is done with two control lines from the cockpit.

You might be able to make temporary lazy jacks without going up the
mast if you have extra halyards available. My old Cal-34 was rigged
out with port and stbd spinnaker halyards. When we were in cruising
mode I'd run a length of 1/4 inch shock cord down each side of the
boom, each piece having a small loop in the middle. When it came
time to drop the main we'd lead the spin halyards aft around the
shrouds and clip them on to the loops in the shock cord. By raising
the halyards half way, the shock cords would stretch out and form
instant lazy jacks. It worked well for us, not as elegant as a stack
pack system, but still a big improvement over a loose mainsail
flapping around.