Mainsail Reefing Lines

[awilson]

I am the proud new owner of a CP-19.  While I have had some sailing experience, it has been 20 years since I have owned a sailboat.  As you can imagine being in this situation means that I come across many instances where I am stumped.

One of these issues is with the reefing lines on the mainsail.  The problem is that my mainsail does not have reefing lines - although it does have reefing points.  I am not an expert at such things, but I believe that I should have lines tied through these reef points so that I am not having to rummage for reefing lines at a time when weather is forcing me to reef the mainsail.

So my question is this:

1.  Should I have fixed reefing lines at the reefing points?

2.  If so, what type of line should I use - and how long should they be?

3.  How should I affix the lines?  Figure 8 Knots on each side of the sail?

Thanks in advance for your help.

Andy
Lubbock, TX
CP-19 "Sanctuary"

[Paul]

AWilson:

Welcome to the forum and Congratulations on your "new" boat.  There is a reefing method you're probably referring to called Jiffy Reefing.  CP's are typically set up with such, but there are some options.  I found an article online that helped with some such decisions.

Check out LINK

$0.02

[Lost Lake]

I don't have any reefing points on my main sail.... Perhaps they didn't include those on the early models....

[Craig Weis]

Yes my 19 has reefing grommets in the main sail and I do have some non-braded cordage [line] through the sail and tied off with figure 8 stopper knots. Lines are each long enough to reef down the sail to the boom, and tie off the excess under the boom. You still need to place the sail's grommet at the mast into the curley pig tail on the boom's head where it attaches to the mast, and then pull and tighten the sail. The outhaul may need to be adjusted too at the end of the boom. skip.

[NormD]

In case you didn't already figure things out, this diagram should help. Don't be put off by the pricing shown on the Harken website. You can purchase the necessary parts for less elsewhere. Some of the parts may already be on your boat.
The diagram shows how to rig either a single reefing line or two separate lines back to the cockpit. An alternative way is to cleat both lines on the boom after running them through a block fore and aft.
In my experience, you don't have to tie off the two remaining cringles.

http://www.harken.com/rigtips/reefing.php