Quote:
Originally Posted by smackdaddy
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Now, I'm all for reefer madness.
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I love it! Now SmackDaddy says he is all for reefer madness. I had my suspicions before this point (takes one to know one). Reefing is just part of life.
I shared and experience with several of the SN crowd here on Bene505's boat where we put in the first reef and reefed in the fore sail. As the wind built up to nearly 40 kt. gusts we put in the second reef and it was really difficult to furl in the fore/head sail but we did. At this point we found that due to the waves we were making only about 3 knots headway with just the main up so we engaged the engine at a near idle speed and the extra forward momentum helped to get us going at a much more comfortably in about 4 - 5' seas. If we traveled slower we would rock that much more and lose forward progress because of it without the engine pushing as well. This was on a 50' sailboat on LI Sound.
The next day there were 50 kt. peak gusts with an average in the high 30's and we opted for no sails as the waves were a trifle bigger and the wind had shifted to the opposite direction we wanted to go (head winds). Even a smallish body of water can get mad with a lot of wind and real sailors reef and/or start their engines if they want to get home and out of the wrath of the weather. There were 5' rollers avg. out on the water that day which even made a 50' mono hull a bit uncomfortable.
Reefing is smart; splitting your sails is amateur hour.
Reefer is another thing entirely.