Reefing a furling jib

[over65]

Should one assume a furling jib can be reefed or must the furling jib be especially designed for reefing ?

[tdw]

Originally Posted by over65

Should one assume a furling jib can be reefed or must the furling jib be especially designed for reefing ?

Yes, No, Maybe, Kind of, Perhaps.

Furling headsails tend to become exceedingly inefficient when reduced too much in size. I believe that newer furling gear does the job better than older and there are ways of packing a furling headsail so that it sets more efficiently. So fine if all you want is to reduce from, say, a number one to two but once you are getting down to storm jib size you are best advised to have a purpose built storm sail. We have an inner forestay that is there purely for the purpose of handling the storm jib. Advantage of this setup is that removal of the genoa is not required in order to set the storm jib. Oh, never had to use the thing as yet. May that situation remain unchanged.

[sailingdog]

The real issue is the furling unit. Not all furling units are designed to work as reefing units. If the unit was designed to work as a reefing unit, it will generally have a sail that can be reefed on it. YMMV. BTW, even a well-made furling sail with a foam luff will only keep a decent shape down to about 75-80% of its full size. So, if you have a 150% Genoa, don't expect it to work very well when rolled up to the size of a 100% jib.

[Giulietta]

Here is one that can be reefed, the two red dots are the reefing limits.

[sailingdog]

Giu-

I always thought that was the blood of the last bowman you had on your crew...

[Giulietta]

What bow man????

[danjarch]

In my expeirince, the jib like Gui's that wrap around a pole that is on the stay can be used as a roler fuler, but the cheaper roler fulers wrap around the wire sewn into the jib. There is nothing to hold the head from rolling back out. Me and a buddy rig his jib to use it in a shortened state. His boat is a 17' daysailer, so I wouldn't recomend this for a bigger boat.

[sailingdog]

Thanks Giu... just made my night... I needed a good laugh... and your photoshopped face did it...

[Giulietta]

Originally Posted by danjarch

In my expeirince, the jib like Gui's that wrap around a pole that is on the stay can be used as a roler fuler....

POLE???????????????????????????? WHAT POLE?????????????????????????


Does my boat look like a lap dance cabarett to you?????????????????????

[danjarch]

Well's yous never see such fancy sailing yachts down in the swamps