Sail Ties and reefing

[hpeer]

I have seen sail ties on the Web that are loops of line with two knobs. I think that they are made for to be semi-permanent reef ties but I'm not sure. Does anyone have experience with them?

I have a 33' cutter I singlehand. My main has two reef points, with grommets. I want things simple, no lazy-jacks, etc.

Once last year I waited too long to reef and had trouble reeving the sail ties through the grommets. Problem made worse because my reef outhaul got fouled and I didn't figure that out for a while.

Anyway, I was looking for a way to afix sail ties into the main. I don't want to sew them in in case I don't like it and want to take them out later.

[Tartan34C]

Reef pennants are often made of light three strand line rove into the grommets with a stopper knot on each side of the sail. When you reef each pennant is tied with a reef knot around the bunt of the sail after bringing the new clew and tack down to the boom. I prefer to tie the pennants around just the bunt of the sail to minimize the chances of chafing and others tie it around both the bunt of the sail and the boom because they have bolt rope instead of slugs for the foot of the sail.
All the best,
Robert Gainer

[sailaway21]

I would recommend either line, as 34 suggests, or flat nylon strap sail ties. Leave 'em in either way. Not a fan of the bungee ball and loop/socket set-up. When part of it fails you've got nothing to work with and have to scramble for a length of small stuff. Stranded line with a couple of Matthew Walker knots looks handsome, and if you use synthetic you can pick your color. Good winter project in front of the fire.

[paulk]

Our setup uses the clew reefing pennant as the outhaul/downhaul and we don't bother over much with tying off the reefed portion of the sail unless it's making too much noise flapping. If it is too noisy, nylon sailstops (we use the double thickness kind, that stay flat better and are easier to untie than the single thickness webbing that is often available) are easy to slip through one or more of the grommets in the sail and around the boom. K.I.S.S. The knotted bungee cords are cute, but in conditions that warrant reefing, are you going to trust them?

[Tartan34C]

Sailaway21,
I suggested round line instead of webbing because I don’t know of a good stopper knot for webbing that can be undone after putting stress on the reef pennant. Now that I think of it, what knot would you use to tie in a reef if you use webbing? Don’t you find that webbing and knots don’t work together very well if you put much of a strain on the knot?
All the best,
Robert Gainer

[T34C]

Beware the bunge with the stopper on the end. If it ever slips out of your hand while you are trying to stretch it, you'll be picking your teeth up off the deck.

[j34035]

I got rid of mine for that reason. One popped loose from my hand while lashing a sail, and the little ball hit me right in the center of the forehead. Now I use nylon ties.
DD

[TejasSailer]

We've had a sail tie on a reefed clew part under load. We now use line.

[sailaway21]

34,
Absolutely.
My flat sail ties seem to hold themselves in the grommet with no stoppers. But when I switch to line I will of course need something.
I don't put much strain on them and so use a reef knot and might use a slip reef on the ones made of line. I'm only tidying up the sail. And I do not use them at clew and outhaul.