[Fau]

This is an embarrassing, however, I can't think of a way around it. I don't know how to reef my main. I've studied it and youtubed and I can't figure it out. I've attached pictures of the setup. Can someone look at them and give me a hand? Thanks

 

[Sal Paradise]

First take the cover off. :laugher

 

[fryewe]

Give Google and You Tube another try. Literally hundreds of images and descriptions. You may want to focus on your missing hardware and differences between your hardware and the hardware shown on your computer...you seem to be missing hardware and lines and to have some non-standard hardware on your rig...but it's hard to tell what your complete arrangements are with the photos you have posted.

 

[capecodda]

Fau,

Hard to tell from the pictures, but it looks like you've got some sort of stack pack system as a sail cover, and jiffy reefing.

Bottom line, is no matter how exactly the lines are routed, a line goes through the hole in sail in your picture near the mast, and pulls down. Another line goes through the hole in back of the sail you showed in your picture, and pulls down and aft. You lower the main halyard a bit, and tighten both of those lines to reduce sail.

Different designs route these lines different ways. Some designs lead the lines all the way back to the cockpit so you can do it from there. Others require you to tighten these lines from the mast or boom. Some route the lines internal to the boom. It looks like perhaps the reefing lines are not in place so you'll have to find some sensible routing for both of them.

Hope this helps….Happy sailing and new year.

 

[Faster]

Look here for a variety of setups you should be able to make work.

Looks like you've got enough hardware to sort it out, just need to add line...

https://www.google.ca/search?q=main...JM72oASkxoAQ&ved=0CAcQ_AUoAQ&biw=1920&bih=870

 

[PeterJYC]

Yeah, if you can get more complete pictures that would be great (cover off - boom and just above the foot of the main). We could be looking for a hook for the tack area or another function but it's tough to see. Same for clew and foot of sail.

 

[nolatom]

Once you've sorted it out, remember it's better, and easier to reef the tack cringle first, then do the clew. If you do the latter first, it's hard to get the former into place.

But again, it's all on YouTube. Good luck. Practice doing it *before* you need it, but we know you will... ;-)

 

[Jeff_H]

It would be helpful if you had pictures of the clew end of the boom so that we can see the hardware back there.

In a broad general sense, guessing at what is probably at the aft end of the boom, it would seem like there should at least be a cheek block near the end of the boom. The mainsail should have slot in the foot somewhere below the clew reef cringle as well.

Looking at the photos and based on those conjectures, before going sailing I would rig a long line to be used to tie in the reef at the clew. I would start attaching that line by tying an eye in line with a bowline around the boom at the location of the slot in the mainsail, or in the case of a loose footed mainsail, below and aft of the reef clew cringle. Then I would run the line through the reef clew cringle, then aft on the boom to the cheek block (conjecttured above), then forward to the block that you can see near the gooseneck, and then aft again to the cleat on the side of the boom. That line needs to be loose enough that you can raise the sail without the line being tight.

The way that I would rig a reef would be to release the mainsheet, vang, and downhaul and lower the mainsail so the reef tack cringle was approximately at the height of the gooseneck track. I would then tie webbing or a short length of line through the kringle and under the gooseneck and tie them tightly so the cringle is held down tight to the boom at the gooseneck.

Then I would tension the long line for the clew of the sail taking all the slack out of the line so that the clew cringle is pulled down hard against the boom and aft so that the fot of the reefed sail is very tight. If this is a comparatively small mainsail, you should be able to tension it and bring in the reef with the sail flying. On a bigger sail, you do not have the mechical advantage to tension the foot of the sail with the sail flying and so may need to drop the sail so the foot of the sail has no wind in it in order to tie in the reef clew line properly.

Once the clew is tied off, then tension the down haul and vang and go back to sailing normally.

Jeff