Sail Selection Chart -- When to Reef

[Catherine Monaghan]

This chart appears in the Cruising World/US Sailing Safety at Sea seminars pamphlet. Past visitors to this board have raised questions regarding when to reef. This should help answer those questions.
<IMG SRC="http://www.hometown.aol.com/bcomet/safety/reefing.jpg" WIDTH="700" HEIGHT="1271" ALIGN="MIDDLE" BORDER="0" NATURALSIZEFLAG="3">

catherine_monaghan@merck.com
CD32 <a href="http://www.hometown.aol.com/bcomet/real ... ization</a>, #3
Rahway, NJ
Raritan Bay



catherine_monaghan@merck.com

[Bruce Bett]

Catharine:

With all due respect to Cruising World and to yourself etc. This looks pretty conservative to me. I see few boats of any kind starting to reef at 11 to 16 knots. Cape Dories with their conservative rigs and their heavy displacement are just getting to hull speed at 11 knots.

Bruce Bett
Sostenuto
CD25 #496

This chart appears in the Cruising World/US Sailing Safety at Sea seminars pamphlet. Past visitors to this board have raised questions regarding when to reef. This should help answer those questions.
<IMG SRC="http://www.hometown.aol.com/bcomet/safety/reefing.jpg" WIDTH="700" HEIGHT="1271" ALIGN="MIDDLE" BORDER="0" NATURALSIZEFLAG="3">

catherine_monaghan@merck.com
CD32 <a href="http://www.hometown.aol.com/bcomet/real ... ization</a>, #3
Rahway, NJ
Raritan Bay

bettb@macomb.cc.mi.us

[Catherine Monaghan]

Bruce,

The chart is providing suggested guidelines based on a 30' performance sailboat and a 40' cruiser. Our CDs are heavier and more stable than a performance sloop, and most of us have boats less than 40', but our boats are cruisers and can be compared to the 40-footer on the chart.

Our CD32 cutter sails quite comfortably in 20+ knot winds with a single-reefed mainsail and the staysail - maintains over 6 knots too. She would be overpowered with both the staysail and yankee. We also have no qualms about sailing with the lee deck awash, but others do and admittedly it may be fun but it isn't very efficient. If the rail's in the water or you're experiencing excessive weather helm, you need to reef.

It's just a guideline and the sequence for shortening sail should also be noted. Many captains just drop their mainsails and sail with only the headsail. It works, but it's unbalanced and hard on the rig.


catherine_monaghan@merck.com
CD32 Realization, #3
Rahway, NJ
Raritan Bay

Catharine:

With all due respect to Cruising World and to yourself etc. This looks pretty conservative to me. I see few boats of any kind starting to reef at 11 to 16 knots. Cape Dories with their conservative rigs and their heavy displacement are just getting to hull speed at 11 knots.

Bruce Bett
Sostenuto
CD25 #496

This chart appears in the Cruising World/US Sailing Safety at Sea seminars pamphlet. Past visitors to this board have raised questions regarding when to reef. This should help answer those questions.
<IMG SRC="http://www.hometown.aol.com/bcomet/safety/reefing.jpg" WIDTH="700" HEIGHT="1271" ALIGN="MIDDLE" BORDER="0" NATURALSIZEFLAG="3">

catherine_monaghan@merck.com
CD32 <a href="http://www.hometown.aol.com/bcomet/real ... ization</a>, #3
Rahway, NJ
Raritan Bay

catherine_monaghan@merck.com

[Larry DeMers]

I have to agree, this does seem to be fairly conservative for Cape Dory's. We regularly sail in 15-25 kts. up here on Superior, and seem to have the same rig up all the time; single reef in the main, staysail, and full 140% genoa. Usually, the heeling angle would be in the 20-25 deg. range in those conditions, which is about perfect. My telltale for additional reefing is the wheel. If we have more than 90 deg. of weather helm cranked in on th wheel, it's too much, and time to reduce sail. Doing so will keep our speed up, yet take the load off the rudder trying to counteract the weather helm, by bringing the wheel back to 10-15 deg. of weather helm.

Larry DeMers
s/v DeLaMer
Cape Dory 30

Catharine:

With all due respect to Cruising World and to yourself etc. This looks pretty conservative to me. I see few boats of any kind starting to reef at 11 to 16 knots. Cape Dories with their conservative rigs and their heavy displacement are just getting to hull speed at 11 knots.

Bruce Bett
Sostenuto
CD25 #496

This chart appears in the Cruising World/US Sailing Safety at Sea seminars pamphlet. Past visitors to this board have raised questions regarding when to reef. This should help answer those questions.
<IMG SRC="http://www.hometown.aol.com/bcomet/safety/reefing.jpg" WIDTH="700" HEIGHT="1271" ALIGN="MIDDLE" BORDER="0" NATURALSIZEFLAG="3">

catherine_monaghan@merck.com
CD32 <a href="http://www.hometown.aol.com/bcomet/real ... ization</a>, #3
Rahway, NJ
Raritan Bay

demers@sgi.com

[Jim Heldberg]

Thanks for posting the helpful chart. It could be a valuable guide in developing a sail plan for one's own boat and sails. It helps to have a sail plan thought out ahead of time, perhaps even posted below so everyone on board will know what's expected. However, Cape Dorys can carry more sail than the chart suggests. Also, the chart only showed single-stick boats; more masts mean more flexibility. But regardless of the boat or chart, sail selection depends mostly on the experience and sailing objectives of those onboard. With novice guests or children aboard, I never use a big headsail, and always reef early. When my wife and I are cruising, we strive for relaxed hours underway, not top occasional performance. With several strong, experienced crew, I'll fly 4 sails, with a 150 genoa and the mizzen staysail. Last weekend, with 3 good crew, we close-reached for 15 miles in 30 kts, gusting 40, carrying a full jib, no main, and full mizzen staysail. Situations dictate sails, too. Frequent maneuvering often demands different sails than long runs. Approaching weather may dictate different sails. Racing brings another set of different objectives. Sailing is an art that can't be compressed into a chart, and that's part of the delight.
Jim Heldberg
CD-30 Ketch "Leoma"
San Francisco Bay



Jimhpac@aol.com