Reefing and sail rack

[Jean Morissette]

Hi,

Being out yesterday with 20knt wind and first reef. The bottom of the sail pup out of the sail track. I remember reading about some tension effect on the sail track when reefing and not able to find it back.

Could you advise me on this 

Tanks

Jean Morissette

Third Base NS30C

Ste-Geneviève-de-Berthier

CBNIYC

[Joe Valinoti]

Jean:  It is important that you tension the halyard before you tension the clew when reefing.  It takes the horizontal load off of the slugs which can cause them to pull out.  Do you have the original metal track or a replacement plastic one?

Joe Valinoti
S/V iL Gatto NS30U #221
Sea Harbour YC
Oriental, NC USA

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[Rob Cohen "Soave" NS33 Westport, CT]

Jean,

I repeat the steps in my head and aloud to my crew each time we reef.....  

After lowering sail to the the desired reef point tighten.... Tack, Halyard, Clew, Choker.   Always in that order.  

Maybe someone can think of a clever acronym..... THCC isn't very memorable.   Maybe THC for Crew ?

Rob

s/v SOAVE

NS33 #009

Cedar Point YC

Westport, CT

 

[Rob Cohen "Soave" NS33 Westport, CT]

Also..... I am careful to ease the choker whenever doing anything that requires the sail slugs to slide up or down in the track.  Maybe another way to think of it is don't tighten the choker till you have tensioned the halyard.  Halyard tension spreads the load evenly across all the sail slugs.  Without halyard tension forces can get concentrated on a couple slugs and pull out of the track or worse ( pull the track away from the mast ).  Stress appears in the bottom third of the sail on Soave if the choker is left too tight.

By "ease" I mean relieve high tension not release or go slack.  On Soave this means 8"-12".... maybe 24" if the choker was super tight.

This is an automatic response burned into my brain from racing our Flying Scot with 10x purchase vang.  Upwind "vang-on" would flatten the sail and move draft back.... but if you eased the mainsheet with vang-on.,,,, you would likely bend or break your boom. 

I am still pondering how much choker is right on Soave off-wind.  Out of habit, if the choker is tight while beating I ease it about 6" when we fall off the wind.  My thinking is I probably don't need as flat a sail off wind and the slugs are pulling in the track sideways instead of straight back.  I also get the feeling that as the wishbone moves outboard the choker tension increases because angles of the choker lines change ( increase ) to follow the wishbone.

Rob

s/v SOAVE

NS33 #009

Cedar Point YC

Westport, CT

[Jean Morissette]

Merci for these tips and advices,

Third Base has the plastic track in place and some cracks appeared lately on surface.

THC is easy to remember since I’m from the 50’s

And I do sail by myself often , last C will be a repeating process also easy at my age.

Take care sailors, the water is always attractive whenever the conditions 

All the best

Jean

Third Base NS30C

Berthierville

CNBIYC

Envoyé de mon iPhone

Le 27 août 2025 à 08:22, Rob Cohen "Soave" NS33 Westport, CT <rob....@gmail.com> a écrit :

Also..... I am careful to ease the choker whenever doing anything that requires the sail slugs to slide up or down in the track.  Maybe another way to think of it is don't tighten the choker till you have tensioned the halyard.  Halyard tension spreads the load evenly across all the sail slugs.  Without halyard tension forces can get concentrated on a couple slugs and pull out of the track or worse ( pull the track away from the mast ).  Stress appears in the bottom third of the sail on Soave if the choker is left too tight.

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[Neil Raynor]

This is all helpful to those of us still in the learning process about best sail handling practices. 

But there seems to be one line missing: the topping lift. 

I’m sailing, the sail is up, topping lift has been eased enough to no longer support the wishbone and now it’s time to reef. 

Do we not first tension the topping lift?  

Before/after we ease the choker?

Appreciate your thoughts. 

Neil

NS30U, #488

Sent from my iPhone

On Aug 27, 2025, at 07:28, Rob Cohen "Soave" NS33 Westport, CT <rob....@gmail.com> wrote:

Jean,

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[Rob Cohen "Soave" NS33 Westport, CT]

Hi Neil,

You are correct raising the wishbone "bringing in the topping lift" is a part of the modern reefing process.  I believe it was introduced by Ed Botterell around the turn of the century.  I found it interesting how different the early instructional videos ( HERE ) were from today's best practices.

It is also true that your topping lift should be set to keep your wishbone at a safe height without any help from the sail.  The only reason we have added topping lift to the reefing process is to make it easier to secure the luff of the sail.  In the good old days the youngsters sailing Nonsuch boats ( in the videos ) didn't even need to use winch handles to secure the clew when reefing.  

Technically,  after the choker is eased you could raise the wishbone via the topping lift.  On Soave we wait till after the sail ( halyard ) has been lowered to reefing height, the tack ( inboard reef line ) is secured and the halyard has been retensioned.  

On Soave, my intention has been to add some color coded marks to the topping lift for "normal", "1st Reef", "2nd reef".  I am careful to tell crew,  if you feel the topping lift load up.... STOP.  Do not lift the wishbone if there is any resistance other than the weight if the wishbone.  On Soave wishbone would be raised to the "reefing level" just prior to bringing in the aft reef line ( clew ).  The aft reef lines and the topping lift share a common winch and are secured by rope clutches.

It might be a good practice to return the topping lift to the "normal" setting after the clew is secure so you can shake the reef without having to remember the topping reef.  For this you definitely need marks on your topping lift to know where "normal" is.  If the topping lift is eased too much wishbone will go boom on your head when you drop the sail.

I'm ashamed to say Soave's topping lift is not yet marked and I guesstimate how much to raise the wishbone leaning toward a little more than necessary and then ease after the clew is where we want it. You can do a "pretty good" reef without raising the wishbone if your crew is strong, but raising the wishbone requires less strength and stress. 

We practice in medium air... so the process always goes smooth.  We haven't had much opportunity to practice in heavy air..... such is life on Long Island Sound in the summer.

Sail on,

Rob

s/v SOAVE

NS33 #009

Cedar Point YC

Westport, CT

[Rob Cohen "Soave" NS33 Westport, CT]

Maybe the acronym needs to be THTCC .... or maybe we don't need an acronym 

[Ken Dakin]

Hey Neil

If setting a reef while underway, I have the engine on and in gear to hold the boat into the wind. With the sheet eased, I ease the choker, ease the halyard, set the tack, tighten the halyard, raise the boom with the topping lift, set the clew tension, release the topping lift, tighten the choker, set the sheet. The choker must be off to raise the boom with the topping lift. Without the choker off, raising the boom with the topping lift will be difficult if not possible and puts alot of unnecessary strain on the rig.

Ken Dakin 

NS 33 #7

Sashay

Kingston ON

 

 

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[Neil Raynor]

Thanks Ken. Appreciate your help. 

Cheers, Neil 

Sent from my iPhone

On Aug 29, 2025, at 08:40, Ken Dakin <kend...@gmail.com> wrote:



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[Jean Morissette]

Yes, thank you all for your insights.

I will get back when I have reef Third Base THCC 👋

Jean

Third Base NS30C 

Ste-Genevieve-de-Berthier 

Envoyé de mon iPhone

Le 31 août 2025 à 16:32, Neil Raynor <neil....@gmail.com> a écrit :

Thanks Ken. Appreciate your help. 

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[Tom Schoenhofer 26C#28 North Star Penetanguishene]

No one here has mentioned that the tack (bottom forward corner of the sail) must be as close to the mast as possible when reefed. If not then when the choker is tensioned it puts too much strain on the lowest slide which tends to pull the track (or the lowest slide) off the mast. The tack when reefed is the reefing eye in the sail.

To do this, the reef line must go up to the tack eye and down through the turning block on the same side of the sail.

If it goes up one side, over the sail and all the other track slides of the reefed sail, and then down to the turning block on the other side, then when to tighten it it won't be near the mast and will put a lot of strain on the lower track slides and sail.

When the mast track or slides at the bottom of the mast are pulled out when reefed, this is usually the cause. If you don't fix it it will keep happening. 

Tom

[Ron Schryver]

Good point Tom. This is well described in Ed Botterell's pamphlet "Bott's Thoughts".

Ron

Ron & Diane Schryver

"Alpha Waves" 1987 NS30U

Georgian Bay Midland ON

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Ron & Diane Schryver

"Alpha Waves" 1987 NS30U #393

Georgian Bay Midland ON

[Brian]

Tom,

Any chance you could attach a picture of how to rig the tack line on the same side of the sail? My tack setup goes from the cockpit thru the block up to the tack cringle then down the other side to the tie off loop. Do you mean it should go up thru the cringle then in front of the sail between the slides and back down the same side to the tie off loop. It’s a little hard to picture from my house. I will be on my boat tomorrow anod may have a better idea of what you are saying.

Brian Cayer

Spirit~Wind

N30U 419

Westbrook, CT

On Sep 3, 2025, at 4:07 PM, Ron Schryver <ron.sc...@gmail.com> wrote:



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[Tom Schoenhofer 26C#28 North Star Penetanguishene]

That is right Brian.

From the cockpit, turn up through the block at the mast, through the reef cringle, then immediately between the sail and the track so it goes back down on the same side it came up, then tie off to the mast ring.

On my boat the second reef is on the other side. 

What ever you do the tack should be close to the mast when reefed. The point is to minimize the strain on the track and slides. Some people put a "dog bone" through the cringle so the line goes up and down one side without passing infront of the sail but I think this and a block at the clew cringle is unnecessary because these lines are pulled in when there is no strain on them. I have a mark on the lines when they are pulled in the right amount.

Yes the drawing in Bott's manual shows it this way but my copy is on the boat.

Tom

[Michael Stangl]

Tom,

Do you have some photos of how your first tack reefing line  is rigged? I believe the standard setup is to run the reefing line through a block on the port side from the cockpit, run it through the reefing eye on the sail and then run the line to a tie down point on the starboard side of the mast.

Thanks,

Mike

Mariposa

NS 30U / #272

Dutch Harbor, RI

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