How to Properly Reef Main Sail

This video is meant to provide some guidance for sailors at Cal Sailing Club on how to properly reef the mainsail. Reefing correctly will help minimize wear on the sail, as well as give the sailors a better experience on the water during those summer months on the San Francisco Bay.
Demonstration is done on the JY-15 dinghy, but is also applicable to the RS Quest as well as the club Keelboats.

[@stefanoalberti8769]

that's the best reefing job I've ever seen - thanks Saul!

[@wayfarerchris.4116]

Great demonstration Saul Thanks 👍.

[@markmunro7570]

Good demonstration. Thanks

[@mylespowers3965]

Good instruction.

[@iwilltubeyouall]

Imagine doing all that in heavy seas.

[@jackchen5290]

Doing this in high wind on the water is pretty much a requirement in SF bay, where we see Beaufort scale 5-6 wind daily during the summer season. But it’s important to reef early.

[@danw2625]

When reefing a sail John Bongiovanni says not to wrap the reef line under the boom because it could damage the sail. kzbin.info/www/bejne/e53EdJ1vf52Fr9k Yet Saul says to wrap the reef line under the boom. Who is correct?

[@jackchen5290]

Hi Dan, this is a very good question and excellent observation. Both John and Saul are correct. In John's case, he was reefing a RS Quest, which has a loose footed main sail (good image here: www.uksailmakers.com/racing-mainsail-construction-options/loose-foot), so it's possible to wrap the reef line around the foot of the sail instead of around the boom and foot. In Saul's case, he was reefing a JY15, which has a fixed foot mainsail. Because there's a bolt rope in boom track, you must wrap the reef line around the boom.

[@danw2625]

Hi Jack, thanks for the explanation. This came up in my rigging test.

[@dannyboyspace]

The J24, which I teach on (and also happen to own one), has a loose-footed mainsail as well. So we never tie the reef lines (which we refer to as "earrings") around the boom, because as the video mentions, those small cringles on the mainsail are not very well reinforced. We just tie around the bottom of the sail. Great video!