My old Freedom 25 had single line reefing and I liked it.

Posted By: Westcoaster, HMS 18, Jaunty
Date: 10/16/08 8:59a.m.

Report: outside forum guidelines

In Response To: Question for Judy B (David Lee "Ohana" P-19 #478 Stillwater, MN)

Line was led aft to the cockpit and never failed me. A full batten main may have been a benefit but not sure since I've had no "regular" mains with single line reefing. In the pic you can see the lines beginning at the aft end of the boom, simply tied on with a bowline. I used green for the first reef, red for the second for no apparent reason. You can also see the lazy jacks. From the pic and my vague recollection, one line went down the starboard side of the mast/boat, and the other the opposite side. The green reef line (and the red) go from the boom to the cringle, back down to the aft end of the boom where they round a sheave and go internally to the fore end of the boom. From there (nearly 300 sq ft sail) they exit around a sheave, go up to the cringle on the far side of the sail. Instead of just going through the cringle and back down, the line goes through a small block on a hook. If you look very closely, you can see the hook exit the cringle on this side. From the small block it comes back down to a bullseye on the boom end,then through a bullseye on the mast, and then to the deck and aft. The line could as well go through the cringle and back down on a small sail. The mast on this boat is carbon fiber, rotating wing mast which had its own share of issues with reefing but notwithstanding that the system worked very well. The line on a Potter could easily go through the forward cringle and back down to the deck and aft. I would consider running it through a bullseye on the mast angled appropriately to better fix the line in position for the turning block on the deck. It might not be necessary and I'd try it first without that extra bullseye. P.S. This pic of dirty sail was before the sail was cleaned by Sail Care about a year after buying the boat.