Re: Cool - PMD Sailrig

Posted by Jim E on Aug 18, 2006

John, I did some crewing in Mirror Dinghies many, many years ago, and we used to hate reefing them. The difference there is that the gunter was not tapered, but you still had to let out the halyard a bit when reefed. Otherwise it would be too vertical and the sail would not set properly.

We never reefed on the water, it was a decide-before-you-go thing. If you wanted to reef without lowering all the way, then you might need two halyards, but I would lower all the way. It's really hard to do the clew and foot lashing when the sail is up in a breeze, even on shore, and on the water you can't go to where the boom is without risking a capsize. A compromise used on bigger boats is to have a line running from the upper clew patch to the boom end, then to a cleat by the gooseneck when you can reach it. Yank that in and pull down on the tack while letting out the hayard, and you're reefed. I agree the tapered yard on this rig might not like a second attachment (it looks mighty thin towards the top), but the sail tension will keep it under control. A parrel will probably work also, at the expense of some complexity.

In Response to: Re: Cool - PMD Sailrig by John Pollard on Aug 18, 2006

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