That was supposed to be "reefed." Damn autocorrect!

Usually you'd use a parrel. That's a line from the yard that goes around the mast and comes back to the yard, usually with beads on the line to allow the yard to move easily up and down. That's what appears to be on the Guider.

The Lighthouse Tender peapods had a clever wrapping of the main halyard that performed the same function.

Have fun,

Laszlo

On my Skerry I've got a simple loop of line as described by Laszlo.  I've found it doesn't really need parrel beads, as the varnished mast is so smooth.  Note that did round the corners of the mast with a 1/2" radius router bit before finishing it.

hokker

Hello Slim,

    The picture below shows how to rig the halyard to hold the yard tight against the mast.  From the top of the mast, the halyard runs down through a block lashed to the boom, around the mast and forward to the front of the yard where it is tied off.  Besides holding the yard against mast, another advantage of this method is that it allows you to easily adjust the hoist point by sliding the lashing forward/aft.  As soon as there is any pressure on the lashing, it won't slide.  (Note that this picture was taken the first time that I raised the sail.  The lashing has been shortened since to put the block much closer to the yard.)

    Another bit of advise is to read Mik Storer's web page regarding lug sail setup.  If you are not familiar, Mik is a prolific Austrailian desiger who is probably the foremost expert on getting the most performance out of a lug. https://www.storerboatplans.com/category/tuning/lug-rig-setup/

With my lug-rigged Passagemaker Dinghy (same as the Skerry lug rig, right?), I find it better to tuck in or shake out the reefs with the sail fully lowered so I can keep the whole business down in the boat, lying below the gunwales, atop the seats, where the wind can't get hold of it and turn it into a demonic kite, hell-bent on dragging us down to the netherworld.  If you're on the water and the wind has risen to the point of wanting a reef, having a lug sail partially hoisted for any length of time is likely to be problematic, particularly if the wind is gusty and shifty.

Well, okay, if there is enough wind to prompt you to take in a reef, it will be problematic, unless it is rigged with a bunch of spaghetti (more than just a parrel on the upper yard) to keep it manageable.  In my experience so far, this is not a theory.  For starters, the upper yard will be swinging about, dangling peak-down if there is not enough tension on the luff of the sail between the upper and lower yards.  The partially hoisted sail will be flogging about, and you'll need at least one hand to tame it so you can tuck in the reef with the other two hands...oh, wait, we're at least a hand short here, even before you have to use your other hand to steady yourself if the boat is pitching about in waves.  This isn't like reefing a gaff sail, where the luff remains attached to the mast, the boom is supported by a topping lift, the sail is gathered up in lazyjacks, and the gaff remains attached to the mast and supported at its correct angle by halyards at throat and peak so that the upper portion of the sail is able to spill most or all of its wind from the lee side of the mast while you work your way up and down the boom tucking in the reef.

But, I digress....  In lowering the Passagemaker Dinghy's lug sail, I'll release the halyard and keep just enough tension on it with one hand so that the upper yard quickly comes down within reach (the peak will dip down immediately), yet under control, whereupon I'll grab the upper yard with the other hand, hopefully before it takes part of the sail over into the water, pull both yards and as much sail as I can grab into my chest, and smother the air out of the sail as quickly as possible.  Sometimes grabbing a handful at the luff of the sail and giving it a tug will help get things down quickly and help keep the peak from dropping over the side so I can get the yard under control.

I'll then cast off the downhaul from its cleat (it remains attached to the lower yard) so I can pull the whole bundle back with me to assume a position on the midship thwart, and tuck in or shake out a reef as necessary.  If it's really windy, I'll deploy a kayaker's drogue to keep the boat head to wind and drifting downwind slowly whilst I'm doing all this.

I can sit astride the midship thwart with the lower yard in my lap and the bunched up sail lying between me and the gunwale.  The upper yard can lie atop the upper part of the sail to keep that quiet.  I can reach out as hand and press out any frisky bit of air trying to get underneath to inflate the sail as needed.  With the downhaul uncleated, I can work the lower yard and the lower part of the sail forward and aft so that I can reach either end too fool with the reef without having to move around much.  The less you have to move around in a small boat in frisky wind, the better.  This has the added benefit of keeping my weight in the center of the boat so she'll ride to the waves better and give me less motion to deal with as I work along the reef.

Once all is ready, I'll bring the yards and sail forward far enough to re-cleat the downhaul a few inches slack of where it will ultimately set up, then grab the halyard and hoist away with both hands as quickly as I can so that the wind doesn't have much chance to fill the sail before I get it fully hoisted so that there is enough tension on the luff to flatten the sail sufficiently to feather with the wind instead of trying to imitate a spinnaker.  It helps to start with the after end of the lower yard atop the gunwale so that it can't catch on the inside of the boat if a gust catches her sidewise and tries to fill the sail before fully hoisted.  With the yard hoisted as far as it will go, I'll then snug up the downhaul to tension the sail fully and flatten it a bit.

Without a parrel on the upper yard, I can let the halyard run so that a sudden gust from the wrong direction can blow it and the sail over into the water instead of pulling on the mast in a way which might cause a capsize.  This nearly happened to me once just from being a little slow in hoisting, and then being a little slow in releasing the halyard when the gust hit.

Tying in the reef is the part of this that takes the most time, which is why it seems best to me to do that without having the sail flapping about partially hoisted.  The lowering and hoisting take more time to describe than to do.  Quickness in getting the upper yard from fully hoisted to fully doused, and then from fully doused to fully hoisted, is paramount with all of this.  While a parrel will keep the yard from kiting away from the mast, it seems to me that it'd be just one more step if you really want to get the sail down and muzzled quickly.  With a small sail like this, a bit of practice will have you doing the drill quickly enough so that the upper yard doesn't have much chance of kiting away from the mast and giving you trouble.

I had originally thought that, with a reef or two in and the upper yard consequently lower down on the mast, a parrel might be wanted simply to keep the yard close to the mast.  What I've found in practice is that, if I've got the downhaul set up hard enough to keep the luff taut and the sail flattened (appropriate in stiffish wind), the upper yard doesn't really move away from the mast very much at all.  So far, I'm finding that everything works okay for me without it.  Perhaps more experience will change my mind, we'll see.

Mind you, with a bigger lug sail, e.g., as with the Faering Cruiser or John Guider's new boat, none of this works.  The sail is just too big to manhandle in this fashion.  This is why many working luggers in the days of working sail were converted to some sort of gaff rig when the sailors got old.  <;-)

I see that John Guider's new boat is sensibly set up with parrels, lazyjacks (doubling as topping lifts for the lower yard), and single line reefing for both reefs.  Can't tell whether they've also rigged a topping lift for the peak of the upper yard, something which might keep it from spearing the boat in a hard chance if the halyard is let run too quickly.

Different ships, different long splices, as the old sailors' adage goes.

.....Michael

Michael wrote:

I had originally thought that, with a reef or two in and the upper yard consequently lower down on the mast, a parrel might be wanted simply to keep the yard close to the mast. 

That's exactly why I put a parrel on my Faering Cruiser. In the picture below, taken several years ago, you can see the reefed sail pulling the yard as far away from the mast as the extra halyard length allows. There is now a parrel right where the halyard is attached to the yard that keeps the yard close to the mast at all times.

The boat is also rigged for jiffy reefing, so the reefing process is basically loosening the halyard, pulling and cleating two lines and retightening the halyard - about 10 seconds. The reef points are tied at one's convenience, if ever. Marking the halyard with a Sharpie lets me know how much line to release which keeps the yard from plunging down to the deck. There's no need to lower the sail into the boat for reefing. I absolutely recommend rigging fo jiffy reefing for any solo sailor.

There's also a pair of lazy jacks to support the boom during the gymnastics.

Have fun,

Laszlo