When to Reef?

When we began our quest to sail, we took lessons with Bill Learn from St. Louis sailing. Bill is the type of sailor that you think of when you envision a sailboat in a storm, with waves crashing over the bow, and  he is at the helm with a determined, satisfied look on his face; confident, but not arrogant.

It was under Bill's watchful eyes that I had my first true sailing experience, that experience included heavy, blowing rain and wind; lots of wind. The second day of our training it was 40 degrees and the waves were 3 to 4 feet high, with winds gusting over 30 mph. In that driving rain I sailed on a close reach for 3 hours to bring us back to the marina. I was cold, wet and sore from wrestling the tiller and lines, but I was a better sailor because of the experience.

One of the things I will never forget was when he asked our class "when was the best time to reef the sails"? (reefing is making your sails smaller). I have mentioned this before in my posts, and I am writing about it again because it is one of the most important questions you can ask yourself when sailing. The answer is: The first time you think about it.

This past weekend was one of those times. I checked and re-checked the wind forecast and knew the wind would be gusting close to 20 mph. Bill Learns question was on my mind, so I knew I needed to reef our sails before we headed out. Our boat didn't have the reefing points set up, so when I arrived at the marina, the first thing I did was prepare the points. I fashioned the ties and added the leech and luff lines to set the first reef.

With the sails tied down to the first reefing point, we headed out onto the lake. The wind was blowing a steady 10 mph and gusts were hitting 17mph when we raised the sails, which wasn't too bad, but within a few minutes the wind picked up, and I was glad I listened to Bill. We had the main and the jib reefed and we were still reaching speeds over 6 knots with a decent heel. It was an exciting sail, I even video taped part of it which is posted on my facebook site. We sailed the whole afternoon, never losing the wind, which will put a smile on any sailors face.

While sailing I looked across the lake and saw that most of the other sailors out that day also decided to reef their sails; it gave me a good feeling; a, I almost know what I am doing kind of feeling.