With a possible second season racing PHRF solo, I am thinking about reef points (150lbs crew weight being hardly adequate).
Before I commit my oldest main to surgery, has anyone had to do the same?
I am especially interested to know:
- How that might effect mast shape downwind (and potential inversion)
- Impact on headstay tension upwind, if any
- Adjustments on lower stays
- Jib trim adjustments and boat balance, assuming the boat will want to luff more
Anyhow...looking for info.
Thanks
Francois
Another option for quickly reducing sail area for singlehanded sailing is to install a roller furling jib with a continuous furling line on the cockpit floor that can be reached from the helm. This setup was useful when I was sailing my Viper singlehanded on a Colorado mountain lake with spiky winds and risk of microbursts. You can furl the jib in 10 seconds and redeploy quickly when the wind drops. A reduction in performance versus the class legal hanked jib, and more weather helm, but not excessive. Amazing how the Viper moves along under main alone.
So, flying the jib without battens then.
if youre going to go the furler option, you could probably get a cheap non class legal jib with vertical battens instead of horizontal. we have a vxone locally that has reef points put in his old mainsail. he swears by it. i would get the reef points put in so that you main doesnt come below your kite halyard. that way you could still run the kite safely