Easier Reefing for ‘Pike’ – Part 2

Brian commented on yesterday’s article that he’s never been clear about reefing a spritsail.

I’ll try to explain how I reef ‘Pike’s’ sail.

The objective of the exercise is to reduce sail area and to make the centre of effort as low as possible.

It would be feasible to reef the sail by moving the tack line to the luff reef cringle and re-tension it. Then, roll up the lower part of the sail and secure the bundle with the reef lines. The sprit would remain as it was before. The sheet block at the clew would not need to be moved because it would be held in place by the leech reefing lines. However, by reefing in this manner, the centre of effort would be raised and the sheet would not line up with the throat; therefore it would be impossible to make the sail set without having creases in it.

The proper way to reef ‘Pike’ is to move the sail down the mast by lowering the halyard and the sprit. To lower the sprit, the snotter must to be refastened to the mast lower down. The reefing procedure would otherwise be as described above.