I second Gary's comment on reefing. The M15 heaves to very well, at least with the working jib. I don't have a genny. It is great for reefing or other rigging adjustments as well as peeing, lunching or just snagging something from the cabin. It only takes a few seconds. IMHO, every M-sailor should have that simple maneuver in their skill set. Bill Riker M15 - #184 Storm Petrel -----Original Message----- From: montgomery_boats-bounces+wriker=mindspring.com@mailman.xmission.com [mailto:montgomery_boats-bounces+wriker=mindspring.com@mailman.xmission.com] On Behalf Of Howard Audsley Sent: Wednesday, October 05, 2005 10:22 AM To: For and about Montgomery Sailboats Subject: Re: M_Boats: Reefing When someone thinks about when to reef, perhaps a more important question is once it's time....or worse....past time....is how to safely reef. But unless you are racing and/or really know what you are doing, reef early. A good time to practice reefing is when winds are moderate....so you can screw up with nominal consequences. If you are not comfortable with that, practice it the first time while tied to the dock. If you are by yourself, and the boat is heeling too much, you have a big problem in how to leave the tiller, go the mast and do your work. Getting the jib down is only part of the solution. There seems to be two tricks. One is to heave to, which works pretty well on the M17 as the jib blankets the main. Don¹t know about the M15.....as the regular jib is so much smaller. It seems to me like some guys simply let both sheets go and let the sails luff. I have done that on the M17 and if the tiller is also let free, she just sits there beam to the wind. Tough on the sails, but a safe way to park her for a minute or so until you can get things under control. I seem to recall Bill Riker and Doug Kelch doing that once in a pretty big wind (maybe 20 knots or more), and both boats were sitting calmly on the water like ducks. Howard
Hi guys, I recently got my jiffy reefing set up installed for the main. Actually tried it out recently and worked very well. My question is at what wind speed would you consider reefing? We were in gusts from 10 to 15 mph according to the NOAA prediction. Might have had some at greater speeds. It seemed like a great opportunity to try out the system and the boat sailed great, still had the jib up. Anyone have a system for dropping the jib from the cockpit as a single hander needs to do, and keep the jib on the boat at the same time?
Time for a cool change! Sandra(Seawitch #617)
_______________________________________________ http://mailman.xmission.com/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/montgomery_boats