Ernie, Don't let the main drop all of the way down :-) Short version if no toping lift, take the reef in the clew first, before you lower the sail. The placement of the jiffy reefing towards the end of the boom must be very good. When you lower the main: - if you have a reefing hook, only lower it far enough to hook the main and then tension the luff. ( don't know if reefing hooks work with sail slugs :-)) - if you have a reefing line, lower the main and cleat it at the approximate position, tighten the reefing line on the tack, (loosen the main halyard again if necessary), then tighten the main halyard. With a toping lift you reverse the sequence - lower the main into the hook (or reefing line) then retighten the main halyard. Then reef the clew. Loosely tie in the center reefing lines with no tension. You will end up with a loop of mainsail and bolt rope near the mast, just tuck 1/2 of it back under the new foot. Makes for a nice neat reef without a clump us sail slugs up against the mast Thanks, Doug Ernie Priestley <ernie_priestley@yahoo.com> wrote: So that's why the slot is where it is. Interesting! On my last boat, a West Wight Potter (is one allowed to say those words on this forum?), I used two sail stops. One I positioned permanently below the gooseneck so that there was about an inch between it and the bottom of the gooseneck when the boom downhaul was tightened. The upper stop I installed just above the opening in the mast slot, after sliding the sail slugs into the slot. This worked out pretty well. The lower stop, combined with a topping lift, kept the boom from falling on the cabin top. The upper stop kept the sail from spilling out of the mast slot. But there was about 12 inches between the goosneck and the upper stop, so the main didn't drop all the way to the boom for neat furling when at dock or anchor. It never crossed my mind to relocate the slot opening. What a great idea! Thank you forum writers. Doug, on a sail without slugs, how do you manage to lower and re-tension the main halyard after tying in a reef, and how do you raise the sail again when shaking out the reef? Whenever I tried reefing with my bolt-roped main, the sail would spill out onto the cabin top when I dropped the main, and the bolt rope would bind at the top of the slot opening when I re-tensioned or re-raised the main. I converted to slugs. I'm kind of a newby, though. Is there a secret to reefing with a bolt-roped sail? Ernie Priestley Seattle ----- Original Message ---- From: Doug Kelch To: Norm Bundek ; For and about Montgomery Sailboats Sent: Tuesday, July 3, 2007 10:53:19 AM Subject: Re: M_Boats: Regarding Main Sail Slug opening Norm, The factory boats do not come with slugs on the sails. The opening is placed there by convention for rope luffs which I prefer. I think you will find the vast majority of small boats using a rope luff with no slugs. Thanks Doug Kelch Norm Bundek wrote: This brings up the question of why the slug opening was designed to be above the gooseneck which causes all manner of problems when reefing and just taking the main down? Does anyone have the answer to why the above gooseneck opening was chosen? Norm Bundek M15 #172 _______________________________________________ http://mailman.xmission.com/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/montgomery_boats --------------------------------- Luggage? GPS? Comic books? Check out fitting gifts for grads at Yahoo! Search. _______________________________________________ http://mailman.xmission.com/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/montgomery_boats _______________________________________________ http://mailman.xmission.com/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/montgomery_boats --------------------------------- Get the free Yahoo! toolbar and rest assured with the added security of spyware protection.