Randy: I reef on a starboard tack. Pointing into the wind and luffing the main, 1st. You have to be sure to use your topping lift to secure the boom. Scott Grometer posted an excellent proceedure for reefing several years ago, I recommend you refer to the archives. I've also reefed while running in 15 knots with the trailing 3 foot chop on San Francisco Bay but that was risky business. It's fun to practice reefing under different circumstances because you have to be in cool when you really need to. Rich Cottrell M15 Randy Graves <RandyG@cite.nic.edu> wrote: Jesse, Thanks for the info.! I applied the telltales accordingly. Another 2 questions for the group: What is the best point of sail to put the boat into to reef the main? I sail by myself and was caught in a blow yesterday such that I needed to reef the main. As the wind built in speed I kept pointing higher and higher trying to manage the heel. It became apparent that the wind was not going to let up and I needed to reef. My handheld wind meter said a steady 20 knots with gust beyond. If you turn and run with the wind things quiet down on deck but I am not sure I could reach all the reefing lines or if the sail would come down easily. If I point into the wind and stall then it became a race against the clock to get the main reefed before the wind and waves push the boat back into the full force of the wind. In either situation I must let go of the tiller. All my lines, except for reefing, lead back to the cockpit. How do others approach this? 2nd question. While the wind was strong yesterday I also tried to heave-too. I back-winded the working jib, forced the tiller hard over, and let the reefed main align itself with the wind. Our M-15 held her own during the blow but I was surprised to see I was making almost 2 knots of forward speed, I was also surprised that she did not put her bow into the wind but rather off wind by about 30 degrees. Any suggestions on heaving too? Thanks for all the great advise! Randy Graves M-15 # 407 -----Original Message----- From: Jesse Tate [mailto:gunsblazing@charter.net] Sent: Wed 6/25/2003 6:36 PM To: Randy Graves; For and about MontgomerySailboats Cc: Subject: Re: M_Boats: Telltales on Mainsail? Randy, Place telltales at the battens off the leech of the sail. Usually good sail trim has the lower tales strait back and the top tale fluttering upward. Jesse M 15 #343 ----- Original Message ----- From: Randy Graves To: For and about Montgomery Sailboats Sent: Wednesday, June 25, 2003 5:40 PM Subject: M_Boats: Telltales on Mainsail? Friends, Is there value in adding telltales to your mainsail? If so, where on the mainsail do you place them? Would you "read" them as you would read the telltales on the Jib? Thank you, Randy Graves M-15 #407 _____ _______________________________________________ http://mailman.xmission.com/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/montgomery_boats _______________________________________________ http://mailman.xmission.com/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/montgomery_boats