Yet more options
Hi there,
I'll just jump in to say that, although Brian and Ian have covered most of my faves (clew deadend on same side as block, halyard and lift, etc.), here's two more: attach a snap shackle to the gooseneck, and have a suitably-sized webbing-and-ring arrangement in the reef tack rings. Mark your halyard at the spot where it is easy to clip the shackle in. No fumbling, no significant drift aft, and no chance of the tack slipping out.
Another sweet one is to have a Cunningham, which I strongly recommend anyway, as it greatly reduces frequency of reefing, and to use your Cunningham as a reef tack tackle as well. In this case, on a boat your size, it is best to lead a pendant up, through, and down, to double the purchase. Lead it through a fairlead well aft on the mast, at the proper height, but only for the Cunningham. For the reef, it's webbing and ring.The logic here is that you need purchase to pull the Cunningham down against the halyard, but for reefing you only need to get the slack out with the tackle, then tension with the halyard.
With any of these arrangements it can be handy, on some boats, to have a light pendant just for pulling the sail down, but this is often just a sign that there's too much friction in the system, and that a Strong Track or something like it is in order.
Fair leads,
Brion Toss
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