Reefing Headsails

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Ian/Brion,

I'm reading one of Lin and Larry Pardy's early books and they talk about reefing head sails rather than changing to another sail to account for different wind conditions. I've pondered this idea before reading the book and now I'm really intrigued. Brion, if you remember, I'm rerigging my 45' Bruce Roberts in Biloxi, MS and I'm seriously considering staying with my hank on sails. Before my current boat I owned a 38' Morgan 383 that had roller furling. It was convenient, but it could hang up at some inconvenient times, added extra windage, bad sail shape when partially furled, worrying about storms unfurling and ripping the sail up, etc. Ian, I printed and kept your idea on modifying head sail bags to make bagging them easy. If I can modify a headsail or two so they reef and make them easy to bag, I see no reason to put on a roller furler. I actually purchased one serveral years ago and was waiting to rerig to install it. Maybe I'll just sell it instead.

My only reservation is comparitive boat size. The Pardy's boats and sails are are a good deal smaller than what I sail and use, but will that make a difference in headsail reefing principals? Thanks, guys.

Eric Peterson
Biloxi, MS