Jiffy Reefing

From "Jiffy Reefing "

Reef soon, reef often.

I live by an age old axiom, it’s easier to shake out a reef than put one in. Yup, if there’s the hint of a need to reef, I setup the reef to be in place as I hoist. This has really been put to the test this August as I’ve sailed 7 days now where the winds have been gusting well over 40, with a couple of days over 50 knots !!

Jiffy reefing has done more to make sailing fun and safe than perhaps any other single thing in the sport. Gone are the days of white knuckled crew hanging on for dear life, anxiety filled wives and family members. Sailmakers and riggers dreams of huge mansions are dashed on the leeward shore as the boat and sails come under much less load, rarely needing repairs.

First let’s look at the control lines. As always you have the Mainsail Halyard. Next you have a reef downhaul at the tack. This can be in the form of a hook attached to the front of the boom, or a line that either cleats to the mast or runs aft for a single handed set-up or as it is on my boat, a double duty cunningham/reef downhaul 8:1 tackle with a hook on the end. Next you have the reef outhaul, usually a line rigged with an exit block on the boom and tie off to a strap eye or around the boom itself. This line either leads along the boom or once again, for those singlehanded set-ups, aft to the cockpit through a series of turning blocks. (see illustrations on right)

A couple of quick comments about establishing a reef. It’s VERY important to get a lot of tension on the reef outhaul and downhaul. The whole idea of reefing is to; 1. reduce the sail area but equally important is; 2. To flatten the sail and move the draft forward. Draft moves forward with halyard tension. It serves little purpose to tighten the halyard only to have the reef downhaul slacken, thus easing the overall tension along the luff (leading edge).

It’s also VERY important to have a LOT of tension on the reef outhaul. If there is any slack in the outhaul, the boom and bobble or oscillate away from the clew. To ensure solid contact between the clew and the boom I usually tie an ‘earring’ through the outhaul to the boom. I use a nylon sail tie as they are quite strong, and simply lace the sail tie through the reef clew and around the boom several times making sure it’s quite snug with each pass around.

Ok, no onto the procedure. I’m assuming you’re sailing along and the need arises to reef, though please remember my earlier statement, “it’s always easier to shake out an unneeded reef than it is to put in a well needed reef.”

From "Zen and the Art of Motoring"

I have a friend who is a die-hard traditionalist Bear Boat sailor. He didn’t want the aggravation, smell, hassle and weight of an outboard on his beloved Bear boat, so he did without. I remember a mutual friend lamenting over the long paddle back to the berth in Sausalito on those rare days when the wind would give up the ghost after an evening beer-can race.

Yup, inevitably, no matter how wonderful the winds in San Francisco Bay are, you will find yourself having to motor, unless you don’t have one, then, well, you get a great workout in, but your pool of willing crew shrinks quickly.

Like sailing, powering your sailboat requires preparation, planning and a lot of forward thinking.

You are probably asking...just what is so ‘zen’ about motoring? Well, it’s mostly a state of mind but in a very real sense, it’s being aware that as things unfold before you, you have the ability to react in a prepared manner, to deal with it harmoniously. Yeah, I know, pretty lofty talk for something so mechanical but think about it. Being prepared and keeping a continuous chain of contingency thinking at the forefront of you mind, you really can be ‘at one’ with whatever arises.

We all know that problems will continuously develop, sometimes in that most dreaded of ways, a Murphy’s Cascade. What IS a Murphy’s Cascade? You’ve all heard of Murphy’s Rule - If something CAN go wrong it WILL go wrong. Murphy’s Cascade is simply a chain of Murphy’s Rules all happening in sequence. Here’s an example. You’re sailing along, one fine day, back towards the dock, when you break a lower shroud. Being a vigilant and forward thinking skipper, you quickly tack, rig a temporary lower, douse the sails and fire up the engine. You’re already near the lee shore, the engine dies, you quickly work to set the anchor. There’s not enough room for scope, the anchor drags, you’re on the beach, someone fends off, gets hurt..... and so on, and so on . . . Murphy’s Cascade.

The Zen-Like, prudent skipper is ALWAYS thinking 3 steps ahead of the moment. Here’s my take on coming into the harbor. I’m typing this as though I’m thinking to myself, so please excuse the switch to first-person in the following:

{Okay, time to get the sails down. Better make sure i get the engine battery one, take a quick look at the volt meter to see if there’s juice, great...alll ok. Don’t need to glow plug, she’s warm enough, quick start...yeah, she fired right up. Check oil pressure and ammeter. All ok. “Okay folks, I’m heading up. let’s douse those sails.” ........ That went well. Round down into the harbor entrance...what do I do if the engine fails here? Wind is on the beam, unroll the jib first, can I make it all the way through the entrance and to a safe place/berth? Yup. Ok. made past the enteric, what if the engine fails here? To high upwind for the sails to work, set the speed so I can drift towards that empty berth over there if it fails. Ok, made it past there, if it fails now? No way to sail, no place to duck into . . . Find a spot past the berth drift to and have a bow line ready to wrap around that piling . . . okay, landing in the berth, wind is gusting, leave her a bit high to allow for leeway, a bit more power than normal to get her around and in, what if it fails now? Have everyone low and seated, maybe a guy on the beam with a spring, but NO ONE jumps. The worst thing is to hurt the BOAT and hurt some BODY. Ok, made it in safe and sound.}

You get my line of thought here. I’m constantly trying to plan a contingency for the inevitable, ‘”just in case.” I can’t tell you how many times that has saved my bacon.

You’ll hear me say this over and over. Engines are mechanical and are bound to fail at some point. You can, through your preparation and foresight lower the probability of this happening. Here’s a few maintenance/installation items to keep in mind.

1. When you change your oil (every year) ALWAYS change the raw water impeller. Keep a spare on board in your parts place.

2. ALWAYS change your primary (Racor) and secondary (on-engine) fuel filters every time you change the oil. Learn how to bleed your engine quickly.

3. Keep the tools you need to bleed the engine nearby. I have the 13mm and 8 mm wrenches used to bleed my engine tied to a slip knot right next to the engine. One pull of the knot, the wrenches fall into my hand and I can get the thing bled in 5 minutes.

4. I’ve installed a vacuum gauge in-line prior to my primary (Racier) fuel filter/water separator. I can, at a glance, see if there is an upstream (ie; tank to engine) stoppage.

5. If you can, buy the ‘full’ panel for your engine. The minimal panel, the one with the idiot lights gives you necessary information too late. The panel with gauges can, if you watch them as part of your driving process, give you an edge on any faults that arise. Make sure you keep all the gauges working too!

6. Make sure you regularly check your shaft coupling and reduction gear fluid. I try to change this fluid ever two years, but you need to make sure you check the levels often. Couplings have a habit of working their way loose, so keep an eye on this. Some people put a hose clamp (stainless steel please) on the shaft, just at the end of the coupling so just in case the shaft works out of the coupling, the shaft can’t back out of the stuffing box and fall out of the boat, leaving a LARGE hole in the bottom...eeeek.

7. At the beginning of the season, double check the engine control levers on the binnacle. There’s nothing worse than pulling the transmission lever into reverse and NOT having it work. It’s a good idea to lube these cables annually. It’s easy. A little bit of lube goes a long way into keeping them working smoothly and it prevents fraying within the cable which eventually wears them out. While you’re at it, inspect the coupling points on the transmission lever and the throttle linkage at the injection pump. Make sure the lever bolts are tight, the cotter pins are secure and that they are lubed and freely moving.

8. Think about the rpm you operate your engine at. Most of these small diesels are designed to run at higher rpm’s though I still believe that the lower rpm you run them at, the longer they will live. They only have a specific number of revolutions per minute they will run before the bearings, pistons, rings, etc... start wearing out. The higher the rpm’s the sooner that inevitable day will come. Remember, you use about 25% of the engines horsepower to achieve 75% of the boats speed. The other 75% is used to get it up the additional 25% in speed to it’s hull speed. Save yourself the fuel, wear and tear. I typically never run my engines over 2200 rpm. The bigger the diesel, the lower the rpm. In the big ships the diesels red line at 160 rpm!

Keep your thinking forward and your engine maintained and you will have wonderful days of messing about in boats.