J/30 Class Association Forums J/30 Forum The Boat, Sails and Equipment quick reefing question

My boat has two reefing lines running from the aft end the boom (turning/exit blocks at tip of boom), through boom, a variety of blocks, and ultimately led to the cockpit.

But, i do not have any sort of turning or cheek block on the boom.

We dont have to reef that often, but Ive tried two techniques:

1) tie the reefing line to the reef point, then use some line to tie the reef point to the boom once the sail has been lowered. So my reef line essentially becomes an outhaul, and my short piece of line becomes the "clew slug". this sort of works but is cumbersome.

2) run the reefing line through the reef point in the sail, then tie it to the boom, essentially making a 2:1 purchase when you crank on the reefing line. the line then becomes both an outhaul of sorts, and a clew slug. this is easier, but doesn't seem fast because you can never get things really tight.


my crew all has different opinions on how this should be done.

what is right? am i missing hardware on the boom? I've seen this done a variety of ways on other boats so unsure what the intention was.

thanks - dan

I use option two. In addition I learned to use a sail tie on the aft reef point around the boom because using just the reefing line causes it to chafe otherwise.

The 2nd reefing line is for the upper reef if your sail is cut with one.

For my every day main attached with slugs, I also leave the reefing line permanently setup through the reef point with it tied on the boom. My main is loose footed so it isn't a problem. When the main is flaked on the boom, I just run the reefing line through the aft sail tie to stop it from hanging out of the bottom of the sail cover.

I don't think my race main that I roll for storage will ever see a reefing line, even though it has a class required reef point.

I do second option too, but will need to try the sail tie Bill. In squamish we reef pretty regularily when racing.