Hello Rob. Nice to hear from you - I doubt I'll make it to the boat show - I already spend too much time down in that there London...
Re your queries. Yes, I have lazy jacks that are fitted to the sail bag, I've actually put some additional string on them as just the original two either side weren't enough I thought. They originally supported the whole weight of the boom and sail and I was a bit concerned that the unsubstantial cringles in the sail bag were taking all the weight. I fitted a topping lift as well. I have 'single line' reefing with the first reef on the stbd side.
The yards of reefing lines fall neatly out of the way into the sail bag as the main is lowered and don't present any risk to my health!
As the lines lay loose in the sail bag, when the main goes up the lines naturally return to their rightful place in life hanging from the reefing points in the leach, so there is no need to loosen them as the main goes up - apart from when (which I always do) forget to release them when I put the sail away still reefed. In this case the same procedure applies as to shaking them out.
I initially found that the lines lay alongside the boom inside the sail bag and I just couldn't see what was going on. So I moved them to lay outside the bag, on either side. This way it is easy to pull them through the blocks to ensure there is enough slack to raise the main without them causing any snags/friction - I learned that is not necessary to pull the lines hard or even put them in the winch, which I did do when I first had the boat, this caused me more problems and I actually managed to twist a block doing this.
When putting in the reef, with the lines outside the sail bag I can see what is going on. What I do is take the tension off the main halyard - the main just slides down a bit, I pull the reefing lines along side of the boom, to bring the LEACH down first, then pull the line through the clutch on the coach roof to then bring the luff down after the leach, when the reefing points are neatly on the boom, fore and aft, I just use enough tension through the clutch to hold them taught, lock it off, then raise the mainsail, with the winch to tension it all off. That way I found there is no need to grauch at any of the reefing lines.
I have thought of putting the reefing blocks at the fore end of the boom on some kind of small 'soft shackle' (as they are on each reefing point on the luff of the sail). I thought that then they would always take the correct angle that any tension on the reefing lines dictates - as opposed to them being fixed, as they are now, and therefore unable to move and any tension on the lines tend to rub up against the cheeks of the block as opposed to letting the rope run easily through it, like it's supposed to.
Hope all this makes sense! Fairly obvious when it's seen in practice but it took me quite a while to sort it all out - but it does work now...
On a separate note - I followed your advice on adjusting the rollers on the swinging arm of my trailer - I guestimated the positioning so the bilge keels would roll between each pair of rollers, it seemed to work OK as she slid off the trailer last week with just the gentlest of persuasion - no one was more surprised than me! Just need to see if this can be repeated. I'd rigged a back winching system just in case which proved redundant.
We're considering some kind of 'start of season' gathering at Rutland ..? Nothing definite yet but watch this forum...
Regards
