Posted by Geraint Lewis on July 25, 2004 at 15:41:56 from 217.154.250.18 user Geraint_Lewis.
In Reply to: Re: Sister Hook Alert - was Re:Mast Hoops on the Goblin posted by Ben Zartman on July 24, 2004 at 01:25:14:
Ben
I was lucky enough to spend a few days sailing Nancy earlier this month. The reefing system is basically as described by Ransome, although Nancy currently has reefing points to allow for the alternative of slab reefing. I understand that these were added as an emergency back up system, but they can also be used in addition to the roller system, thereby taking some of the strain off the worm gear, which is old and worn.
For fun and as practice we put in and took out a (roller) reef whilst offshore. The process was basically quick and easy to do, although I can imagine John would have found it rather harder work whilst sailing downwind in a strong breeze. The only snag I noticed was the tendancy of the sail luff to snag in the worm gear.
To take in one reef you only need to remove a single mast hoop. These are attached to the sails with quick release shackles, so its a practical, one-handed job that takes a few seconds.
No doubt Nancy's skippers or more experienced crew could tell you far more.
Geraint