I noticed in the recent Rolex Big Boat Series in San Francisco that I could not see a reefed main, even when there were obviously adverse conditions. Why is it that when we know we should reef, we don’t. And usually something breaks and we hear echoes around the deck, we should have put a reef in (probably two). Have a look at the boat in the back ground of the attached photo what should she have done to make her more manageable, probably just as fast and no broken gear! Your comments please!
Explain. I've never been at sea, and therefore don't know know how to reef. To me it looks like a bull riding contest.
Why not reef? Simple. In retrospect if there was damage, everyone would say that they should have reefed in or perhaps even set a smaller main. That makes perfect sense when one boat is out there by itself. Two boats and there's a race, "making sense" no longer holds sway. Besides, until there is damage or another mishap, it's fun.
If you look at the picture, you may not see any reef points on some of the boats. Many racing mainsails are built this way. Others are built with a very deep reef, when used its more for survival than optimum sailing. Some programs will use different mainsails based on the predicted conditions. Agreed that it looks like a wild ride. Many racing sailboats can be tweaked so that the effect of not reefing is not as bad, i.e. flattening and depowering the sail dramatically. Just my $0.02
different types of racing uses different types of sailing, in the Big Boat Series, you are dealing with Buoy Racing, near shore, pleanty of boats around, should some disaster happen, help is close by. in Buoy racing, you are looking for the fastest acceleration you can get, (the Jibs don't help accelerate very much) so they keep the mains as large as they can and reduce the size of the headsails. Off-shore distance racing, there are typically fewer boats spread out, sometimes no boat is able to see another for many days, here safety becomes more of a concern as help is not readily available. reefing the main here will slow the boat's acceleration, but can still allow for high speeds over long distances (the fastest i have gone on a sailboat was on Merlin, doing OVER 30 knots with a triple reefed delivery main and no headsail) safety should always be a concern, but in bouy racing, quite often safety on smaller boats, with less experienced crew is sacreficed for speed due to them copying what they see the Maxi's do with an all-pro crew who know how to handle the heavier conditions, and also have 15+ people working the boat compared to the 6-8 on most smaller boats.
I'd say the picture is taken in a gust, the boat going to windward to the right of the picture appears to be trimmed nicely. he boat you pointed out is overpowered, but typically you set sail for the lulls to median wind strength and try to hang on in the gusts. The boat going downwind with the assymetric spinnaker is broaching, that's just part of the game.
that boat, a J-105, has a retractable bow-sprit to fly the aysso from, however, once extended they are not designed to articulate up, down, left, or right, but are in a fixed spot, only able to be adjusted in and out, in this photo, you can see the pole articulated upwards, in other words, broken.
Right-o, Mike. Reefing in the heat of battle is for wimps... until the first of the "death rolls" and then, possibly a real knockdown. Then sanity returneth.
Sorry, I should have said that, it was broken, though some do articulate, not on this boat. I stand by my assertion that it's an unusual gust. Seems the J rounded up a bit too much to avoid the port tacker, coming to windward. We'll not know what went on unless one of the participants jumps in this discussion. She may have chosen to round up rather than forcing a tack (I think i would have) but the rounding up turned into a broach --- ce'st la voile
