Thanks, Jim.

That's interesting...in my surfing the net I found reference to a "bonnet" style of reefing the main, and it sounded just like what you're describing. The bottom 25% of the sail was held on with a series of looped ropes. It doesn't sound easy to operate, but it's certainly simple and direct.

What do make of my phobia of turtling? Are most new masts filled with enough flotation that they won't sink? Why is my Venture Cat 15 so hard (impossible) to right once turtled?

I think the turtling incident is the motivation for trying to find a way to reef the main. I've sewn reinforcing patches at the new tack and clew. I haven't been able to find grommets that I feel are strong enough. I'm considering riviting a 1/8" plastic reinforcing plate at the clew and making my own grommet of a short piece of 1/2" copper tubing. Using a round-headed carriage bolt as a driver I can round over the ends of the tubing.

As you can probably tell, I'm short of funds, so I'm trying to figure out a dependable way of doing this myself. I suppose the best way would be to send the sail off to a sailmaker, or at least order some real grommets...but I'm stubborn I guess!