reefed main?

Anyone ever race a 16 with a reefed main?
I can think of one race at North Americans where it probably would have been faster for us.

This picture is from the '03 Europeans.
Notice thee reef points.

Do you think they were using the old style halyard, or do they use another method to hold the sail up in the reefed position?
Jack

you need a longer wire section on the main halyard and two nicro press sleves on it.

Bob,

The reef points were taken out of the Hobie USA sails in 1985 when the CompTip was introduced. Since most of the rest of the world still has solid aluminum masts, they still have the reef points.

However, in 31 years of racing 16's, I can't remember ever racing with the main reefed. Usually if it's so windy that you'd want to reef, the race committee bails out.

As I recall, upwind performance suffers significantly when reefed; downwind is where you really want to reduce sail area to avoid the pitchpole. There are other ways to reduce projected sail area downwind (like traveller/sheeting in) that work just as well.

Might be handy in a distance race, though.

I have raced in 2 Nationals where there were plenty of reefed boats. 1980? Ocean City and 81 South Padre Is. South Padre there were only 11 boats full sail in one race out of 48. I was full sail and wished I had reefed. (ended up 11 in that race)

Photos from Angola Circa 1981 in about 25+ w/6-8 footers
Rick Quatrone & Anne Anderson on board, you have to look close at the pics to see who was on board when. Cause they were the only ones I could talk into going out for a casual day sail.

a couple more pics

riggin' to go racin'

ive raced my 16 with reefed main and roller furling (smaller) jib singlehanded against our 16 fleet when i didnt have a crew, boatspeed seems to be about equal.

Tom,

Your starting to show your age here with all the old photo's. I wasn't even born when those pic's were taken!


Thanks,
Brad Stephens
www.sunjammers.com
Authorized Hobie/Vanguard Dealer
Division 15 Chairman
Panama City Beach, FL
brad@sunjammers.com
850-235-2281