One issue has arisen where the connector between the sail luff box and track slide are strained whereby a 10mm ‘bolt’ has such force put on it that it actually strips itself out of the thread within the box.

Hopefully this may assist.

Putting a reef in pre raising the sail OR when the sail is already raised should not be so different as to any of us not applying the guidelines to each.

1. Release the kicker / vang
2. Loosen off the main sheet
3. Pull up the topping lift to raise the boom a little (don’t get carried away!)
4. Place the appropriate (i.e. which reef?) cringle over the horn at mast end of boom and set halyard as appropriate.
5. Pull back the corresponding reefing line until the leech reefing cringle is down towards the boom. This should not automatically necessitate use of a winch and certainly not excessive use.
6. Use bungee straps through the appropriate reefing cringles in the sail to keep the loose section tight into the boom
7. Loosen the topping lift
8. Tighten main sheet as appropriate followed by the kicker /vang.

Putting in a reef will cause the boom to lift a little so if the lines are not loosened then excess stresses being put on the sail/ links will become inevitable.

‘Shaking out a reef’ is pretty well a reversal of the above.

Enjoy the sail.

When to comes to departing from Saor, it’s good practice to have loosened off the reefing lines totally AND remove the cringle off of the mast horn. In this way when the next syndicate member comes along and possibly struggles to raise the mainsail, it will not be because the previous user has left the reef in.

Its worth noting that speaking with sail makers they have no previous experience of the damage caused to our fittings on any other yachts.