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Re: Single line reefing question
Single line reefing can work well, you just need to reduce the friction.
The greatest source of friction is from having a double braid line going through the cringles on the sail. There are two ways to make it better, doing both of them gives the best result. The first is using dyneema for the portion that runs through the cringles (you'll have to splice this to doublebraid where you cleat it off, or start with a dyneema core double braid and strip the cover where the line runs along the sail).
The second is using a block (or Antal-style low friction ring) instead of the cringle. An easy way to do this is to put a ring on one side of the sail, an Antal ring on the other side of the sail, and connect them with a piece of sewn webbing (sail makers call that a "dog-bone") or soft shackle. The other advantage of using a block or low friction ring is that both sides of the reefing line run on one side of the sail, they won't crush and chafe the sail when reefed.
I have single line reefing on my boat and with those two improvements it works very well. If you run your halyards back to the cockpit then I find well implemented single line reefing to make more sense then running 4 lines (vs 2 lines) back to the cockpit to support two reefs. If you run your halyard to the mast then normal jiffy reefing for the clew and a hook for the tack works great.
The rigging work for good single line reefing takes a little bit more time, but it's worth it. I think most people who say single line reefing doesn't work have never tried it when it's been rigged this way.
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