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Or, along John's idea, having the ball bungies at the ready to thread the grommet & lock the ball. I think it might be faster than tieing / untieing a pre hung reef line? Plus the ball wouldn't be wearing on the sail all the time.

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I can see your point. Thanks Eric.

eric3a wrote:Bungies are just not strong enough. You need to keep the sail shape and lines are the best way to do that. Use low strecth lines.
I use a half shoe-lace knot (don't know the English maritime term for it) to make sure I can undo when needed.
Eric

Eric:
Wouldn't low stretch line put extra strain on the grommets and rip them out of the sail? One might think that bungee cord would give a little thereby keeping grommet rips to a minimum. I realize most of the load is at the tack & clew but even when the sail is not reefed the load is more evenly dispersed along the bolt rope in the boom, but when reefed there is more load concentrated at the grommets. Are loose footed sails only attached at the tack & clew or are there a few sliders along the foot of the sail fed into the boom?

My sailmaker advised thin sail ties, feeding them through the reef diamonds and tying off the excess sail when reefed.

Bungies are just not strong enough. You need to keep the sail shape and lines are the best way to do that. Use low strecth lines.
I use a half shoe-lace knot (don't know the English maritime term for it) to make sure I can undo when needed.

Keep in mind that a reefed sail works like a loose footed main. The ties basically hold the rolled up excess sail. They are not intended to bear the weight of a full sail as the boltrope in the foot. The stresses are picked up in the tack and clew and sailshape is controlled along the foot by the outhaul.

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No matter how hard I pull on the outhaul, within the reefing lines the sail isn't flat enough to my liking.

Check this out http://macgregorsailors.com/phpBB/viewt ... 6874#76874
Click on the outhaul/reefing link.

Leon

By the way guy's

My main sail is a loose footed sail & I hardly ever tie off off the reef gromets except if it is blowing really hard and it starts to flap around under & to side the boom there by securing the excess sail with tie off rope is usualy done in a hurry & not that tight. The bungies is what I would do and that would secure it fine no problem now if I fit them into the gromets as descibed I don't have to struggle around hanging on to a boom trying to tie of a g_d d_m knot the bungie is simple, faster & if I was out in a force 12 I'll bet them ropes will rip out them gromets & sails if their to tight . The bungy's will hold fine all the stress is taken by the tack & clew I'm basicaly flying a smaller loose footed main sail the bungies may not last as long as the rope but for the convienence & the price is right I might be a cheap b_stard scotsman but I not that cheap Anyway it should work fine for me now a much larger main sail it might be diff.
just my thoughts not saying I'm right for larger boats with bigger mains but I think it should be ok for the 26x, m as well. Eric maybe your still thinking "big" but then you are away more experienced than I am so please do not take offense don't be to hard on a simple novice sailor like me ok I do have alot to learn may need your advise some day

Thx John

For mainsail furling I put three stainless eyestraps popriveted on one side of the boom, on each end and one in center, on the opposite side put two
stainless hooks, halfway between the eyestraps. Use bungie cord thru the
eyestraps, tie off both ends, experiment with the tension you need to
pull over the sail to the hooks. Leave the bungie on the boom.

I set up a reefing system by installing 3 jam cleats on one side of the boom in line with the reefing cringles. I ran lines through the sails,knotted on both sides so the won't come out.
To set the reef,bring the sail down,grab the reef lines,pull it under the boom,and jam the lines up into the cleats.