In our new series on Best Practices in Blue Water Cruising, member Tony Gooch, with more than 160,000 miles at sea, has tackled the topic of Heavy Weather Sailing, especially short-handed.

We have more than 2000 members with blue water experience and we would like to hear what you have learned across all those sea miles. One thing we all recognize is that every boat, every crew and every situation is different so please take a look at Tony 's excellent paper and please contribute your thoughts via this Forum. We 'll compile the comments into an OCC white paper for all to benefit. Many thanks.


Please Note: The original attachment has been removed because the paper has been updated and is posted in a later section of this thread.

Vice Commodore, OCC 

Niel
The photo of the reefing rings in Tony 's paper was taken on Al Shaheen. Our rings are the same size as yours and I agree the desirability of rings this size. We have a slightly larger Wichard clip than the one you show and have no difficulty in attaching 3 reefing rings on the same side of the boom. The advantage of a fixed, welded, Wichard clip is that the rings can be clipped in using only one hand. It is best to lave slightly longer tapes between the rings for the 3rd reef.

With a reefing winch mounted on deck, just aft of the mast, I sit on deck (low centre of gravity) when reefing, with a clear view of the reefing cringle in the leech. We keep a short tether permanently attached to the gas strut fitting at the base of the mast and work there with 2 tethers to limit potential falling distance if dislodged.