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Reefing is a sailing manoeuvre intended to reduce the area of a sail on a sailboat or sailing ship, to improve the ship's stability and reduce the risk of capsizing, broaching or damaging sails or boat hardware in a strong wind. Modern sailboats often combine reefing and furling of sails, e.g., as shown in fully furled Genoa headsail of the Bavaria 36 yacht shown in the image at right.

There are three common methods of reefing: conventional, roller and jiffy reefing. The latter two methods make sail-handling easier, and allow reefing to be done with fewer crew members.

[edit] Conventional reefing

Sails may have alternate attachement points built in that allow the area to be reduced if these attachment points are used. In a mainsail, one to three horizontal rows of cringles, called reef points, are often placed above the sail foot. By lowering the sail and tying the sail to the boom at these reef points, a new tack and clew is formed, and the sail's area is reduced. More than one row of reef points increases options for possible sail area. To perform the reef crew must manually tie the reef points to the boom, which can be difficult and even dangerous as reefing is not required until winds are high.

[edit] Roller reefing

Roller reefing involves rolling or wrapping the sail around a wire, foil or spar to reduce its area exposed to wind. Mainsails are wrapped around the vessel's boom, which contains a mechanism in the gooseneck to allow the boom to rotate to roll in the sail, or special hardware inside the boom or mast is used to reef the sail by winding it around a rotating foil. These latter systems are commonly known as mainsail furlers or mainsail furling systems. Conventional roller reefing on a rotating boom can be time-consuming and difficult, typically requiring a crew member to work at the mast in heavy weather. Mainsail furling systems are usually operated quickly and easily by the use of control lines led to the boat's cockpit. Roller reefing allows a more gradual and controllable method of reefing than conventional or jiffy reefing.

[edit] Jiffy reefing

Jiffy reefing, also called slab reefing, is quicker and easier than conventional reefing or conventional roller reefing of mainsails, and involves folding the sail in sections, or slabs, along the boom. One or two reefing lines placed through the reef cringles at the sail's luff and leach edges are used to pull those points down tight to the boom, creating a new tack and clew point for the sail. The reefing lines may be led back to the cockpit so reefing can be performed without going on deck in heavy weather. Jiffy reefing differs from conventional reefing in that the sail does not need to be manually tied to the boom at each of the reef cringles on the sail. The equipment for jiffy reefing is often integrated with a furling technology called Dutchman flaking, which causes the sail to flake (fold up) on alternate sides of the boom, rather than piling up in a mess on one side of the boom.

de:Reffen

fr:Prise de ris