Reply To: Changing genoa size sail on Dufour 365 – any advice?

#457569
Kevin Murray

    For the headsail, it might be worth considering barber-haulers if you wanted to go any smaller than 118%. As for mainsail, if you have provision for three reefs, why not stick with that arrangement. It’s like having a three-speed gearbox instead of a two-speed.
    My boat is a 30 Classic which was originally owned by the Irish offshoot of the French sail-training organisation, Centre Nautique les Glenans, and was delivered with 200 modifications on the standard design, one of which was a third reef. In this case, the sail has three reef points, but the boom is standard.In general use the presumption was that the first two would be used in the normal way, but if a passage was commenced in brisker weather, (or an unfavourable forecast was obtained while on passage), the first reef would be tied in at the outset, using the outhaul, and then the two reef lines would be swapped into the second and third reef cringles