Flattening Reef for your Mainsail

Mainsail Flattening Reef:

If you find your boat heeling farther than you want, one of the easiest ways to depower the sails is to tuck a flattening reef in the mainsail.  The flattening reef is a reef cringle that is sewn into the mainsail’s leach about the same distance above the boom as the Cunningham cringle is above the gooseneck.

Of course, you will want to have this reef point (as well as any other reef points) rigged before you leave the dock.  The setup is pretty simple…  Secure a stainless steel pad-eye to one side of the boom directly beneath the flattening reef cringle.  Then secure a block to the aft end of the boom; AND a cheek block on the opposite side of the boom from the pad-eye.  The reefing line is secured to the pad-eye; then led up through the flattening reef cringle; down and around the cheek block; then through the cringle again; to the block at the boom’s end; and forward to a cleat.

When the flattening reef line is tightened, the cringle is pulled down to the boom and tensioned aft simultaneously.  Doing this really flattens the bottom third to bottom half of the mainsail; which depowers the mainsail considerably.  With the tall rig on Snickerdoodle, I find the flattening reef particularly nice at about 13 or 14 knots of wind.

Since taking these photos, I have re-rigged the reefing lines so that they run aft on the cabin top instead of to cleats on the boom.  No more leaning out over the water to secure the flattening reef.

If your mainsail does not have a flattening reef point, you might want to contact your sailmaker and have one put in the sail.  I think you’ll like this reef point a lot on those gusty days.

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