Arwen's meanderings

Hi everyone and welcome to my dinghy cruising blog about my John Welsford designed 'navigator' named Arwen. Built over three years, Arwen was launched in August 2007. She is a standing lug yawl 14' 6" in length. This blog records our dinghy cruising voyages together around the coastal waters of SW England.
Arwen has an associated YouTube channel so visit www.YouTube.com/c/plymouthwelshboy to find our most recent cruises and click subscribe.
On this blog you will find posts about dinghy cruising locations, accounts of our voyages, maintenance tips and 'How to's' ranging from rigging standing lug sails and building galley boxes to using 'anchor buddies' and creating 'pilotage notes'. I hope you find something that inspires you to get out on the water in your boat. Drop us a comment and happy sailing.
Steve and Arwen

Thursday, 15 September 2016

Over complicating the simple.....

is a life long trait of mine and I have done it with Arwen's reefing system. I installed a jiffy slab reef system.....why? I don't know why! Because I over thought it. Because I have this ability to complicate the simple!

So this system is disappearing as soon as my elbow fracture heals.

The new system? As it should have been in the first place

  • Lower the mainsail
  • Loosen the snotter
  • Attach second line to tack to secure it and move the downhaul tackle up to the first reef point cringle on the luff edge of the mainsail
  • Take the aft end of spirt boom, detach the clew of mainsail
  • Move boom up to first reef pint cringle on the leech and reattach boom
  • Haul up main halyard slightly and tighten snotter
  • Tighten up downhaul at tack
So simple isn't it!
I would have been positively dangerous if God had given me a brain. Fortunately for humankind, he missed me out on the intelligence stakes and so I remain an idiot! 
 my thanks to JW who patiently confirmed I had worked out the correct procedure!

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