BRE 20 Roller Furling or Roller reefing jib

[Simon Bright]

What is people's experience of putting roller reefing on a BRE 20. I was out in force 6 in the Kyles of Bute and whilst it was a big relief to drop the main and sail under jib and mizzen i did feel, in the gusts, that it could be useful to reduce sail further by a roller reefing system. Have people tried it ? Which system do you recommend and which sail maker ? And is it affordable ?

Simon Bright

[Sea Simon]

my 2016 bre has a selden 40s jib furler, fitted by yard at build.
i find it v good.
i dont think it was too expensive?
that said, it furls, but dosent reef. for that i think you need to spend more?

have a look here
https://www.swallowyachtsassociation.org/smf/index.php/topic,2001.msg13210.html#msg13210

there is at least one boat with the more luxurious "aeroluff" spars set up; search on this forum.
and see
http://www.aeroluffspars.co.uk/


sorry reduced caps/punct possible, due to broken wrist!

[Simon Bright]

Thanks Simon.

That introduces me to furling options. I wonder if you have advice on the following issue. It looks like I have the Sheldon 40 on my BRE. I need to check this with the boat in front of me. I have a rather old jib and am new to the BRE 20. When I re-rigged the jib, after travelling a trip to Scotland, I replaced some fine dynema type strong string which appeared to fasten the top of the jib to the furling swivel with a shackle. We had a heavy blow and I tried reducing the jib size using the furling system. ( Having already taken down the main) The long and the short is that the jib will not unfurl fully and remains twisted at the bottom. The wire inside and along the luff of the jib seems permanently twisted. Can this be untwisted ? Should I replace the shackle with the strong string ? Any other advice ? best regards, Simon 

[Sea Simon]

furling is not the same as reefing. furling is stowing the sail, reefing is reducing sail area.
my understanding of this selden unit is that the sail should be fully rolled [furled], or fully flying.

immediately, and most importantly - do you have a forestay, in addition to the jib luff wire? you need a forestay now/asap.

to reef a jib, for several reasons [rec you search] you need something like the aeroluff - and possibly a different sail as well?

imo, it seems possible that your high winds use of your partly furled jib [furled, not reefed] may have damaged the jib luff wire? if at all damaged, it needs renewing, pronto.
This shouldn't be difficult or expensive to do locally.

furling. afaik, the light lashings [dyneema string on mine] to which you refer transmit the rotary furling action from the drum, thru the luff wire, into the sail luff. on mine, the bottom string also acts as a sort of cunningham, for luff tension.

there are others who know far more about this topic on here. hopefully the chap with the new aeroluff system will be along here shortly...

meanwhile...
1. sort your forestay before you sail again.
2. take some solace in that when i took my boat on [18 months old, barely used] my jib had spent so long tightly furled, that the sail was setting so badly that i've had to have a new jib made [<£500 - not hyde].
Decided on a conventional, non furling sail and so boat is transformed upwind.

[Peter Cockerton]

I took the decision to ask Matt to install a larger jib on my BR20 in 2019, to allay any fears on my behalf of being over canvassed in a blow under just jib and mizzen I researched the AeroLuff solution.
The design is basically a tube of carbon fibre fitted around the luff wire end terminations crimped onto the tubes which clamp around the end cringles of the the luff wire.

Unfortunately upgrading standard jibs as far as I know has its problems, the spar when assembled needs to pass through the luff pocket and normally the standard jib pocket is too narrow, if you call AeroLuff and ask to speak to Ralph he can advise you.

The system works very well and I have had a need on two occasions to reef the jib to keep the boat more comfortable with the other half and dog on the boat.

Of course the reefed jib (with its now rolled sail ) reduces pointing ability as the fine luff shape when unreeled is disturbed but you can't have everything. In a blow if find going about much easier as the bow doesn,t get blown off due to overpowering the mizzen until boat speed restored.

On the downside though, you have to be careful when dropping the jib, the spar will bend without damage but at some extreme point it will break,so allow it to drop under its own rate. I normally drop my jib when back on shore, put a sock over the entire length and lay it over the cockpit seats.

Two sizes of carbon fibre tube are available, from memory 8mm and 10 mm, the BR20 with larger jib and again from memory 6 mm luffwire was deemed by Ralph to require the 8mm tube, i j upgrade to the 10 mm tube to be on the safe side against accidental breakage,

[Ged]

If you are looking to reduce the size of the jib you might also need to reef the mizzen to keep the boat balanced.

After a particularly lively singlehanded sail last year I decided to have an extra reef put in my main, fit an aero luff spar and have a reef put in my mizzen.

The Jib and mizzen combo is a good get out of jail free card but if you are still overpowered you have no option but to pinch through the gusts, which will get you nowhere fast.  I'm now hoping to be able to use all three sails, but haven't had a chance yet.

It's a bit different in my light unballasted Storm 17 though

[Simon Bright]

Ged point taken about your Storm 17. How did you organise a reef in the Mizzen ? Maybe by rolling it around the mast ? But then how to fix it ?

cheers,

Simon

[Ged]

I took a vertical wedge out of the mizzen, like a slice of pizza, which then gathers together behind the mast... like a wedge shaped vertical slab reef.

[Simon Bright]

Dear Ged, thanks for the pictures. That makes sense but I am not sure how to fix it all up. I will be needing a new mizzen by the end of the season so I will explore the mizzen reefing option. I sail in the Bristol channel from Thornbury SC and the tides in the Severn/Channel are savage. So when the tide changes and you get wind against tide a fun sail can suddenly become a hairy sail even with water ballast. So I am examining the options before fun turns to hairy. Could you give me more detail please on the mods to the mizzen. I get the idea generally but more detail would be helpful.

Simon

[Simon Bright]

Dear Ged,

looking more closely I can see that you simply put eyelets into the mizzen roughly vertical or following the way the sail rolls round the boom ? A sailmaker should know how to do it. And then you tie these off when you want to reef with the addition of reefing lines up the sail to keep everything trim and tidy.. ?