Reef (sailing)

“ Never carry too much sail, as there is considerable danger in doing so, and a boat will often sail faster with a reef taken in, than she will when unduly pressed. If necessary to take in a reef when sailing on a wind, do not luff, but check the sheet, lower the sail sufficiently to shift the tack, gather the sheet aft so that the men may take in the reef without leaning over the gunwale, shift the sheet, hoist the sail, while the sheet is slack, and do not haul the sheet aft until the men are again in their places. ”

“ The mistake most frequently made is to neglect to reef till it is too late. Landsmen scarcely ever calculate how quickly wind moves, and how suddenly a change in the weather takes place. It is easy to reef while there is time, but sometimes almost impossible if too long delayed. Reefing saves one from much anxiety. The boat that with her whole sail would be cranky and dangerous plunges along buoyantly through the summer gale when her sails are properly reefed. ”

“ For when the moment has come to reef, if the boat is running free her head is brought up to the wind, the mizzen and jib sheets trimmed in, and with the main boom well inboard the pennants are lashed and the reef points tied down, when she is let off again and goes bowling along on her former course. In Champlain the three reef cringles on the leech of the mainsail are all within easy reach from the cockpit, and the skipper, without leaving the tiller, can lash the pennants, and hence, with only one assistant, the three reefs can successively, if need be, be tied down. ”

“ As this was the first part of the coast, since leaving Port Usborne, that a sailing vessel could approach without great risk, we proceeded to examine that channel more minutely, and were sorry to find the extensive coral reefs which fronted the islands, left a space of only half a mile between; a black pointed rock ten feet above high-water, marks the edge of the western reef, where it is covered by the tide; keeping this close on the starboard hand, will conduct a ship into good anchorage in 13 and 15 fathoms. ”

“ Haul down the jib, bring the yacht to the wind, haul the main-boom chock aft, and belay the sheet carefully; lower away on the throat and peak-halliards till the reef-band is down somewhat lower than the main-boom; then, by means of the reef-pennant rove through the reef-cringle on the outer-leach of the sail, bowse the foot out on the boom, and lash it fast by passing an earing through the cringle, and around the boom by several turns, till the clew of the sail is securely fastened ”

“ It's a typhoon!" the sailing-master shouted to Chris at eleven o'clock. "Too much canvas! Got to get two more reefs into the mainsail, and got to do it right away!" He glanced at the old captain, shivering in oilskins at the binnacle and holding on for dear life. "There's only you and I, Chris—and the cook; but he's next to worthless!"
In order to make the reef, it was necessary to lower the mainsail, and the removal of this after pressure was bound to make the schooner fall off before the wind and sea because of the forward pressure of the jib.
"Take the wheel!" the sailing-master directed. ”

“ An harbour might be made by cutting a channel through the reef about four hundred feet long, but it would be necessary to blow up some sunken rocks to facilitate the entry: if it should ever be thought proper to do this, five vessels of seven feet draught might lie all the year round in security within the reef: they will not be able to enter but in the finest weather, with the wind from north-east to north-west, and then they must warp in: perhaps less difficulty will be found when I am informed of the state of the weather during the Summer months. ”

“ Presently we caught on one; and dreading a capsize, we launched the boats at once; for there was not a point of the reef above water for miles, and no swimmer could have reached dry land in such a current. After a few anxious moments, the schooner swung free, and we dropped the anchor in a sort of pool. All the afternoon we were engaged in kedging out into the channel; and finally, after enormous labour, we got into deep water, where we anchored for the night.
The beauty of these coral reefs is something indescribable; nowhere else, either on sea or land, are such colours to be seen. ”

“ If you are caught out in the open, and have to reef, it is best to lower all down and reef running off; by getting the boom firmly lashed amidships you can handle the sail, whereas if you lay-to the sea will make trouble. In running off carefully tend your helm, and keep the vessel moving, or you may get pooped. If anywhere near shore it is best to go in, anchor and reef in quiet, and at your leisure. The methods of reefing a sloop are the same for reefing a cat, but if you have a yawl, ketch or schooner, the work is much more simple and easy. ”

“ We therefore gave up the idea of taking the ship out as we brought her in, and set to work to discover another passage into blue water. But sure such a hopeless range of shoals, banks, reefs, and dangerous points of rock, never bewildered poor mariners; sometimes we thought that we had hit upon a channel, but just as we were upon the point of finding our way clearly into the open ocean, a few specks of white water only seen when the sea fell into a trough at that place, would stretch across the route, and reveal the fact, that a ledge of pointed and pinnacled reef barred the way. ”

“ Steer right in for the outer points, for there is not any thing in the way but what shows itself by the sea breaking on it, except a reef on the south shore which runs off a small distance only: when you are past this reef and are a-breast the next point on the same side, you will open to the south-ward of you an extensive branch of the harbour, into which you will sail; taking care to keep the shore on either side well on board, for there is a reef which dries at low water and lies very near the mid-channel, right off the first sandy cove on the east shore ”

“ Outside the reef there is no anchorage ground, as no cable could fathom the depth. Inside, the water is smooth and beautifully clear, but no ship of any size can pass through the reef. There are several passages for canoes and boats, and one for a vessel of forty-five tons. This is, however, a very great advantage to the inhabitants in a social point of view, as it prevents the establishment of a seaport town in their island, while, at the same time, they can enjoy intercourse with the rest of the world. ”

“ About a mile more or less off shore, there is as a rule a rocky reef, on which the breakers may be seen to dash violently in many places, the depth above the reef being in several places, 1, 11⁄2 and even 2 fathom, so that pinnaces and boats may get over it for the purpose of landing, there being deeper water close inshore, but all of it with a rocky, sharp coral-bottom, so that it is difficult to land there, and much harder still to keep a pinnace at anchor with a drag ”

“ The tide was high as we went down to the harbour, at which time, when there is a swell, the breakers burst with considerable force over the reefs outside. We found a number of boys and girls swimming off, some with boards, others without them, and others paddling in paopaos, or little canoes. On reaching the reef, where the waves curled up and broke into foam, the swimmers threw themselves forward with a jump, just as the sea took them, and away they glided in the midst of the white foam, shouting and yelling at the top of their voices. The chief took us off in his canoe to see the fun. ”

“ I thought, as I sprang on deck.
The wind was increasing, the foam-topped seas rolled in quick succession towards us, the sky to windward looked threatening in the extreme; that terrible wall of foam loomed higher through the gloom of night. Still, as long as the schooner’s head could be kept turned away from the reef, we might hope to claw off from it. The chart had shown us that a reef existed, but its form was indistinctly marked. ”

“ On Saturday the 21st do. we set sail with a S.S.E. and S.E. by S. wind, a weak breeze and lovely weather. Here, from the point, the land extended to S. by W. and S.S.W. as far as one could see, with a slight curve only. The reef above referred to runs out to sea in a northward direction from the Roode Hoeck upwards of two miles, and from there very far to westward, upwards of 11⁄2 mile from the land. It consists of sandy shoals, having a small hill or rock above water; alongside it the depth was 7, 6, 5 and 4 fathom, uneven bottom. ”

“ We furled all sails, and I was sent by Captain Arthur in the cutter to sound around the ship. I found the eastern edge of the reef on which we lay to be very steep, with shelves projecting beyond each other as it deepened. These edges were of very sharp and ragged coral, descending so rapidly as scarcely to allow room to lay an anchor on. ”

“ In order to reef the top-sails with more facility and expedition, they are lowered down and made to shiver in the wind, which considerably relaxes their tension. The extremities of the reef are then drawn up to the yard-arms by an assemblage of pullies communicating with the deck, termed the reef-tackle; and they are securely fastened to the yard-arms by small cords, called earings. The space of sail, comprehended in the reef, is then laid smoothly over the yard, in several folds, or doubles: and the whole is completed by tying the points about the yard, so as to bind the reef close up to it. ”

“ With single reef we cut things wide open. Slack sheet, down peak and away we rushed the reaches. In sheet, up peak and we beat her up the bends and then repeat with our wake swashing from bank to bank. We kept at it all day and it was one of the sporting sails of my life. Through narrow creeks, down broad rivers, across big sounds we drove and hustled. Just a little slip-up in jibing or tacking and we would have been in the meadows, but we made none. When we shot out of the creek into Port Royal Sound we made just three jumps and landed with a swash in the river on other shore. ”

“ The inhabitants are obliged to throw stones into the sea till they emerge like a geometrical reef, and vessels cling hard to the reef. One climbs on to it from the steamer; it is very long and thin, like a sword, and between shouting wind and water one precariously balances oneself on it. After some eighty years of steam, nothing more comfortable than the reef has yet been achieved. But far out on the water a black line may be discerned, with the silhouettes of cranes and terrific engines. ”

“ Sometimes the water would deepen a little and relieve us; again it would shoal. Between the coral-branches we would sink at times to our necks in the slime and water, our limbs lacerated with the sharp projecting points. Fortunately, the wind helped us; keeping all sail on, thus for more than a hundred yards we toiled, until the water deepened and the reef was passed. Wet, foul, bleeding, with hardly strength enough to climb into the boat, we were safe at last for a time. As we cleared the shoal, the schooner hauled by the wind, and opened fire from a nine-or twelve-pounder ”

“ These reefs, however, vary in construction; some are called encircling reefs, when they appear at a distance from the shore, and a lagoon intervenes; others are called fringing reefs, which are joined to the land, and extend out from it without any lagoon. Others are denominated lagoon islands, when the reef itself, raised above the surface of the ocean, forms the land generally in a circular shape, and surrounds a lake or lagoon, which has sometimes a passage to the sea, and at others is completely closed. ”

“ Accordingly, the reefs were shaken out of foresail and forestay-sail, and under these and a close-reefed mainsail twenty-four miles were run off in the afternoon watch. At four o'clock, when the barometer touched its minimum of 29.60, a nasty swell from the northeast, due to another shifting of the wind, began to make itself felt, and, though nothing carried away, the vicious twist of the cross surges made so bad a seaway that we were forced to reef down again and ride out the night head-reaching in a southwesterly direction. ”

“ It is this commencement of the reef which constitutes what is usually termed the mole, and behind it lies the harbor proper. At its termination is a narrow opening in the reef which is called the western entrance, through which it is possible for a ship to pass, though the channel is not more than two hundred feet in width. Beyond this passage the rocks reappear, with intervals between them, though lying on shoals with from one and a half to five and a half feet of water. The line of rocks and shoals extends more than a mile outside of the western entrance. ”

“ It was fortunate to find anything like a second suit on board a Mexican craft of that size at all. As it is, we have foresail, mainsail, and jib, and with that canvas I think we might beat the schooner down to Key West in the course of a day and a night. If I dared to venture outside of the reef, it might be done sooner even, for they tell me there is a four-knot current sometimes in that track; but I do not like to venture outside, so short-handed. The current inside must serve our turn, and we shall get smooth water by keeping under the lee of the rocks. ”

“ When the tide made against the wind the swell rose and caused our only remaining anchor to drag; more cable was instantly veered; but as the vessel did not bring up and we were drifting towards the reef no alternative was left but to weigh and keep under sail; which, during a long and dark night, and near so extensive a reef, was running great risk. Our loss of anchors was now much felt for no sooner were we under sail than the wind died away; and from the heavy swell the cutter was so ungovernable that the vessel twice missed stays in endeavouring to tack in shoal water ”