Sailboat single-handed reefing system

Abstract

A single-handed reefing system for a sailboat including a sail, halyard, reefing line and winch mechanism. The reefing line is secured to the leach of a flexible sail approximately half the distance between the head and foot and passes alternately through rows of grommets spaced generally horizontally on the sail and fairleads secured on the boom and a turning block on the mast to a winch located at the cockpit. A sail halyard is secured to the head of the sail and passes upward through a turning block located at the upper end of the mast and then downward to a turning block on the mast and then to the winch which has two drums, each with an appropriate circumference to allow the halyard wrapped in one direction on the first drum to lower the upper portion of the sail a distance and rate generally coincident with the lowering and reefing of the lower portion of the sail by the reefing line wrapped in the opposite direction on the second drum. Removable stops can be positioned on the reefing line to accomplish several levels of reefing.

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.