Shorten Sail

To reduce the sail area set or exposed to the wind.

Sail can be shortened by reefing, partially rolling a sail designed for reefing, lowering or furling one sail, or replacing it with a smaller sail. The aim may be to control heel, loads, speed, balance or crew workload rather than only to cope with strong wind.

The operation is safest when anticipated early and carried out using the vessel’s practised system. A smaller but poorly balanced sail plan can still overload steering or rigging, so sail distribution as well as total area must suit the course, sea state and vessel.