[quote=davefarmer]I've soloed an H16 a lot, up to about 12 kts of breeze without reefing. It requires a real comfort on the wire, moving forward upwind, and way aft downwind, I had a footstrap aft of the rear beam, and felt very secure there. I had a solid mast, so no issues with the comptip. I'd think that if the head of the main was below the comptip when reefed you'd be fine.
To add reef points you need not only add new cringles/grommets for the new tack and clew, but those areas need additional sail material added to distribute the substantial loads at those points. Also, 3 grommets are installed between the tack and clew to allow small lines to be run thru the sail to secure the excess sail below the reef points. As Scott mentioned, an additional slug is swaged to the hlyd that will knock into th V at the masthead at the proper point to position the head below the comptip and the new tack at the right spot to allow the downhaul to work as designed. It's important to downhaul the main hard in high winds to flatten the sail as much as possible.
The mast needs to be meticulously sealed to insure that no water enters, to make righting easy/possible. A Hobie Bob masthead float is another possibility. A righting pole might work at your weight, the big Murray's righting bag is probably the most likely to be successful every time. If you choose the bag, consider a pocket sewn to the bottom of the tramp in which to store it(quick access), and a Hawaiian righting line system. I'm also a fan of a drift sock (also stored in the undertramp pocket) that can be deployed off the lower bow, to keep the bows into the wind, aiding the righting operation further. Being able to get the boat back up quickly is extremely important when sailing solo.
Setting up a roller furling jib might also be useful for reducing sail area for solo sailing and safety(getting caught out with too much sail up). It's difficult to reef the main at sea in rising winds, hard to keep the boat pointed into the wind while messing with the sail. It's tougher to tack the 16 without a jib, but it can be done with practice.
I think I had 2 sets of reef points in my main, although I think I only used the second set once in monster conditions. Might be worthwhile if you go very far from port, though to use mainsail reefing in rising breeze really requires having somewhere to beach to lower the sail.
I really liked the 16 as a solo boat, if you set it up well, and judiciously mate your skills to the conditions, it'll treat you well.
Dave[/quote]
