[quote=Dogboy]The lower (unused) portion of the sail gets wrapped up and tied as you described. The clew and tack fittings at the reef points definitely need to be reinforced to support the downhaul and mainsheet loads. The reef points in the body of the sail don’t need as much reinforcement since they are just holding the sail roll and not intended to support any load from the sail controls.
The main issue with reefing on a cat (and the reason why it’s rarely done) is dealing with the main halyard attachment. Most modern cats use some type of hook system to attach the head of the mainsail to the top of the mast. That system really doesn’t lend itself to reefing and relying on the main halyard to support the reefed sail is not a great approach since doing so can lead to the sail slipping down which messes up the downhaul/mainsheet tensions.
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