Ask this guy.  Racing in the Figaro Solo around France.  They sail right through the area at the begining of the vid the op put up.  Hope this works

Etchemin wrote:

Will two reefs help here or just good judgemnet?

http://www.youtube.com/watch_popup?v=T4FIS1FnOQg 

Etch

 I'm seasick just from sitting here watching that at my desk. Definite do-not-lauch conditions!

I think lugnut raised a good point here regarding putting the reefing on the inspection checklist. It needs to be there and the skippers need to be able demonstrate how they will reef if there's doubt about whether or not something will work or if the inspector isn't sure the skipper knows what he's doing.  

I was witness to one of the situations at the start this year that prompted this whole string. Chief stopped a boat from leaving the beach because they the didn't have a reef tied in their main nor was there any gear apparent that would allow them to do so. The came back and started working on it. What I saw them do didn't look right to me and left some doubt they knew what they were doing. Had this been noticed at inspection, they could have demonstrated their technique then and there and any deficiencies noted and corrected.

I still don't beleive a reef is needed in a secondary sail like lugnut's 12 square foot mizzen, but I'll abide by whatever rules that are in place at the time. THis would not apply on my CS17 where the mizzen accounts for something like 45% of my sail area and it definitely needs two reefs. FWIW, I sailed practically the entire UM double reefed this year. I never felt overpowered even in the 30kt gusts on Saturday afternoon. I stayed the heck off the water when it blew 40's on Sunday morning.

If you are at all competetive, what are you doing here; if you are not, then why would not want to be able set the optimum sail for the conditions? On a sloop, just getting rid of the jib is not a good answer as usually the balance goes to hell and the weather helm can be overpowering. I am not sure that having a jib on roller furling is the right answer either. As Mister Moon pointed out, roller furling headsails are usually all or nothing, and having a smaller jib to keep the sloop balanced after the main is reefed is a good idea as well as a lot faster.

Having one deep reef would make you underpowered a lot of the time as 20 knots is far more common than 30 knots but in a typical EC you will likely see both or as in this year a lot more.

Etch

http://www.youtube.com/watch_popup?v=T4FIS1FnOQg 

Etch