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Reducing mainsail area effectively is an essential aspect of depowering the boat as the wind strength increases. For offshore racing or cruising it is particularly important to be able to do so quickly and safely and this becomes even more critical when sailing shorthanded. Without weight on the rail, the need to reef comes earlier and the ability to deal with a situation is reduced. A mainsail reefing system should be reliable, quick to operate and produce an adequate sail shape once reefed. In this blog we discuss 4 options for taking a slab in the main. 

Italian marine hardware manufacturer, Antal, have been creating sailing solutions since 1977 and have designed a wide range of sailing hardware to suit race boats and cruisers. Their Soft Loop Hook is a lightweight, flexible, simple to use device for adjusting genoa or spinnaker sheet leads.

The Alphalock brand is a relative newcomer on the sailing hardware scene but its CEO, Eric Hall – founder of Hall Spars and inventor of their renowned Hall Autolocks - is anything but “the new kid on the block”! Eric has taken all his years’ experience and channeled them into producing an ultra-simple, lightweight and adaptable halyard locking mechanism.

Founded in 2004, Karver set themselves the goal of developing and manufacturing hardware for the latest generation of high-tech yachts... and they are succeeding with just that.