Practical advice for all sailors. Tom Cunliffe has sailed tens of thousands of miles all over the world and has been a Yachtmaster Examiner since 1978

The illustration is me coiling away my genoa furling line. You’ll note there is no jammer in sight. Instead, the line secures to a proper cleat on the coaming. The lead from up forward is so clean that I don’t need a winch to furl the sail on my 44-footer. To reef, I heave in as much as I want, then secure. To unroll more sail, the whole thing is under perfect control with a turn or two on the cleat.

To put in a second roll, I just grab the bight forward of the cleat, roll it in, then secure on top of the first reef. Simple and effective. Rely on a jammer and you add complications, often involving bad leads which end up with the requirement for a winch, even on yachts much smaller than mine.