Reefs and Bonnets

[Littleneckhalfshell]

Ran across something interesting that was bugging me about a mythbuster episode, the one where they test if you can slide down a sail using a knife. The problem was that they would have the knife pulled loose from their hand when they hit the reef band. Well I ran across the following bit of information in a book that I got my dad many years ago. I was checking out the section on sail construction and found the following.

from "Historic Ship Models" by Wolfram zu Mondfeld Page 260; speaking of Reefs and Bonnets, ""The Bonnet came from the Mediterranean area ............and by the beginning of the 15th century it had displace the reef. The latter was reintroduced in the middle of the 17th century, and had, in its turn, virtually superseded the bonnet by the end of the 17th century""

So, from roughly 1650 till 1700 there were many sails without reef bands! Since hitting the reef band was the major problem on the Mythbusters show, the test was flawed. The G.A.O.P. (golden age of Piracy) was 1650 to 1720 so it falls within the period that many ships may have had sails without reef bands.

Can anyone add more about the use or time period, since it is related to a time period, those using sails for their camp tent may want to check out more on this question of reef bands or Bonnets. Since making a sail for a tent without reef bands seems to be a more simple construction, I just thought it might be nice to know that it has testimony as being period correct.

There is more on Bonnets and Reefs on page 260 of the book. does anyone have other references?