How to reef a sail

I've got an old 16 with reefing points on the sail. How's it done?
Just tying it off with 1/4" line?

Yes, more or less. You need to lower the sail to the "reefing slug" on the main halyard. Then roll up the bottom of the sail and tie off the tack and clew reefing points firmly to the boom first (I would use two wraps of line around the boom). Then tie up the inner reefing points more loosely than the tack and clew ends. You want the sail cloth to be somewhat loose in the belly of the sail so that the mainsheet and downhaul load is taken by the reinforced corners of the sail. Keeping the belly of the sail looser will also allow some pocket in the body of the sail which is better than having the sail board flat.

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Regarding reefing the mainsail , I use the conventional way of reefing . Friends of mine with a 16 have an old set of Hobie 16 sails which they had cut shorter down the full length of leech - both main and jib and battens cut shorter . He went out in 25knots single handed and handled it perfectly . This is all for an event we do in Langebaan - Cape Town , Downwind Dash ( Videos on You Tube ) in 2007 we participated and the windspeed peaked at 47 knots with real big waves , 18 km downwind sailing , really awesome sailing at Langebaan .