Ahoy Stephen,

My rig is identical and my reefing procedure is similar.  Here are my differences:

I seldom steer up into the wind.  I simply pull in the main sheet to a close reach position.  If I'm already close hauled or close reaching then the main will just remain as is.

My topping lift remains as is. 

I lower the halyard to bring the cringle down to the hook, plus a few more inches, and secure it.  Note:  I also have cleats on both sides of the mast at the appropriate positions with a line attached and ready to pass through the cringle.  I will use this line about 50% of the time - instead of the hooks.

I haul out the clew.  I have sheet stoppers/rope clutches, plus winches, plus cleats,

I rehoist the sail. 

Tie in the gaskets/reef ties.

Add a safety lashing around the boom, through the clew cringle.

resheet the main.

In most cases, I never changed course.

IMPORTANT NOTE:  I am set up to reef equally on either side. It is way easier to reef from the windward position.  There is a little more spaghetti hanging around but this can easily be controlled and dealt with.

Good luck,

I use a standard approach to slab reefing. I've found that getting the sail down to the first reef is possible in just about any point of sail from broad reach to close hauled. The second reef point needs to be beam or closer to the wind because of the friction of the sail on the shrouds. I've also found that simply pulling on the reefing line through a turning block is not enough to get the clew all the way down. I've tried many different techniques like dumping the traveler, raising the topping lift, easing the mainsheet, etc. I once had a friend help me pull on the line and that did the trick. The clew was down enough to flatten the sail and secure the sail ties. Without that extra power the clew will not come down far enough for me.

Now that I've realized this issue, I've decided to redo the reefing so I can winch the lines on the boom. I'm also going to setup for both sides so I can reef on the windward side, which is safer and easier. This will require a winch on either side with rope clutches to free the winch in case I want to manage the outhaul or topping lift. 

As far as steering the boat; If you don't have the wind vane working, good luck to you. Without it, I cannot imagine single handing in anything beyond 15 knots.

So, I'm no expert but, just sailed my boat right after purchase and had to do Point Conception in this unfamiliar beast. I got caught in some 25+kt wind. I did put in my second reef before it got too windy but, I had only played with the reef On my 25ft McGregor swing keel once or twice and, had just put in the first reef on the Westsail a couple days before to help balance the tiller out. 

  As you might imagine, it was a little hairy putting that reef in just a little too late, of course. I almost pulled the whole reefing line out trying to get the back end of the sail to come down tight as I thought it should. After going to the leeward side to fix that, the sail came down proper, though I couldn't get it as tight(close to the boom) as I though it should be. So, I'm close hauled as I can be to keep the main super soft, double reefed and, still taking a huge amount of water over the rail and, plenty made it into the cockpit, too. That's when I found out that the steering is beautiful on this boat. I let go of the tiller and, she bounced gracefully from 30° to about 50° and just tracked. I didn't touch the tiller for almost 12 hours. 

  So, I'm doing the jiffy reef thing. Just so I don't have to tie the sail to the reef points. That will save my hands and, after having to figure the whole thing out on the fly, just yanking and pulling to get those reefs good and tight to the boom was exhausting.