do you leave your genoa sheets tight?

[Burnham Bob]

I always have but SWMBO objects to climbing over them to get on and off from the launch if they wrap a bit higher than usual when I wind in the genoa. She insists that if the furling line is secure I don't need to do it. I've explained that it 'guarantees' the genoa won't unwind and flog in high winds and that the sheets are much more robust than the furling line.............

but as they say 'If a man talks in a wood where no woman can hear him - is he still wrong?'

 

[Ripster]

We leave ours with some light tension on, locked on the winch. The reasons are that, if we are on the deck and grab one for emergency balance, then at least they do provide some stability. In our case, it also gets them out of the way and avoids yet another trip hazard.

Oh and BTH, you know that he still is!

 

[Rigger Mortice]

I agree with your missus.

Mind you, even if I didn't, I would let her believe she was correct.

 

[VicS]

I always have but SWMBO objects to climbing over them to get on and off from the launch if they wrap a bit higher than usual when I wind in the genoa. She insists that if the furling line is secure I don't need to do it. I've explained that it 'guarantees' the genoa won't unwind and flog in high winds and that the sheets are much more robust than the furling line.............

but as they say 'If a man talks in a wood where no woman can hear him - is he still wrong?'

It's the furling line that stops the sail unfurling. Wrapping a couple of turns of sheet round the furled sail helps to stop the wind getting under the corner but on its own wont prevent it unfurling.

I dont often leave the sail on the spar but when I do I put a lashing round it as well as a couple of turns of sheet and making doubly sure that the furling line is secure. You can only do that though on a smallish boat.

 

[sailorman]

ours are wrapped around the sail 1/2 doz times, dropped down to the tack & tied off then left on the deck.we do not find the roll under foot & less for rafters to climb around. we do have large flat side decks

 

[alahol2]

Left tight as an extra handhold on the foredeck, they're not in the way unless trying to board somewhere ahead of the shrouds and why would you do that?

 

[Nicholas123]

I leave my sheets with several turns around the sail, tucked down under the anchor windless drum so that they lay flatter along the deck.Have a sail cover thing that goes over the top plus a rope around the outside to stop that flogging in a high wind & still keep an eye on it half expecting the whole shooting match to break free

 

[winsbury]

Pulling the sheets tight puts tension on the furling line making it more likely to start to unfurl the sail if the furling line were to come uncleated or fail somehow which would then give the wind something to purchase and finish the unfurling job unexepectedly. Instead, we cleat the furling line and loosen the backstay (mastead rig) which makes the foil droop a little under the weight of the sail which makes it very difficult to unfurl the sail even if the furling line is completely free; sheets are left attached but slack to avoid the potential for powering up the sail if it were to accidentally come unfurled. No problems with this method so far even in some pretty high winds in recent weeks although thinking about it now, I should probably add a couple of sail ties round the furled genny as extra insurance.

 

[KellysEye]

We put a three rolls of sheet around the genoa and keep the sheets tight. In Curacao a tropical storm came through and the genoa on a 52 foot boat started to unfurl, it didn't have sheets wrapped around it which I think would have stopped the problem if the sheets were tight. In those winds it was pig to sort out even with three of us. If you leave the sheets loose the wind can get under the sail and can unfurl a fair amount of it even with the furling line tight, I suspect that's what happened in Curacao.

 

[bitbaltic]

Always put a couple of sail ties round the furled headsail above the clew. Otherwise you're relying on just one thing (furling line) to keep the sail secure, and it's easy for visitors to knock it off.....

 

[Leighb]

We put a couple of turns around the furled sail, the sheet away from the pontoon is kept tight and the one alongside slackened so it lies on the deck. The furling line is cleated off. SWMBO likes it that way.

 

[alahol2]

Always put a couple of sail ties round the furled headsail above the clew.

If it were an option I would do that but our furled clew is way above head height, it's just not reachable. I tried putting a tie round the sail below the clew but so often I would return on board to find it sitting on top of the furling drum, it didn't seem worth it.
As it happens I've never had a problem in 30+ years so maybe I can stop worrying now.

 

[Amulet]

I think the message is: if you leave them tight enough to look like a safe handhold then do leave them tight enough to do that job. You don't want to grab them and fall on your nose anyway. This is what I do (leave them tight, not fall on my nose - at least not for this reason). I do tie off the clew of the sail with a sail tie too. The other approach is to drop them so that there's no potential for confusion. I live with a slight doubt about whether all that tension and torsion is good for things.

 

[B&M]

In the Ionian I always leave mine vertical to avoid the swallows and house martins using them as a convenient perch. This stops the 6:00 wake up call and the inevitable mess on the boat.

 

[phanakapan]

I often have them tight - but rolling hitched to the shrouds at above head height.... after all, where else does one hang one's washing to dry?

 

[Eccles]

I always roll a couple of turns of the sheets around the sail and make them fast - I have see other boats who have left them slack in strong winds and the wind has got into the sail and made it flog enough to chafe the furling line - then the whole sail unfurls and shreds!

 

[FulmarJeddo]

Back in the 1987 Storm I had a Sunstar 18 on a drying mooring. I had by chance left the sheets cleated. Several other boats on close moorings had their Genoas shredded. All had their sheets flapping with the remnants of their sails. I assume the wind had managed to unwrap the sails due to the sheets being loose. I have always since put a few turns of the sheets around the sail and kept a little tension on the winches, also ensuring the furling line is secure.

 

[Marsupial]

Back in the 1987 Storm I had a Sunstar 18 on a drying mooring. I had by chance left the sheets cleated. Several other boats on close moorings had their Genoas shredded. All had their sheets flapping with the remnants of their sails. I assume the wind had managed to unwrap the sails due to the sheets being loose. I have always since put a few turns of the sheets around the sail and kept a little tension on the winches, also ensuring the furling line is secure.

Its the year 2000, our new boat is moored in Dover marina, bad weather is forecast with high winds so I put an extra couple of turns around the furled sail and tightened the sheets. For added safety I put a piece of 12 mm line round the sail as well passed through the clew.

The marina were very nice about it, they phoned me to say that my jib had unfurled in the high winds and they were unable to go on board because of health and safety, so I drove the 150 miles to attend to it, the boat was trying to sail the pontoon to Holland, and my safety line was still there but the sail had been pulled through it - I would nt have believed it possible if I had nt see it for myself.

Insurance paid for a new sail after contacting port control for a weather report - 97 knots! and it was July!!!

So don't ask me how to furl a sail for bad weather I am still learning.

 

[Burnham Bob]

so I'm not alone - i think i'll tell her they are extra handholds for boarding.......

 

[ffiill]

Always put a couple of sail ties round the furled headsail above the clew. Otherwise you're relying on just one thing (furling line) to keep the sail secure, and it's easy for visitors to knock it off.....

I always tie mine off and leave sheets a little slack-it spent several winters secured like that without any problems