Flaking a 130% genoa single-handed ?

It's a horrible job, especially with stiff sailcloth. One problem is that boats are narrowest in the bow, just where you want more room. Our boat's side decks are handy for crew movement but very awkward for sail packing. This year, the two of us struggled for what seemed hours to fold a Hydranet mainsail and the result was not pretty, and the jib hardly better.
 
johnalison said:
It's a horrible job, especially with stiff sailcloth. One problem is that boats are narrowest in the bow, just where you want more room. Our boat's side decks are handy for crew movement but very awkward for sail packing. This year, the two of us struggled for what seemed hours to fold a Hydranet mainsail and the result was not pretty, and the jib hardly better.
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The main I can deal with on board, but the genoa we sail with is taffeta sandwich ,27Kg itself and 13m luff @ 140%. No way Hose. It usually gets done on the pontoon on a couple of big ex decorating dustcloths (seagull poo is not nice stuff to rub into the sail, or kneel upon either). 2 people can wrestle it to a size we can then capture with a couple of long sail ties. I would not dare try it with any real wind either. On another boat with enough bodies we flaked from deck TO the pontoon - dead easy with 4 !
 
Time for roller reefing for Xmass. I was a fanatical hater in my yoof until I nearly went overboard changing a big genoa on a black night and bit the bullet, never looked back. What was lost in absolute deck sweeping area and cloth weight was compensated by instant adjustability of area never again a fight on a wet pitching foredeck with a crazed sail.
 
Sometimes one has to do it at sea. I have a trade-wind set-up of twin jibs in the twin groove foil and when turning so that I no longer want the second genoa have to lower the unwanted one. This is usually while still hundreds of miles offshore.

I have found that it's possible with some patience, and actually some wind can even help.

1. Heave to so that the jib to be folded is on the windward side.
2. Since it's a rope in groove sail one can't leave it hanked on (no hanks!) so must lower it completely. Tie the tack to a stanchion.
3. Get rid of the sheets and drag the clew aft along the windward side deck and tie it taut to another stanchion.
4. Flake it vertically (which is actually a bit lent over due to the coachroof side not being vertical and due to boat heeling). Do it between the rail and the coachroof, outside the shrouds. The wind over the deck 'pins' it down to the side of the coachroof. Keep walking back and forth along the edge kicking / patting it to fold as well as poss. It's not perfect but not too bad. Remeber that the luff flakes move toward the centre rather slowly with each flake and the leech ones much more: maybe 15ch at the luff each flake but perhaps 60cm on the leech.
5. Untie the clew end and now drag it mostly onto the coachroof so it's horizontal at least at that end.
6. Roll / fold up in the normal way moving forward until about half of it is done.
7. Untie the tack, and then return to the coachroof and continue folding/rolling but now one can drag the unfurled part towards one each turn. Once done, tie a sail tie around it.
8. Put in bag and the job's done.

I think this could work on a mooring, at least well enough that the sail could be bagged and then transported ashore for a better job when [lack of] wind and rain permit.
 
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Foolish Muse said:
I wrote about this in my singlehanded tips book. Leave it hanked onto the forestay and use that as "the other person" than just work you way from the back, flaking as you go. I've even rehanked the sail back onto the forestay just to do this. Then just fold it from the back to the front.
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An even better way to use this method is to sit under the foot of the sail with your feet dangling over the side. Then pull the sail down, one flake at a time, onto your lap. Depending on the amount of friction in your halyard sheaves, you may have to devise some way of adding a little friction to prevent the sail all falling down in the one go.
All this is, of course assuming that it is a hanked on sail we are discussing. A sail on a foil is a different kettle of fish.
 
johnalison said:
It's a horrible job, especially with stiff sailcloth. One problem is that boats are narrowest in the bow, just where you want more room. Our boat's side decks are handy for crew movement but very awkward for sail packing. This year, the two of us struggled for what seemed hours to fold a Hydranet mainsail and the result was not pretty, and the jib hardly better.
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When removing my mainsail the boom, I usually just slide it forward, re-tying the sail-ties around the unshipped part of the of the sail as it comes forward. Comes to that, although I havn't tried it myself, couldn't the genoa, with the clew and tack secured, be flaked on top of the mainsail, on the boom?
 
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What is clear from the various answers is that there are at least two reasons for flaking. Changing headsails at sea is one, where perhaps it is less important to get the sail perfectly flaked for long term storage. The other, which is what I do once per year, is in preparation for stowing the sail for winter. At this stage our sails will be washed and dried, still hoisted. I did once try the full flaking operation for the smaller mainsail on deck, but having dropped the head of it into the sea it did not take much persuasion to realise that this was not the best way to do it. So we roughly flake on deck, tie it up with sail ties, carry it off the boat and flake in a tidy manner ashore.
 
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