Furling foresail technique

laika said:
I'm sure there was some good reason why not to use a winch *other* than the one I'm about to mention, but perhaps it's not long enough after breakfast for me to remember what it is.

The *practical* reason why I didn't use a winch was this: My furler only has so much space on the drum. The tighter the furl, the more line required. Using appropriately spec-ed braid on braid, unless my genoa was pretty loosely furled (big furls = fewer turns = less line) which precluded use of the winch, I'd run out of furling line before the genoa was wrapped away. This caused me issues several times when trying to get the genoa away in a blow. My life was made much better after Allspars in Plymouth suggested using (thinner) dyneema with the sheath stripped except at the cockpit end. Still don't use the winch but it's now an option in case furling needs to be done by someone with limited physical strength in difficult conditions.

Normal furling technique upwind would be similar to what TernVI suggests: one person eases the genoa just enough to luff a little while second person furls. Repeat until suitably reefed or genoa away depending on intention.
Click to expand...
I've been on a boat where the genoa is normally furled a bit loosely.
After a few hours sailing with several wraps in. the sail subsequently had a few feet out when all the furling line had been pulled.
No big drama, we had enough people on board, and time to take one of the sheets around the front to put a couple more turns on.
I think we sailed a '360' for the first turn then just pulled the loose sheet.

Equally I've had problems with an over-full drum generating riding turns down wind in wavy conditions.
So now I like to have the right amount of string on the drum and keep a little tension on the furling line to help avoid riding turns.
If the string approaches the drum at the wrong angle that can also promote riding turns.
 
TernVI said:
I've been on a boat where the genoa is normally furled a bit loosely.
After a few hours sailing with several wraps in. the sail subsequently had a few feet out when all the furling line had been pulled.
No big drama, we had enough people on board, and time to take one of the sheets around the front to put a couple more turns on.
I think we sailed a '360' for the first turn then just pulled the loose sheet.

Equally I've had problems with an over-full drum generating riding turns down wind in wavy conditions.
So now I like to have the right amount of string on the drum and keep a little tension on the furling line to help avoid riding turns.
If the string approaches the drum at the wrong angle that can also promote riding turns.
Click to expand...
I'm very glad that my boat came with continuous line furling, because it avoids almost all of these problems. It comes with the need to ensure that the outgoing bit of line stays tangle free, but otherwise it's wonderfully simple.
 
Out in the ocean I always go onto a run and blanket the yankee if I'm putting it away when the wind is strong, but inshore I usually furl when going about, as was said much earlier. A refinement to this technique is to heave to, ie don't cast off the sheet. Then I can ease the sheet while winding in the furling line on a winch (only because it's all to hand then, not because I need enormous tension).

This works for me, but perhaps mostly because I have a cutter rig where letting the yankee lie against the staysail keeps it very quiet even when there is little tension in the sheet.
 
I have a relatively large jib on a 19th century style Wykeham Martin Furler.

I always slacken of the jib halyard and if there is any wind and will head very deep downwind. Then it is easy and very quick to pull it in by hand.

When trying to do it when pointing up windward, the jib will have far too much load on it - either from violently flogging or from the load coming from the sheet tension.
 
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