Genoa furler riding turns

[Gryphon2]

Anyone have a full proof way to stop riding turns when running downwind in a lumpy sea that causes the sail to fill andcollapse? I have not had the problem on previous boats but this relatively new Furlex furler seems more prone to them.. I know to keep tension on the line when unfurling but clearly one cannot keep tension when the sail is collapsing repeatedly.

 

[Stemar]

One thing that helped on Jazzcat was a block on the pulpit to keep the line correctly aligned with the drum. Previously it was angled down, so the turns built up at the bottom of the drum and got mixed up, which didn't help, even on a new furler. If the furler's a few years old, cleaning the bearings in the swivels may help it furl more easily.

 

[neil_s]

It's not good for the sail, either. It might help if you wind in a few turns and keep a bit of tension in the sheet. You could always pole it out!

 

[Boathook]

The only problem I've had with my furlex is when the line goes on the drum to quickly and you get riding turns.

 

[Poignard]

Under such circumstances I would 'tack downwind' to keep the sails full.

As neal_s says, it's bad for the sail to let them flog.

 

[Refueler]

Stemar has it ... its down to the lead in to the drum ... set a block on the pulpit to set the angle of line lead in ....

Guy I knew years ago - his solution was to use a length of bungee chord clipped to the furling line ... as the sail slacked and sheet came loose .. the bungee was enough to slightly tension the furling line - but no so much to turn the drum.

 

[Gryphon2]

Thank you for the suggestions. I like the idea of the bungee and will give it a go. I have tacked downwind before but I don't think it would have helped much yesterday when we started with F6 with a lumpy NSea to match but then ended with a F2 but the sea not much better.

 

[noelex]

Remove the core from the furling line that lies on the drum. This produces a flat rather than a round rope that will not produce riding turns. Leave the core intact where it needs to be gripped by the clutch.

The line has to be strong enough that just the outer sheath will take the expected load, but this is usually the case.

 

[MontyMariner]

Use whisker poles to stop collapsing an only one turn on the winch, as it isn't being winched in hard.

 

[Gryphon2]

Thank you Noelex, excellent idea and thinking back I think one of our previous boats had just such a solution

 

[Porthandbuoy]

Doesn’t fitting a ratchet block just before the drum mitigate riding turns?

 

[xeitosaphil]

Easiest way round that would be to set a genoa pole IMO.
You can then keep tension on the sheet that way..
I used to get furling line trapped under the lower part of the guide causing a janb when furling the sail needing a trip forward to release everything to reload it all.
Tension is the key