Help - Jammed in-mast furling mainsail

[affinite]

Its all the wife's fault ...
1hr earlier she said to me " The in-mast furling system on this (new to us) boat is so much easier to furl and reef than the slab reefing on our previous boat.

Well next thing we know we've got the bloomin thing twisted in the mast.
The sail can be rolled away fully but I cant get more than half of it out before a big fold/knot appears and prevents any more sail coming out of the slot. Weve pulled tugged (and probably made things much worse) and Ive been up the mast to tug at the fold directly but it wont budge.

Anyone got any pearls of wisdom ? (Please don't say go back to slab reefing)

 

[[2574]]

You need the sail furled reasonably tightly around the foil. It might be worth trying turning the foil as though to furl the sail but with the outhaul preventing the sail going in. If you're lucky this will tighten the sail around the foil thereby making the sail smaller inside the mast. It might then come out okay. We've had in mast furling for eight years now and not had a problem yet. The technique is to be very careful about how you furl the sail, always keep tension on the outhaul as it goes in to keep the sail tight around the foil.

Rob

 

[Skysail]

I once had this on a Jeanneau DS43. My rigger advised me to to pull hard at the clew, using a winch, a few inches or less at a time, then wind it back in. He said it will come out - he was right. The problem in my case was the outhaul block was too short, making the pull on the clew down rather than back. It was easily fixed. Maybe in your case the main is too baggy, they go like that after some years.

Hope this helps.