singlehanding : maintaining positive tension on furler line

[Lodesman77]

I have only a 105% jib but I've, so far, never felt the need to keep tension on the furling line. I'm interested in knowing what you are trying to achieve: is it to stop sail billowing out and thus harder to pull/winch in?

It depends on your setup, but if you keep tension on the furling line then it will coil neatly onto the drum without any riding turns or slack and will then work smoothly on furling. Also, if you have a larger genoa and consequently need more line, if it isn't furled tightly it may not all fit onto the drum - many people use thinner line and/or remove the core from the first section to deal with this. I have a large overlapping genoa which originally had a fairly old and thick furling line and jamming was often a problem. Thinner line and maintaining tension sorted this.

 

[emsworthy]

I'm interested in knowing what you are trying to achieve:

You might be even more interested once you've experienced a riding turn on the furling drum, caused by a lack of tension when unfurling, just at the point the wind pipes up and you need to reduce sail in a hurry!!

 

[john newton]

Singlehanded, I give the furling line some slack, enough to unfurl the sail about a third and cleat it. Heave the sheet and let the sail unfurl that far. Now, with wind in it you can ease the furling line with a turn round a winch, even a simple snubbing winch as slowly as you like and as far as you want and the sail will unfurl itself. If you are fussy and don't like it flapping you can alternate easing the furling line with hauling the sheet until you get the sail set the way you want to be.