Stuffing a sail into a bag vs flaking carefully.

[Blueboatman]

Used to keep the staysail in a sausage bag that wrapped around the inner staysail , so it stayed on deck alongside the shrouds .
Sailrite on their website have drawings ..
By unclipping the piston hanks whilst the dropped sail remained in the bag, the bag/sail could be dropped into the cabin and put away whole ..

 

[differentroads]

My boat came with a couple of wire luff sails and the only way to bag those was to coil the wire and then roll the coil down the sausage which made quite a neat package.
The rope luff genoas were usually stuffed into the bag, head first and unclipping the hanks as it went into the bag. The sheets were detached as the clew went into the bag and the tack went in last. The sail was always under control and ready to come out of the bag in the reverse order. I thought everyone did it like that.
The sails didn't appear to suffer from that treatment but then with 5 sails to choose from, the wear was spread out and the larger sails were of much lighter sailcloth and easier to fold. Also the sails were not left up all season like a furler.
My current furler is at least twice the weight of the old genoa as it has to operate in a much wider range of wind strengths . It only comes off at the end of the season and is carefully flaked and rolled. I don't think it would be possible to stuff it into a bag as it is far too stiff.

I recently had my one and only wire luff sail (a loose luffed Ghoster) repaired and the wire luff replaced with Dyneema. A cheap enough fix and it now stows and hoists much more easily.

 

[Spirit (of Glenans)]

If you flake as the sail comes down, or is down, you can then detach the hanks and fold.



If you roll the sail or simply stuff it in a bag you need to take all the sail out of the bag and effectively lay the whole thing on the deck so as to hank it on. This may be more exciting than necessary if you have furled your 150% Genoa and are installing the jib because the wind is freshening.



Jonathan

+1 for flaking as it comes down, as everyting will be in place for when it has to go back up.
That is the training I got in Glenans, plus, when you bring the new sail forward in its bag, it should have the the tack, luff and head presented at the mouth of the bag so that they are readily accesible for reattaching. We were also taught to sit astride the sail with legs dangling overboard each side, in order to keep the sail from blowing or being washed away and to keep one's centre of gravity low and stable. Works well for 5.70 metre boats, and up to 30ft, but I haven't had occasion to try it on anything bigger.