[Public-list] Roller furling - or hanked on?

[Brian and Elaine Timmins]

A long, long time ago, I used to single hand a Tartan 27 yawl. I had a
hanked on jib and used a downhaul to douse it quickly.  On the 34' cutter
that followed, I also had hank on sails (both staysail and jib). On my
Alberg, I had roller furling for the first time. It is much easier and more
convienient than hank on. A proper roller furling jib with a sun band on the
leech and foot is a wonderful thing. I believe a 135% is ideal. It can be
roller reefed to about a 110% and still set OK. The 135 is enough to keep
you going in all but the lightest conditions. The best part is that it's
always rigged and ready. When your coming in at the end of the sail, all you
need to do is pull on the furling line and it's put away.
  Of course, none of this applies if your really racing and trying to get
the most out of your sails. In that case, you probably want a Tuff Luff or
similar continuous extrusion with minimal windage.
  On my current 39' cutter, my staysail is hanked and my yankee is furled. I
can sail well with or without the yankee, but either way is a simple "pull
on that line" choice. Almost no work to put it out or in, where as the
staysail (club footed and always hanked on) still requires me to go forward,
remove the ties and hoist it.
Regards,
Brian   ex#497
I have been wondering
> if I want roller furling on the jib of my yet-to-be-purchased boat.  I'll
be
> cruising, not racing.



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