[Public-List] Roller Furling

Michael Connolly crufone at comcast.net
Fri Sep 29 06:11:13 PDT 2017


Gord, 
Thanks for the vivid explanation. I thought that most folks knew what happens when a skipper uses roller furling as roller reefing. For every convenience there is always some compromise. I still maintain that for best performance a hanked-on Jib or Genoa provides a better leading edge luff shape to the sail than any fully deployed roller furled sail. 

I crew for a skipper in Florida who has had the foam pieces installed in her Genoa. It is not pretty but she feels it gives her more options when using her pick-up crew for racing. A green crew is not going to be able to do a head sail switch very effectively between races. 
Michael #133 


----- Original Message -----

From: "Jeffrey via Public-List" <public-list at lists.alberg30.org> 
To: "Gordon Laco" <mainstay at csolve.net> 
Cc: "Alberg 30 Public List -- open to all" <public-list at lists.alberg30.org>, "George Dinwiddie" <gdinwiddie at alberg30.org> 
Sent: Thursday, September 28, 2017 3:08:01 PM 
Subject: Re: [Public-List] Roller Furling 

Thanks for taking the time Gord. Makes perfect sense. I can't tell you how 
many boats I've been on where the owner treated the roller furler as a 
roller reefer. Myself included with boats I've chartered. 

Good info. I'm still hanking my head sails. 

Jeff 



On Thu, Sep 28, 2017 at 2:17 PM, Gordon Laco <mainstay at csolve.net> wrote: 

> Hello Jeff – 
> 
> 
> 
> Sailing with a headsail partially furled, particularly in heavy air, 
> destroys the sail. 
> 
> 
> 
> You’ve probably seen how mainsails have reinforcing at the reefs... this 
> is because of the concentrations of loads and the new clew and tack when 
> the sail is reefed. When a genoa is partially furled, it has a new tack 
> and head... but no reinforcing. The sail cloth is stretched and that’s the 
> end of that sail with regard to shape. The worst manifestation of this is 
> a stretched leach, which shows as a flutter caused by the damage to the 
> sail cloth allowing distortion in shape. 
> 
> 
> 
> For a while some sailmaking conglomerates were offering an option that 
> involved sewing reefing positions in headsails in the form of reinforcement 
> patches such as one sees in mains... in use the sailor would furl till the 
> head and tack patches were up to the stay... but in practice that doesn’t 
> help much because the distorting loads carry round the furler stay, not 
> just at the point. 
> 
> 
> 
> And besides all that, one gets a poor shape when a sail is partially 
> furled. Too bulbous in the middle of the bunt, too tight at the head and 
> tack. And, to combat this, some companies were for a while offering foam 
> inserts to the luff of sails in hopes of making them half-furl more 
> effectively... but this of course didn’t address the basic issue that using 
> a furler for reefing destroys the sail. 
> 
> 
> 
> Gord 
> 
> #426 Surprise 
> 
> 
> 
> *From: *Jeffrey <fongemie at gmail.com> 
> *Reply-To: *<fongemie at gmail.com> 
> *Date: *Thursday, September 28, 2017 at 2:04 PM 
> *To: *Gordon Laco <mainstay at csolve.net>, George Dinwiddie via Public-List 
> <public-list at lists.alberg30.org> 
> *Cc: *George Dinwiddie <gdinwiddie at alberg30.org> 
> *Subject: *Re: [Public-List] Roller Furling 
> 
> 
> 
> Gord, 
> 
> 
> 
> Did you write that reffing a furling headsail via rolling some of it in is 
> bad for the sail? I'd not heard this before. What's the issue? 
> 
> 
> 
> Jeff 
> 
> 
> 
> On Thu, Sep 28, 2017 at 11:54 AM, Gordon Laco via Public-List < 
> public-list at lists.alberg30.org> wrote: 
> 
> That’s the way I did it aboard the Folkboat... 
> 
> G 
> #426 Surprise 
> 
> 
> On 2017-09-28, 11:35 AM, "Public-List on behalf of George Dinwiddie via 
> Public-List" <public-list-bounces at lists.alberg30.org on behalf of 
> public-list at lists.alberg30.org> wrote: 
> 
> I quickly learned not to tie the downhaul to the halyard or the head of 
> the sail. Pulling down on the head of the sail twists the sail at the 
> top hank, jamming it on the forestay. That's why I tie the downhaul to 
> the top hank. A clove hitch around the body of the hank secured with a 
> half hitch seems to work fine. 
> 
> - George 
> 
> On 9/27/17 10:08 PM, Rod Symmes via Public-List wrote: 
> > <<< Guess that I could install grommets along the 
> > luff, say three inches in from the luff tape and run a line from the 
> top 
> > grommet to the foredeck, then use a downhaul just as George does. 
> Have 
> > not seen anyone do that. Could be interesting. Will have to ask 
> around 
> > about it. >>> 
> > Jonathan - I would advise against doing that. I don't believe it 
> will work well - and here is why. 
> > 
> > On my previous boat I had hanked on foresails and a down-haul that 
> worked beautifully until I too thought I could "improve" it. My halliard 
> had a snap for the head of the jib and the down haul was also tied to the 
> snap, down to a block at the stem and back to the cockpit, as someone 
> mentioned earlier. Because that down haul was not restrained, if the wind 
> was just right, it would whap whap whap at the back of the jib. I thought 
> I would fix that by clipping each ( ?? senior moment) on the luff of the 
> jib over both the fore stay and the down haul as I installed it thus 
> containing the down haul line. My thinking was that should work - it will 
> be coming down with the sail. 
> > 
> > WRONG ! By the time the jib was half way down, the ( senior 
> moments ) were piling up at the foot of the stay and the down haul was 
> having to slide through them all. The friction became so great I could not 
> get the jib all the way down. Grommets would bind on the line even worse. 
> Also, you would have to re-thread that line each time you change jibs. 
> Not convenient or quick. 
> > 
> > With the down haul loose to fly from the head to the stem block, it 
> was quick and easy and, while lowering sail, if pulled down snugly and 
> cleated, even a big genoa would usually stay inside the lifelines until I 
> could deal with it. 
> > 
> > Bonus Feature: the halliard can never get lost up the mast. 
> > 
> > 
> > Happy sailing. 
> > 
> > 
> > Cheers, Rod P.S. Is that (senior moment) called a 
> barrel snap ????? (-: 
> > 
> > ~~~~_/) ~~~~~~~~~~ 
> > ~~~~~~~_/) _/) ~~~~~~~ 
> > ~~_/) ~~~~~~~~~~~~ 
> > 
> > 
> > _______________________________________________ 
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> 
> -- 
> ------------------------------------------------------------ 
> ---------- 
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> I think how evening follows morn; 
> gdinwiddie at alberg30.org 
> So many I loved were not yet dead, 
> http://www.Alberg30.org 
> So many I love were not yet born. also see: 
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> -- 
> 
> 
> 
> ______________ 
> 
> Jeffrey Fongemie 
> 
> <http://instagram.com/jfongemie> 
> 



-- 

______________ 

Jeffrey Fongemie 

<http://instagram.com/jfongemie> 
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