Yachting Monthly - November 2015

14 http://www.yachtingmonthly.com NOVEMBER 2015

EXPERT ON BOARD

Barrie Neilson runs Sailing

Holidays, a leading Greek

charter company. He has

owned thousands of yachts with

in-mast furling since 1990

How to use

furling sails

properly

Why do so many sailors loathe them? Barrie

Neilson says it’s because most of us don’t know

how to use them properly. Theo Stocker reports

F

urling headsails changed

the way we sail, allowing

us to remain in the safety

of the cockpit. Sailors

soon tried doing the same

for mainsails and rolling them

on the boom, and then in the

mast. In theory it is the simplest

possible way to handle sails, but

many have been put off by these

systems’ reputation for jamming

and for poor performance.

The problems come, says Barrie

Neilson, from badly cut sails, poor

setup and incorrect use. As boss

of Sailing Holidays, which has

one of the largest charter fl eets in

the Mediterranean, he has owned

thousands of yachts with furling

headsails since 1981 and furling

mainsails since 1990. If anyone

knows how to take the stress out

of furling sails, it’s Barrie.

After a fi rst gentle sail with

Barrie on the short crossing from

Gouvia in Corfu to the Greek

mainland, we furled the mainsail

effortlessly into the mast.

‘Another sailing epic’, he jokes,

and I’m inclined to agree.

After all, sailing doesn’t have to

be hard to be fun.

‘I’m not suggesting that furling

sails are the best,’ says Barrie,

‘but for the kind of sailing we

are doing they’re excellent.’ His

formula obviously works. Some

couples have been fl otilla sailing

with Sailing Holidays every year

for more than 20 years.

As a cruising sailor based in

the UK, I’m more than happy to

set furling headsails, but I confess

I’ve been snobbish about furling

mainsails. If they are this good at

creating a calm environment for

novices to learn in, perhaps they

deserve a second look. I was keen

to learn a few tips for handling

furling sails from Barrie.

The evolution of furlers

‘Try using a furling system

with a conventional sail and

you won’t get far,’ says Barrie,

‘but sailmakers and mast

manufacturers have been slow to

adapt to furling systems.’

As systems evolved, friction

and jams have gradually

been eliminated, but the poor

reputation lingers.

Furling headsails have now

almost completely replaced

hanked-on sails, greatly reducing

the need for sail changes,

foredeck work and soggy sails

below decks. And they’ve got

a lot better over the years. On

the early Rotostay system, the

whole forestay itself rotated,

and the bearing at each end had

to take the forestay loads. This

was replaced by systems using

extruded foils, which rotated

around the stay, and over time

the foils and bearings taking

the weight of the sail and their

arrangement have improved to

make friction and jams less likely.

Sailing Holidays’ fl eet of

Beneteaus use the standard

furling equipment they are

delivered with, made by Facnor.

‘We’re happy with this system,

though it’s not top-end like

Schaefer or Harken,’ says Barrie.

‘The Seldén continuous-line

system also looks good, it would

be interesting to try them out.’

There’s no need to leave the

cockpit and one or two people

can easily get you sailing

The ability to furl

both mainsail and

genoa means setting

and reefi ng sail

is so much easier

ALL PHOTOS: THEO STOCKER/YM UNLESS OTHERWISE STATED