Yachting Monthly - November 2015

EXPERT ON BOARD

NOVEMBER 2015 http://www.yachtingmonthly.com 17

Get the

right

setup

How to use furling sails properly

Most furling systems are pretty

straightforward, but if you

get the setup of sails, sheets

and control lines wrong, you’ll

introduce friction and create the

potential for snags and jams. The

aim is to be able to furl your sails

without having to resort to the

winch, in any wind.

Having different coloured

lines for the outhaul and furling

line helps avoid confusion. A

red furling line for ‘stop’ and

a green outhaul for ‘go’ is the

straightforward system used on

the Sailing Holidays boats.

Bending on the mainsail,

start with the tack. Shackles in

general aren’t great, as they can

snag, but getting to the tack

attachment inside the mast’s

furling slot makes it awkward to

use a lashing, so a shackle will

have to do.

‘The trick with bending the

sails on is not too tight and not

too loose,’ explains Barrie.

Foolproof furling

Hoist the sail and tension it with

the halyard, but just enough.

Creases cause poor sail setting

and lead to jams. Vertical creases

in the luff mean it’s too tight,

so ease it off a bit. Horizontal

creases mean it’s too loose. The

downside of using a halyard

to tension a sail, particularly if

you’re using a winch, is that it is

very easy to overtension the sail.

Most issues with furling

genoas come from the sail not

being set high enough. If the

halyard and forestay are parallel

they tend to wrap around each

other, which jams the furler and

frazzle the forestay. To avoid this,

the halyard must pull away from

the top furler swivel at an angle.

Fit a defl ector if necesssary.

Don’t attach the tack. Just

feed the genoa luff into the furler

foil and hoist the sail with the

halyard, pulling the top swivel

up as close to the halyard sheave

as possible. The tack should rise

above the bottom furler shackle.

Tension the sail by lashing the

tack down to the shackle with a

lanyard. As with the

mainsail, you need

enough tension to get

a good sail shape, and

avoid horizontal or

vertical creases in the

sail. The foot of the

sail will set slightly

higher, giving better

visibility forwards

under the sail.

It is worth remembering

that a furling headsail creates a

signifi cant lateral force on the

forestay, and that it will work

the forestay in all directions. It

is essential to have a properly

toggled terminal on the forestay

to prevent metal fatigue and

rigging failure.

A few turns gives a strong tack

lashing and allows you to get

just enough luff tension

With the top swivel pulled all the

way up to the halyard sheave,

there’s no chance the halyard will

wrap around the forestay

Green for go and red for stop makes it easy to remember which line does what

Not enough luff tension and creases will run from

luff to clew when set. Wind on more main halyard

Too much luff tension will stretch the main and give

vertical creases. Ease the main halyard