"Edgar" wrote in message
...

"Capt. JG" wrote in message
...

For the main, I agree... if it's in the mast, well, that's just
asking for trouble... no way to drop it without cutting the sail. For
a headsail, it's easy to drop the jib with a furler... pop the
halyard, you're done. Typically, however, you're right that if bad
weather is forecast, bringing down the furler and using a hanked on
storm sail is safer.

--
"j" ganz @@
www.sailnow.com

OK then, what are you going to hank it onto? If you bring down the
roller foresail you are left with a thick aluminium roller which you
cannot hank onto.
Moreover, you have to totally unroll the foresail before you can bring
it down so you had best do it before the wind gets up too much.
My boat has two grooves in the roller so you can hoist a smaller sail
before you take the other one down but this is a racing tactic and
implies that you have ample skilled crew, not only on the foredeck,
but also back in the cockpit to work the halliards, while someone else
steers..
I sail with just my wife as crew and such activities are not an
option.
I have a very robust furling gear and cannot envisage any situation
where I would not be able to roll the foresail right tightly up. Not
only can I put the furling line on a winch but I have it set up so
that after the sail is totally rolled it puts another two turns of the
sheets around it. No way it is going to unroll after that.
If you think that going onto the foredeck in a storm and unhanking one
sail, getting it down the forehatch, and replacing it with another
which you fetch up through the open hatch is a good option I can
confidently assert that you have never been out in a storm with only
one other crewmember.


Then you're no sailor!

People who use real sails and know how to sail and change headsails can
tell just by looking and listening when a storm is coming up. We prepare
in advance by hanking on a storm jib below the lower hank on the working
jib and storing it lashed down in it's little Sunbrella bag. All one
needs to do to change sails is to lower the working jib, unsnap the
tack, snap on the storm jib tack, snap the halyard off the jib and onto
the head of the storm sail, untie and transfer the sheets, stuff the jib
into the bag and unclip the working jib hanks. Then snap on the storm
jib hanks and haul away on the halyard and you're done. It takes about
two or three minutes max.

The secret to safety and no hassles is to reef sooner rather than later.

Wilbur Hubbard