On Thu, 14 Aug 2008 22:33:26 -0400, Wayne.B
wrote:

On Thu, 14 Aug 2008 19:16:22 -0700 (PDT), "
wrote:

On Aug 14, 7:20*pm, "Bill Kearney" wrote:
It's really important to take them down
before a major wind event.

Yep, tried to warn a fellow slipholder of this. *Then Ernesto came through
and ripped it to shreds. *A couple of us were around tending to lines. *It
only took about a minute to wreck it.

The best thing to do if a major storm is coming is to remove all sails
from the rig. A poor second best for a roller furling headsail would
be to wrap the spinnaker halyard around the sail, which should prevent
if from unfurling.

The force of a full gale or hurricane has to be experienced. The wind
will get under any loose corner and rip it to shreds. Once it starts
the whole thing goes, wrapped or not.

Even if tearing the sail is removed as an issue, the extra windage the
rolled up "sausage" adds is still a big problem.

I usually remove the boom as well, due to windage,l for hurricane
warnings. It makes a difference.