On Fri, 20 Nov 2009 14:27:39 +0100, "Edgar"
wrote:


"cavelamb" wrote in message
..
.
snipped

Still going back and forth on the head sail question.
To roll or not to roll...
this is my first roller, and I'm not completely in love with it.
It works as advertised, but I'm not convinced I want to keep it.

Tell us why. My last boat had hanked-on foresails and I have had times when
I was nearly losing the sail and myself overboard trying to change jibs in a
gale in the dark.
Now I have a roller I would never go back to the former system. Mine is a
Profurl and it is very strong and I have never had a problem furling by
hauling the furling line by hand, but it is better to avoid the more lightly
built ones that tell you that you must never use a winch on the furling
line. You never know when you might just have to.

I think it's a matter of what type of sailing one does. If racing then
the furler won't allow you to reduce sail and maintain the best sail
shape but if cruising, i.e., making long passages with small crews
then the furler is the way to go. No problem for a single individual
to make major sail reduction or let it all hang out.

As for using a winch to roll up the sail. Why? The load on the sail is
a matter of wind strength and sale area that catches the wind. If it
is hard to roll just let off a bit on the sheet. The whole exercise
from grabbing the furling line to sitting back with a beer takes only
moments.

Although I think that are going out of style I have foam leeches in
both my head sails. They do make for a better sail shape for the first
few feet you reef the sail although they don't help much by the time
you get down to nothing but a handkerchief..

..
Cheers,

Bruce
(bruceinbangkokatgmaildotcom)