"Wilbur Hubbard" wrote in message
...

You bet I have something to say. What you described above is all totally
unnecessary. Get rid of the wind-up headsails and you don't need to worry
about the damned thing unrolling and flogging itself to death in a severe
storm.

A few minor precautions that take about 1 minute to employ solve the problem
nicely. I never worry about my headsail.

All this nonsense about putting sail ties and wrapping extra lines around
it is all well and good but how many people actually take the time to do
it.

Everyone I know with roller furling.

Does the guy in the slip right next to your precious boat do it?

Indeed. He's the one who taught me to do it. There's a powerboat on the
other side.

Probably not. I bet if he had hank-on sails they would be stowed safely
away.

Most hanked-on sails, especially the larger genoas, never make it out of the
bag. Instead the idiots generally sail around on the main, too lazy to go
below, lug the heavy bag and sail up onto the deck and bend on the sail.
And those sails stuffed in bags look like **** after a very short time.
They get stained with spider crap, mildew, and lose their sizing much more
quickly than those on rollers.

And what do you care about how somebody else stores their hank-on sails as
long as they don't cause you any problems. with the safety of your boat?
Let sloppy sailors stuff them in the back caked with salt. They aren't
gonna jump out of wherever they happen to be stowed away and smash the
crap out of your boat in a storm and that's a fact.

Perhaps not, but they do often get left on the deck where they can be
stolen, blown into the water, or just accumulate rain and spiders. I'd
never buy another boat without roller furling.


As for wind-ups being kind to sails. Hah! They sit out in the weather and
the sun. Often the strip of sunblocking material is half rotted away which
means the leech and luff of the sail are also getting eaten away with UV
rays. The whole idea is a mockery of proper seamanship. I consider every
sailboat I see that has wind-up sails a slovenly proposition. I don't even
want to be near them.

I see the diametric opposite. Those boats with hanked-on sails are
generally abused and neglected. Those with furlers are the ones cared for
in a seamanlike manner. As for the sun cover, I've replaced my current one
when it showed abrasive wear due to degradation by UV. The sail is perfect,
and about 8 years old.

You're way off base on this issue, Neal. Even the finest vintage wooden
works of art now sport roller furling. But I'm betting there is a urine
yellow Coronado 27 somewhere with a moldy, limp, blown-out headsail that
never makes it onto the forestay.

Max