"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.

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"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.