"(You have to ease the mainsheet to take the tension off the forestay to roll the jib). As I said, if the wind is too strong to continue racing, it is too strong to allow the jib to be furled properly."

Actually, it is just the other way around. The more taut the forestay, the easier it is to furl. A loose forestay makes the sail furl in funny ways and you get wrinkles and overlaps.

Also, if the wind is not totally howling, it is a snap to furl headsails by simply heading off the wind for a boat length or two and then quickly furling.

Rick

As you should sweetheart, as you should

I've been struggling a bit trying to furl the jib on my F18 in heavy air too and we haven't figured out how to reliably do it yet. It's a Pentex jib too so when it folds and pinches as it's rolling - it's ugly and terrible for the sail.

That said, however, we do have a great way to adjust the luff tension on the jib even though we have a furling unit. This particular Harken furler has a hole in the middle of it all the way through - the bottom of the chainplate attaches in the middle of it but there is room to work a line around it. We have a line that goes to the sipn pole straight under the furler, through a block, up through the furler, and then with 3:1 on the jib halyard. The line spins a bit when furling the jib but it doesn't affect it much.

Jake - I had thuoght of doing the on my 18, but wondered if the twisting of the line would be an issue. I had always thought that adding a small swivel to the line below the furler would help, but you'd have be careful with placement so range of motion would not be reduced.

The rig on the Hawk would have been very taut and easing the mainsheet would not cause it to sag, but, with the mainsheet hauled in tight, it would be almost impossible to turn the drum on the furler. And, if the drum turned, the swivel at the top would not turn as freely as the drum, causing the sail to twist and have overlaps and wrinkles. Also in the conditions I was referring to, you would not survive "heading off the wind" There would be one big cloud of spray.
Of course this is just from my own experience

And your mast didn't break? I have always expected that if I lose a diamond, then my mast and mainsail are gone before I even know what happened.

GARY

Would more of you be willing to use a jib furler IF the jib could be furled without having to turn off the wind first? AND if it were possible to have a jib luff tensioner along with the furler?

Seems like this is a project for the designers/suppliers of that kind of equipment. But they will not be interested unless there is enough of a demand for it.

I have recorded, documented proof that my boat will sail faster with a furled jib in conditions which call for the cat rig configuration. Using developed apparent wind to go fast requires attention to friction reduction. For those who believe you can't furl in high wind, maybe you can't. I am sure that this sailor [color:"green"]can do[/color].

For those who would like to learn how to do it, I recommend two things:

• Ease the tension on the furler bearings and swivel bearings by easing the mainsheet and by coming to weather.
  Provide some guidance or resistance by handling the jib sheets and re-try it several times if needed.

[challenge] If I can do it solo on a Mystere 6.0 in 25-35 knot winds, then why can't you and a crew manage to furl a jib upwind? [/challenge]

[color:"red"] You gotta insist on being smarter than your equipment. The torsional rigidity of the forestay must be able to overcome the friction of the upper swivel bearings. With the mainsheet honked down block-to-block, the forestay will only twist and deform, not turn and rotate[/color].

Once you're learned how to effectively furl your jib, it is time to learn how to sail cat-rigged. It's different; especially when your boat is tuned for sloop-rigged sailing. Adaptation and adjustments need to be made in order to get the out of balanced cat-rig moving as best she can. Don't just furl and continue; furl and re-configure. Here's what I do:

• Furl the jib as soon as the pressure in the slot is constantly inverting portions of the mainsail's draft.
  Drop the traveler as far as necessary to reduce excess Weather Helm and keep the boat from weather-vaining in the gusts.
  Drive deep enough to keep the speed high. a) With high speed the boards can make more lift; pinching will increase sideslip. b) Without as much power in the sails, your "driving" power more depends on your speed times weight.
  Pay attention to actual direction of travel instead of where she's aimed at.
  Don't believe the sensation that the boat is slower when she is less powered; use empirical evidence.(speedometer)

Make mental notes of the improvement or reduction in Velocity Made Good by furling in these conditions and adjust the rig accordingly; returning to jib use if necessary.

GARY

You mean like I used to have on my old SC Tornado:

Furler Luff Tension

If you have to furl going up wind try this,have the crew let the jib out about half way grab the furler line with one hand grab the jib sheets near the front beam with the other hand and pull them down towards the beam while furling. The idea is to keep the jib clew low while furling. If you get the first third to roll smooth the rest will follow nicely....at least it does on my boat.

Exactly!


GARY
enthusiast

I have a lot more faith in those tiny Harken furlers after seeing this picture:
trans oceanic furler, click this link for high definition version

Mike,
That's exactly what I was thinking about for my 18! I never tried it, don't think it will work on the 6.0....

BTW - I think one reason that the furlers don't work well under load is that most of the upper swivels in use are not low friction ball bearing types - at least the ones I've seen and used are not. It seems that only the bigger ones with bearings are rated for the load.

The Harken upper swivel does have ball bearings, and there's a high and low load version, the high load uses Torlon balls, but they can still flatten out over time if you leave the mast up and the forestay tensioned.

Harken furlers work well. BUT you will wear out the bearings if you use them under load.

I think this furler can handle the stress ;-)

Thats nothing check this one out.