RE: Rollerfurling

["Chaney, Mike" <mike.chaney@xxxxxxxx>]

I have a Hunter Legend 35 and a San Juan 24.  I have never been happy with
the roller furling on the Hunter and have spent big bucks keeping it
maintained.

For the record, in the situation described below, where the sail is hard if
not impossible to furl, simply turn dead down wind, let the head sail go
slack, and it will most likely roll right in.  Turning dead down wind should
be your normal tactic as it relieves a lot of stress on the rigging and the
sailor.

My SJ24 has hank on sails.  I chose hank-on's because I only use this boat
for racing and hank-on's are a lot easier to change out than roller furling
or foil track sails.  I love my San Juan.  It's a delight to sail and very
competitive in PHRF racing.

Mike Chaney

	----------
	From:
Bobby_Kawamura@notes.ymp.gov[SMTP:Bobby_Kawamura@notes.ymp.gov]
	Sent: 	Wednesday, January 27, 1999 1:11 PM
	To: 	sanjuan23@PEAK.ORG
	Subject: 	Rollerfurling

	Hello,
	I agree with Chuck.  The SJ23 is too small to need a roller.  The
headsails
	are small enough to change by one person without much trouble.  If
you are
	short handed you might want to bring the halyards to the cockpit.
This
	would help minimize the time required on a wet slippery foredeck. I
have
	not tried a down haul, that might facilitate dowsing the headsail
quickly.
	My personal experiences with rollers have been divided 50-50 between
the
	thing working well and the head sail system performing less than
optional.
	Once it was moderately scary.  The 35' freedom was on its second or
third
	cruse with a new owner. All aboard were relatively inexperienced. We
rolled
	the head sail all the was out and was enjoying a nice calm cruise.
The
	breeze began to freshen and we were healing beyond the comfort level
of the
	new parent. We were on a tack towards shore when we decided to
shorten
	sail. The sail would not roll up.  We could not get it to roll up.
We also
	could not bring the bow around.  When he turned the wheel the boat
was just
	too overpowered to respond, the rudder would just cavitate.  I just
wanted
	to let the headsail flog while we tacked, the skipper did not want
to let
	it flap for fear of tearing it. We were also having trouble even
getting
	the jibsheets unstuck from the jamcleat while fully loaded. We did
not know
	the proper way of tailing the winch to unload the sheet.  All the
while we
	are getting closer to shore.  We finally got it loose by tacking
letting
	the sail flog to head to wind and manually twisting the foil to get
it
	started.  After a little help the sail rolled up nicely.  By the
time we
	confident we regained control of the boat, we within a few
boatlengths of
	the bouys marking the shoreline. By then the skipper was spooked so
we just
	motored back to the dock. Ancedotes do not prove roller furling
systems
	bad.  We probably we operating it incorrectly or the system was in
	disrepair, but for whatever reason it was a contributor to a
precerious
	situation I believe could have been avoded by a simpler operation of
	dropping the halyard in a conventional headsail. No thanks to
	rollerfurlings. I think I will save my money for  buying drinks to
recruit
	a bowman to run up there and change headsails for me while a sit on
my
	behind and sip a refreshing beverage.

	Bobby


	San Juan 23 Internet Fleet:
http://www.geocities.com/Yosemite/Trails/5492/
	This list sponsored by PEAK,Inc., ISP and Education Center,
Corvallis, Oregon

San Juan 23 Internet Fleet:   http://www.geocities.com/Yosemite/Trails/5492/
This list sponsored by PEAK,Inc., ISP and Education Center, Corvallis, Oregon