28th March 2024
Reading time: 10 minutes
No one seems to have hanked-on sails anymore. A casual glance around any marina will show a forest of furling gear. The majority must be right, mustn’t they? I’m not so sure.
Credit where credit is due
I do accept that when coastal sailing, the ability to roll out a bit more sail, in the knowledge that it can be quickly rolled back in, can give a yacht with furling gear a speed advantage over a yacht sailing with hanked-on sails. Although the advantage is normally because the lazy skipper with hanked-on sails (me) simply can’t be bothered to go below and haul out the genoa just in case five minutes later it needs to be swiftly doused again. So for coastal sailing, furling wins the race.
I also accept that having a large furling headsail can save the need to stow extra bulky sails down below. On a small boat that is quite an advantage.
On a large boat, and boats just seem to be getting bigger and bigger, handling large hanked-on sails may require more strength than is available. I would solve this by buying a smaller boat, but people seem to insist on carting fridges, TVs and ensuite bathrooms across oceans. That’s another story!
I also acknowledge that furling sails seem to be de rigueur on ocean races such as the Vendee Globe and they must know what they are talking about.
However
Given those acknowledgements, I would like to stick my head above the parapet and make a case for NOT having furling gear. Someone has to.
I love my hanked-on sails and here are some of my reasons why.
- Simplicity. I do like things to be simple. Really, as simple as possible. There is nothing to go wrong with a hanked-on sail. Even if a hank were to wear through, it can be quickly replaced, and I have never let a hank wear down that much.
- Lower Centre of Force When the foresails are reefed the whole sail plan is then lower. There is no baggy triangle of furled jib halfway up the forestay flapping about in about the worse place possible. That is a bit unfair, many furling sails set reasonably well when reefed, but I am fighting from a difficult corner.
- Reduced Weight Aloft With my sails all reefed there is no unnecessary weight aloft. In a gale or a storm, this is very reassuring.
- No Top Hamper When reefed, or when the sails are bagged up in port, there is no unnecessary windage in the rig.
- Fun I actually love working on the foredeck. Even in a big sea, I think it is fun. It is what sailing is all about. Maybe I am bonkers? All this business about never leaving the cockpit with all the lines led aft, is, in my opinion, just asking for trouble. It fills some people with a false fear. One day they may need to head forward to the dreaded evil dangerous foredeck and, if you have never been there before, it could come as a bit of a surprise!
- Easy Reefing Maybe it is no faster than roller furling, but I can still tuck a reef into my Yankee in a few seconds. I just slacken the halyard, reattach the tack to its second cringle and tighten the halyard again. I then need to roll up the loose triangle and tidy it up but that is no bother. The sheets on the Yankee remain tied to the same clew. The stay sail will reef too, but this time the sheets need to be reattached to the higher clew. It takes a bit longer but only a few minutes more. And it is fun, I enjoy playing with ropes on the foredeck.
- Dropping Sails In an ideal world I slightly blanket the jib with the mainsail, let go of the halyard, and Bob’s your uncle, the sail drops instantly to the deck. What is more, it is still safely hanked on, unlike pulling a sail out of a foil.
- Accidental Unfurling When Moored I realise that this shouldn’t happen, but it does. It seems the only way to be sure that a boat with roller furling doesn’t go sailing by itself is to lash the sail up with extra rope. My foresails are tucked up in bags down below. I needn’t worry that the wind may catch a rolled-up sail and tear it to shreds, as sometimes happens with furled sails that are not properly lashed.
- Accidental Unfurling At Sea This is an even worse situation. If that tiny furling line chafes through in a gale, and the whole shebang unfurls and either tears itself to shreds or tips the yacht on her beam ends. It’s not a risk I like to take.
- Rig Inspection Every year I take down my mast and carefully inspect all the rigging. Each shroud is inspected in good light from one end to the other. When the mast is re-stepped, I get out my Loos gauge and tension up the rig. How do you fully inspect and re-tension a rig when the roller gear covers the forestay? Often the roller gear even precludes having an accessible rigging screw on the forestay.
- Sail Cut My sails are cut without any consideration of the need for them to roll up. No need for foam packing and all that palaver.
- UV Damage There is no need for an ugly sacrificial strip on my sails. When they aren’t being used, they can be bagged up and put below or lashed to the guardrails.
- Storm Sails If I need to change down from reefed foresails to a storm jib, I just unclip the larger sail and clip on the storm jib. No need to set up extra rigging, no need to wrap a sail around a furled genoa.
- Changing Roller Furled Sails Can Be Dangerous If you have a blade jib that you can swap for your rolling genoa then you will have to fully unroll the genoa to get the sail off. If you are changing sail because the wind is too strong, then this is a pretty dangerous scenario.
- Smaller Sail Area Often the furling drum is mounted on the deck which will shorten the luff length of the sail and reduce its sail area.
- Clear Foredeck When hauling my anchor back on deck, I like to have a nice clear area between the toe rail and the pulpit. A furling drum would get clonked as I struggle with my weighty Rocna.
- Maintenance The roller furling gear has bearings that are subjected to salt and sand. If they are not carefully maintained, they may stop playing with you.
- Weight The furler adds weight to the boat and the rig.
- Cost Apart from the cost of the gear, hanked-on sails are cheaper too!
Well that’s my case. I realise that no one will change their beloved furling gear for hanked-on sails but maybe having read this you won’t consider me a total lunatic, there is reason in my madness.
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