What a flake!

Phil Herring

Alien
Mar 25, 1997
4,918
- - Bainbridge Island
If the unholy trinity of sailing forums is coffee, guns, and anchors, the next rung down is mainsail flaking devices.

How do you contain your main... or do you? Is the old method the best method, or do you use Lazy Jacks, Dutchman, or Stak-Pak devices to create your Dacron origami?

Tell us what you use and why!

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Likes: D.L.Bland
May 20, 2016
3,014
Catalina 36 MK1 94 Everett, WA
Lazy Jacks and sail ties. I do list after a “pak” to eliminate the ties.
 

DougM

.
Jul 24, 2005
2,242
Beneteau 323 Manistee, MI
Lazy bag for me, works like a charm. Sail is nearly self flaking. Straighten the flakes, zip up the bag, no muss. no fuss. I can usually get the sail packed before I even reach the dock.
BA95BC49-44EF-4637-A1E7-FAC2ECEFB064.jpeg
 
Oct 22, 2014
20,995
CAL 35 Cruiser #21 moored EVERETT WA
I don't swear... to or at Dutchmen... I don't list (lust) after a "pak"...
I guess I'm just a flake... kind of guy.

Sure the other systems provide a level of convenience and perhaps a cool drink quicker at the bar, but I go sailing for the sailing experience. Since my youth folding sails into the bag, or flaking a Mainsail on the boom and covering it for protection have been a part of the experience. Like putting your slippers away in the morning, or making your bed. It is just what needs to be completed before you move on to the next experience.

Is is a chore? Well yes when the wind is blowing snot and you're trying to get in before the real storm hits, being on the coach roof with ties in your mouth quick wrapping a sail to the boom can be a bit of a fire drill. It beats sitting at the office with a computer staring back at you as you look for the $837.25 that makes the books out of balance, or that bit of code that keeps causing the program to crash.
 

nat55

.
Feb 11, 2017
210
Gulfstar 1979 Gulfstar 37 BELFAST
I converted to a bag a couple of years ago, never goin' back!
MAIA stack pack.jpg
 
Jul 22, 2013
22
Com-Pac Horizon Cat Holland
with a gaff rigged cat boat, lazy jacks or the like are a must. I pull her down and back in a modified flake, cleaning up at the dock if too windy for a nice fold. Then put on the sail cover to protect from the remains of spider dining.
 
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Likes: jssailem
Jul 7, 2004
8,402
Hunter 30T Cheney, KS
We usually sail with friends, not "crew". Half the time they know nothing about sailing. The Dutchman just makes the cruise more pleasant. No problems with battens snagging on lazyjacks, no spillage on the deck. At least not the main. Can't help with the drinks.
 
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Likes: DrJudyB
Oct 22, 2014
20,995
CAL 35 Cruiser #21 moored EVERETT WA
I think sail handling is influenced by the size of the boat, the size of the sails, and the previous history of the boat owner. Having been raised on small boats and manual handling sails into a bag the sail management is simple. I suspect like the owner that has a lot of varnished bright work on their boat. It is what you have and what you like. And the experience of doing a flake of the sail or touchup on the varnish is as much the experience as it is a task.
 
May 25, 2012
4,333
john alden caravelle 42 sturgeon bay, wis
i have the crew furl the main and mizzen, then cover. fold and bag the jib. makes them feel included.
 
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Likes: jssailem

capta

.
Jun 4, 2009
4,766
Pearson 530 Admiralty Bay, Bequia SVG
I never really thought flaking a main was rocket science, even before all these fancy systems. Get it down and secure anyway you can with a few sail ties until you had time to make it pretty, even in a gale.
Then they started building the center cockpit boats and putting big biminis above them and even at the dock after a sail Spiderman couldn't get up there to make it neat. Finally, someone's granddad showed his grandkid about lazy jacks and sail tech fell backward by about 200 years. WOW!
Then the holes in the sail with strings idea came up and that one never made sense to me, but I sail offshore and fixing things like those little strings, let alone the grommets through the sail, at sea, never appealed to me.
Stackpacs look awful on almost every boat, but I can see it's importance, but probably less than 20% use the zipper part down here, which really, isn't protecting the sail from uv's its main point?
But most of the time, whatever system is used today, so few ever bother to neatly flake the sail after a trip anymore, that I won't be surprised if the word flake is lost from the sailing lexicon in the not too distant future, unless it's used to describe the captain on some other boat acting erratically.
 
Jul 27, 2011
4,989
Bavaria 38E Alamitos Bay
The answer depends on the boat. Particularly, its size and crew compliment, as well as on the situation under which the sail is being dropped. Proper flaking of the mainsail of a large boat, > 40 ft, w/o lazy jacks to constrain the sail for flaking while the boat is pitching or rolling needs at least two crew (who know what they are doing) handling the sail while a third keeps the boat properly headed, etc. That assumes, of course, that the crew can actually reach the sail/boom sufficiently to hand the sail. Generally, it’s only the admiral and me or me alone sailing the boat. I have a 4-point (per side) lazy jack system into which I can drop the mainsail in high wind, even. It’ll ride there long enough for me to wrap on a couple of sail ties until I get the boat secured, whatever it is I’m doing. Flaking in the absence of lazy jacks is good when heading into harbor after racing w/ an experienced crew of four.
 
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Oct 26, 2008
6,045
Catalina 320 Barnegat, NJ
Flake and cover for now. I can see into the future and it looks more and more like furling main, hopefully! :cool:
 

Ward H

.
Nov 7, 2011
3,645
Catalina 30 Mk II Barnegat, NJ
I handle the boat solo most of the time. So it’s lazy jacks, flake, sail ties and cover. If the boat isn’t bouncing and rocking too much I’ll have it ready for the cover when I enter my slip.
 
Jul 27, 2011
4,989
Bavaria 38E Alamitos Bay
Stackpacs look awful on almost every boat, but I can see it's importance, but probably less than 20% use the zipper part down here, which really, isn't protecting the sail from uv's its main point?
But most of the time, whatever system is used today, so few ever bother to neatly flake the sail after a trip anymore...
The Hanse 495 we chartered in 2017 had the stack pack. The whole rig was too high off the deck for us to easily close the zipper, so it (stack pack) stayed open the whole 14-day charter. BTW, it was open (unzipped) when we took possession of the boat. With the Bimini up, there was also no good way to get to or work the end of the boom for any kind of flaking. Too much work anyway for a boat that’s underway nearly every day.:snooty:
 
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