Flaking the main

[Mark]

So how many of you bother to carefully flake the mainsail at the end of each day or do you just srunch it up as best you can and tie off on the boom?Besides at the end of the day what difference is it going to make to how long your sails last. Folding on the same crease every time, you would think, may result in those creases wearing through sooner??

 

[David Foster]

Always flake

Gently, without a tight ties-down as recommended by my sailmaker.DavidLady Lillie

 

[Ron]

Absolutely Always...

It's just part of being a good sailor. If you take care of your equipment it will take care of you. I also cover my sails if I'm going to be stationary for longer than 30 minutes.. Ron?KA5HZV

 

[Ron Mehringer]

Sort of

When I drop the sail I make sure the sail folds to alternate sides with each slug. After that, I find the sail to be far too slippery to keep it nicely balanced on the boom for a perfectly orderly flake. I just do the best I can. I also avoid making the sail ties too tight. Afterall, the sail cover will help hold things together.Ron Mehringers/v Hydro-Therapy

 

[David R. King]

Flaking sails

I have an h26 and posed the same question to the owner of the North Sails loft here in Puerto Vallarta. He told me that flaking at the same place consistently would indeed result in wear on the creases. I try not to "scrunch" in the interests of being seamanlike, but I make no effort to flake in the same places every time. David KingPuerto Vallarta, Mexico

 

[Hayden Jones]

Depends on where I am at the time!

Often I take the sails down in open heaving water. I alternate the sail as it comes down... always but some times have to get the sail secured quickly. I "always" make sure the batttens ( I have fiull battens) lie on top of the boom to avoid twisting and or breaking them. I try to flake the sails but the wind doesn't always support my efforts. If not flaked, I do make an effort to pull back on the sail to at least avoid bunching.Hayden

 

[Jeff Peltier]

Flake from the Back

If short handed, I flake from the back, pulling back as I go and tying before moving forward for the next bunch. Seems to be fairly easy and appearently my sail has been trained (not by me, but by time) to fall alternately from slug to slug most of the time. As far as wear goes, luffing in high winds to maintain control and chaffing on the spreader and shrouds going downwind has to be much harder on a sail than how it flakes to the point where I don't believe you could measure the facter it contributes.Jeff Peltier