Furling Main vs Conventional

[Jason]

I recently sailed to Catalina on a Hunter 320 and hand some stong winds. In these conditions the main was almost impossible to raise. The battens kept hanging up on the lazy jacks and the main halyard hung up on the spreaders.The downside of in mast furling seems to be decreased performance and the chance of malfunctions and not being able to get it in when it is really blowing.Best solution may be in boom furling: keep the battens, no laxy jacks, easy to reef.Any comments on which main to choose

 

[Tim Schaaf]

Re-think

You might try re-thinking your present setup. Some lazyjacks can be eased or removed while raising the main, and that can make life easier. They are more necessary when reefing or furling the sail. You can also do without them entirely, although there may be some times you need to give the leech ends of the battens a tug while lowering sail.The Dutchman system addresses that issue. Check to see if you have good quality cars on the inboard ends of the battens. I am not sure why your halyard is hanging up on the spreaders, assuming you are head-to-wind, unless you are referring to a halyard's tendency to flick itself around outside the upper shrouds. Another choice would be to go with full battens on the top one or two battens, and shorter ones for the rest. This works well for a lot of boats, and is much lighter. Or you could get the in-boom furling. I have no experience with these, but the new ones look pretty good, if you ignore the expense and the WEIGHT!Many will advocate in-mast furling, although your comments are clearly accurate. Different strokes for different folks!

 

[Robert Polk]

Some suggestions

We have been getting used to the full batten main on our 460. Any friction resistance or wind power applied main while raising the sail is multiplied as the main halyard runs to the jam cleat and winch. To help: 1) release the boom vang prior to raising the sail and loosen the line at the vang so the halyard doesnt have to loosen the vang control lines, 2) release the main sheet and provide slack at the end of the boom so the main can swing as the wind shifts thus reducing forces on the main and minimizin fouling the sail in the lazy jacks, 3) Lubricate the slides with clear dish detergent ( I use a mustard dispenser for this), 4) make sure all reffing lines are clear and not jammed between layers of sail. Having done all these things seemds to help greatly. Even so - still thinking about adding a Tides Marine Strong Track. I don't understand why your halyard should foul when raising the sail.