Hurricane prep in mast furling

Tally Ho · Sep 25, 2022

Seems like it should work, as long as:
1) No sail exposed (or anything else than could unfurl the sail).
2) You can get it out of the mast once the danger is past.

3 of the guys at my marina have H33’s, but so far, no hurricanes for them to prepare for (on the Great Lakes ;-)

Good luck to those on the East coast.

Greg

Rich Stidger · Sep 25, 2022

I don't have in-mast furling, but I do have in-boom furling. What I do is roll the sail up tightly into the boom and then with the sail cover on I spiral wrap a line around the boom with a wrap every foot or so. This line is securely tied at both ends. For the headsail, I use my spinnaker halyard which is fastened to the mast at the head of my headsail and spiral wrap that all the way to the bottom of the furler. All lines are tied securely. I never had a problem, but I have also never had a full-blown hurricane experience either. The worst I've seen is 70-80 mph winds.

dLj · Sep 25, 2022

I also have in boom furling. I also do something very similar to what Rich says above. I have two head sails, I drop the stay sail and put it inside the boat and I remove the foresail so the only sail left is the main wrapped on the boom. The idea is to have minimal windage. I also remove my dodger and biminey and store them inside the boat.

So I'd guess with in mast furling the similar situation would occur with the Main sail inside the mast. What I don't see is how do you wrap it to make sure wind doesn't catch anything and work things loose.

dj

Davidasailor26 · Sep 25, 2022

We pull ours IMF main in as far as it will go, then we disconnect the outhaul, wrap the clew around the mast so it’s tight against the mast, and tie it off there. I’m comfortable with this as it’s very little windage and quite secure.

capta · Sep 25, 2022

It would depend on the strength of the storm, but as a rule, I'd remove that weight from aloft. There are plenty of folks who can tell tales of their spreaders going in the water when they get hit with a severe gust on the beam. There's many a storm in which I've laid my boom(s) in the scuppers and taken down unnecessary halyards, just to lessen windage.

shemandr · Sep 25, 2022

When I lived on LI I would remove sails and canvas for any TS or hurricane that would pass to the West of us and for bigger storms from the East. On the 356 I had in mast furling. I've seen enough jibs aflapppin' after storms I surely wouldn't want it to be mine.

Davidasailor26 · Sep 25, 2022

No doubt I take down the jib for any significant storm forecast. To me the main is a little different being almost entirely housed in the mast, so there’s no opportunity for wind to get inside one of the wraps and open up the furl.

shemandr · Sep 25, 2022

Davidasailor26 said:
No doubt I take down the jib for any significant storm forecast. To me the main is a little different being almost entirely housed in the mast, so there’s no opportunity for wind to get inside one of the wraps and open up the furl.

The preponderance of sailors who have left the main sails furled in the mast, even over the winter, without problems speaks to the effectiveness of this strategy. But I don't like the idea of leaving even a shred of the sail out of the mast. And what's preventing unravelling is running rigging. Should give pause for thought. You can lock your furler which is better. Still I'm a proponent of removing the risk.
If the main gets out in a lot of wind it will take your rig down. And not much improves after that.
Here in Stuart we're preparing for a storm. I haven't seen much preparation in the nautical department. One problem here is that there isn't a lot of dry land storage. Most dockage is year round. So the options are limited.