What if in-mast main furler jams?

[Deac]

What's the point of the Auxiliary Main Track?

If the furler is jammed already (say half way out), why would I want to raise another main and have TWO mains flying? I'm not worried about the thing jamming when it's all contained INSIDE the mast.......I can always sail with the foresail. I'm worried about it jamming OUT in high winds and not being able to tuck it back in. Mine has worked fine thus far, but I know that the Gods of Murphy will jam me up someday in a 'pop-up thunderstorm' on Lake Erie and I'll be catatonic as to how to tame this frozen flogging mainsail.

 

[Chuck Wayne]

aux mainsail track

the aux track lets you set a storm sail or a jib on the mast-if you had to cut down a jammed main, you could still set another sail to get back home-or if offshore, you could set the stormsail and safely secure your main before a major blow hit

 

[Wayne Fredrick]

Furling Main Followup

In reponse to the questions after my first post. "Why ease the mainsheet". The worst thing you can do with a furling main is to keep pressure on the boom when furling or unfurling the sail. So you want to keep both the mainsheet and vang loose. Try it both ways, you will see how much easier the system works with no pressure on the boom. Yes I put the boat into the wind in most cases, and do center the boom, but if you are into the window the boom will stay centered with the mainsheet loose. As for releasing the downhaul or outhaul, if you get a jamb, you want to take as much pressure off of the system as possible and let the wind do the work. I do not let is totally flail around, but allow the sail to have some belly by releasing the outhaul, and keep the downhaul or retrieving line loose so when it pulls out of the mast, the sail comes totally out of the groove. It will work in most cases, unfortunately, the conditions might not allow for this all of the time. Hope this helps!!

 

[Dan]

Furling

Wayne,I agree that it probably works better for furling to allow some slack in the mainsheet. In our 356 we have found that heading into the wind with the boom on the port side of the boat, and not releasing the vang seems to work the best consistently.I generally let out enough main sheet to allow the boom to go over to port about 2-3 feet (measured at the arch) and try to steer the wind to keep it there, but short of filling the sail full. Then just crank away on the furling line while controling the outhaul. I've noticed that if I release the vang, the boom tends to try to ride up and it does not wind up as tight. My observations after three months. More time and I might alter my thoughts some more.I think that the best method for each boat or system might be slightly different.Dan Jonas (S/V Feije II)