Your worst nightmare: Hoisted sail, stuck?

[TomY]

It's one of mine. I'm not critiquing mast sail furling, the situation can happen to any main sail. We have a glitch on our main halyard shackle. It can very occasionally hook the topping lift preventing dousing the sail, until you clear it (which I know how to do, but someone else?). I gotta fix that!

These poor folks came into the anchorage at Jewell Island with their partially reefed mainsail. They anchored and then I realized, they couldn't douse their mast furled main.

It was a good move as the anchorage was calm and the winds had dropped off. We watched, helplessly, as for over an hour the crew wrestled with the problem.

Even a light wind on a big luffing main is stressful. They worked hard! In and out a few inches. They kept squinting up the sail track toward the masthead where I assume, the bound up area was.

I was thinking, what a nightmare in more typical windy conditions. I couldn't offer any help as I have no experience with this type of gear.

It took over an hour of intense work, but they finally cleared the problem, and the sail disappeared into the mast and went silent. Phew...

The irony is that the boat looks like it's equipped for the opposite; easy sail handling for stress-free sailing.

After tending and setting their anchor they disappeared below to recover.

 

[shemandr]

Been there. Not enjoyable.

 

[Gunni]

Came in to the dock at St. Michaels after a very boisterous day where the winds had suddenly built to 30kts. Lots of damaged gear, including the shredded mast furled sail on a boat next to us. The crew was an older gentleman and a young couple and they all looked beat. The old guy asked if I would go up his mast and help him pull the remains of his mainsail off. I declined and looked at the young guy, he had the look of a chubby landlubber. “No way”, said Chub. Then the kid told the story of how he had been hoisted to the masthead with a box cutter to cut the jammed mainsail away. All that was left was a jagged 8”-10” of sail sticking out of the mast slot.

I noticed that the steaming light was missing, just a bulb socket and some loose wires. “What happened to the steaming light?” I asked. “I took it off with my nuts”, said Chub. “I’m never doing that again!

 

[Will Gilmore]

Hobie has an interesting halyard rig. At the peak of the main is a ring. When you hoist it, it slips past a hook covered by a hood at the masthead. It lifts the hood and catches on the hook. That way, you reduce the halyard compression on the mast by half. The only problem is, sometimes the hood gets stuck open and the ring keeps getting rehooked on the masthead hook. I've, luckily, never been where I didn't have the time and the calm day to work on it until it finally came down, but it could easily be a BIG problem. Once, in 35 knots of wind, I couldn't get it to catch because the high winds held the ring off just far enough. Probably good thing, although, I had to rely on a folding 3# grapnel anchor and my roller furling jib to keep me off a bridge while I was working the main.

-Will (Dragonfly)

 

[capta]

Actually, with more wind, the wind filling the sail may have actually helped pull the sail out, making the process go much faster. Notice I said may, as I wasn't there and don't know exactly what they did wrong.
We often keep a bit of wind in our RF main when unfurling. I really helps keep an even pull on the leech as the sail unfurls.

 

[MitchM]

i'm with gunni, i'd NEVER go up a strange mast on unknown halyards with unknown gear. i hated going up my own mast and that was using a dedicated 60m climbing line as a safety and halyards of known strength and provenance.

 

[DayDreamer41]

This situation has happened to me twice now, both times the sail was furled under blustery conditions where it seemed to go in just fine, but on the way out OMG, struggle of at least an hour each time. I am hoping the new main sail will remedy the issue, we will see.

 

[All U Get]

I watched a rigger use a handsaw to cut a mainsail free while sitting in a botsun’s seat, took him three hours.

 

[Benny17441]

and that is why we keep a sharp knife handy.

 

[All U Get]

I watched a rigger use a handsaw to cut a mainsail free while sitting in a botsun’s seat, took him three hours.