Roller-Furling Sails
By Dave and Jaja

We do not have roller furling sails on DRIVER. And that about sums up my firsthand knowledge of them.

But I've got some great opinions.

We attach our sails to the forestay the reliable way--with piston hanks. It's a dead simple system. Conversely, we have five head sails that take up a lot of room below decks. There's a 180% genoa, a 130% genoa, a 110% jib (reefable), a 85% jib, and last, a 40% storm jib. That's a ton of dacron.

But it's dependable dacron, and each sail is very efficient for every possible wind situation. Naturally, to make these sails dependable requires I spend multiple hours on deck clinging to the lifelines. First, I have to release the halyard, fight flogging canvas, secure the sail on deck, switch over piston hanks to the new sail, changing jib leads, then hoist the sail and sheet it in. During our 24-day passage between Bermuda and Iceland (aboard DRIVER in 1998), we made 59 headsail changes. The higher latitudes create fickle winds that are forever changing. During our 23-day Pacific crossing between the Galapagos and the Marquises, (aboard DIRECTION in 1989), I made just four headsail changes. (DIRECTION also had piston hanks.) Tradewind sailing is as close to perfection as sailing can approach.

At 33 feet, DRIVER is a relatively small boat. We chose the simplicity of piston hanks for the ultimate in reliability. Unfortunately, changing jibs on a dark night at sea is anything but simple. It's a heck of a lot of work, and slightly dangerous--especially if youÕre tired. Roller furling would be much more simple--assuming there are no mechanical failures.

Some friends of ours were sailing to South Africa on their 36-foot steel sloop when their roller-furling jib "exploded" in an unexpected squall. The sail, which was already roller-reefed halfway in, flogged uncontrollably. By the time they could roll it in, the jib was a reduced to shreds of tattered dacron. During the rolling-in procedure, the whipping and tattered sail cloth knotted itself around and around the headstay. After the squall, the sail would not unfurl. It was bound and gagged by its own hand. Our friend Mike spent three hours aloft in a bosun's chair, mid-ocean, literally cutting the sail off the headstay with a knife so that he could hoist another sail.

Lesson? Don't use old, sun-weathered sails. A newish sail, untouched by the venom of UV, can survive incredible abuse.

DRIVER is small enough that sail handling is relatively easy. What if DRIVER was 40 feet or bigger? (I'm allowed to dream, aren't I?). I would probably use for roller-furling sails--especially in the higher latitudes. I've put considerable thought into what combination of sails we would have. I do not know what brand of furlers are best, or what brand of roll-up sails are the most efficient, but this is how I should do it.

I would opt for a cutter rigged sail plan. Then, I would install one furler on the bow with a light-air genoa Immediately aft of this, by 18 inches, I would have another furler with a heavyweight yankee. The staysail would be attached by piston hanks. This way, it would be easy to rig bulletproof storm canvas.

Of course, it would be mandatory to roll in the light-air genoa when tacking, but this compromise balances having to drag the thing on deck every time you need it. Another problem with large, light-air sails is when the wind pipes up they are miserable to take down and fold up. The wind blows them every which-way. They undoubtedly get wet during the removal procedure - then you are faced with having a heavy, soggy sail below decks.

So, is roller furling better than piston hanks? Hmm. I guess it depends if you prefer "rolling" with the changes or "clinging" to old ways.