How do you fold your sails?

[brokesailor]

How do you fold your sails? I tried to do it on the boat or the dock and it was overwhelming trying to handle all that sail and not end up overboard. I took the sail over to the parking lot and ended up getting grit all over the sail.

[lastconch]

single handed it's not easy to do, either on deck or land. Grass is easier on sails than asphalt. I've had success by flaking the luff on deck, clamping the flakes with spring clamps (like big clothespins) then straighting the flakes all the way to the clew/leech. then it's simple to fold/roll the sail in a neat package. hardest part is working the flakes evenly on both sides all along the sail. the clamps are the extra hands you need to make a neat and tidy job. But it's never easy, still sails last longer neatly folded, insead of stuffed in a bag or left to rot on the boom or furler.

[tommays]

If your buy yourself then ROLL them which is how many race sails come from the sail loft and they even have a long cigar bag to keep them in

[sailingdog]

It's actually pretty easy to do on a dock if you have a helper. If you have to do this solo, it is often easier to roll the sails instead of folding them. Giulietta has a good post about rolling a genny up. I'll see if I can find it and repost it here.

[blt2ski]

Depends upon the sail I am trying to fold. My 110 is pretty easy by myself at the dock. I stretch the foot out where two finger piers are, then the head out going down the main dock. Then move back and forth along the foot with 18-24" folds until the sail is about 50% down, then I can hang out at the foot, and pull both the luff and leach together and finish up, then roll it up into the bag.

My 155 I can probably do, but at 18' of foot, it is too long to fit on a dock to a degree. A 135'ish is about tops by myself on my dock, and that one I need to be careful of it falling into the water initially. I do not use the 155 if out with my wife only, as I usually want 3 folks to fold it up into the cigar bag. Two on deck folding, one on the boat under the sail keeping it taught and coming down to the dock in a straight line.

Marty

[hellosailor]

If you can flake the sails as you lower them, you don't need a lot of deck space so can do it on the boat. If that means re-raising them in order to flake them, that's no problem either. Also ensures the sail will be folded in the right sequence to attach it & hoist it again.

[captainmidnight]

Buy a furler

[sailingdog]

Can't always keep the sail on a furler... occasionally, like when you're working on the furler, or a named storm is coming to visit, you'd want to flake and stow the sails.

Originally Posted by captainmidnight

Buy a furler

[merc2dogs]

Hellosailor's method sounds like the one I use.

Lower the sail and flake it as it comes down, straighten it out as I walk back, then start folding as I walk forward again When I release the hanks it's ready to go in the bag. The main can be done the same way. Advantage is that they're ready to go back up when they come out of the bag.

Ken.

[islandplanet]

I can flake a hank on jib or genoa by myself pretty quickly by leaving it hanked on to the forestay. The trick is to get each fold going in the same direction and then just work it from the leech side. Takes about a minute or two on a J-24.

IslandPlanetSails.com