Furling the sails

Rolling up the genoa

Rolling up the genoa does not pose any particular problems. Whilst a crew member keeps the genoa taut with its sheet to avoid it flogging, another one rolls up the foresail.

To furl the mainsail

To furl the mainsail, you must begin by putting the boat head to wind. We therefore start the engines to put the boat into position. To avoid any ‘tangles’, check carefully that the main halyard is free to run. The ideal is to coil the halyard in a figure 8. This technique is used in racing and allows you to ensure the halyard will run with no problems.

Open the jammer

After making sure that the lazy-jacks have been taken in and the mainsheet freed, you must take the halyard in slightly, to open the jammer. To avoid the sail coming down all at once, and to control it as it comes down, keep a turn around the winch.

And the mainsail comes down…

And the mainsail comes down…

A crew member can help

A crew member can help it fold correctly.

Easy bag

Once it is down, cleat the halyard and close the easy bag.

stow the halyards and sheets…

All that remains is to stow the halyards and sheets…