Submitted on May 6, 2002 by William Hay

Question: I have a north sails roller furling genoa. I've never had any problems with it until this weekend. That's 6 years of service and trip from Queen Charlottes to Cortez as well as some heavy seas and winds. Don't know why but the furling rope got completely knotted around the base of the furler with the sail half out. It was counter intuitive when trying to get the sail down in a blow to take the sail all the way out and drop the genoa halyard but that worked by cutting the rope of the furler, much like a fishing line knot.

Still having a sail up in a blow I couldn't get down did scare me, so I wondered, is there anything else I could have done? When I tried to wrap the sail manually I got a spinnaker effect and I wasn't about to climb high enough to get more bungy cords in place. That was before I took advice. After, I wondered if I had ripped up the sail I should have a second sail, maybe a regular, small sail (I've got a cutter sail and storm sail so want the least extra sail for cruising space possible) would be the idea. I was about to stick a knife in the sail myself just to slow the boat.

Now I know this is all user error and the equipment is good. It's been a joy all these years. Never had this problem before. Hope to never again. Just wanted your thoughts and comments. Bill

Answer: Hi Bill, It's hard to tell exactly what went wrong with the furling drum. However, I can take a guess.

Sometimes the furling line winds up on the drum very loosely. This seems to happen more frequently when the sail is unrolled on a breezy day and the sail comes out of the furl too fast. The same breezy conditions require extra tension on the furling line to get the drum and foil turning. When you pull very hard on the furling line but the drum does not turn, the furling line can jump through the coils of line until it reaches the drum. Then when the drum does begin to turn, the line forms an override that gets more and more tight until it finally jams completely. Your decision to cut the furling line probably saved your sail.

To avoid the same thing happening again, try keeping the furling line around a winch to snub it and control the speed of the jib unrolling. When it comes time to furl the sail in alot of breeze, turn on to a very broad reach to partially blanket the jib behind the mainsail.

Regards,
Dan Neri

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