Flaking the mainsail

[Mikebe]

I tried sailing my new M for the first time Saturday…the wind was about 10 knots I guess. I was solo, and decided to just do it. I motored out to a clear area, pointed into the wind, killed the motor, then loosened the vang and mainsheet and raised the mainsail. No problems. By the time I got back to the cockpit the boat was drifting 30 or 40 degrees off the wind, and as soon as I tightened the mainsheet a bit she started moving. I have the roller-furler for the jib, so I un-furled the jib from the cockpit and that’s when she really started moving! Heeling over about 15 or 20 degrees, dumping all the stuff I left on the table below to the deck, and going 4.5 – 5 knots according to my GPS. Man, what a blast! I tacked two or three times heading out into the open Chesapeake. Where I am, the Chesapeake is about 10 miles wide. I sailed about halfway across and then back. I like being able to pretty much leave the helm alone when sailing. I went one stretch about 30 minutes without touching the helm, moving around the boat, going down below to pickup and stow some stuff, etc. It was great! With the motor, you’re pretty much tied to the helm all the time.

Getting the sails down was interesting. No problem furling the jib of course. Lowering the mainsail, the problem was flaking the sail on the boom. Very difficult to get it nicely folded and tied down in the wind. I ended up just wadding it on there as best I could and tying it down. I’ll have to straighten it up later. I’m definitely going to have to come up with a better approach for flaking the sail…

Any tips appreciated, also, should I be worried I've damaged my sail?

[Catigale]

No, but you should be worried you have just eliminated all your spare time for the next 20 years...

[James V]

No damage. A Sail Caddy will help.

[beene]

The more you do it, the better you will get at it.

I find a boom bungee helps.

G

[Dimitri-2000X-Tampa]

If its really windy, its very difficult to nicely flake the mainsail. Just bundle it on there as best as you can and then straighten it out when you get back to the dock. Btw, when you flake properly, you have to keep pulling the bundle back towards the stern at incremental points during the flake. Ie, it won't get good and tight unless you do this. Make sure to flake from the stern forward to the mast. The lightweight sails of the Mac are a bit more difficult to flake than heavier weight sails you find on keelboats. The bundle keeps wanting to slide off to the side. There is another technique which I use in high winds which is to sort of partially roll the mainsail onto the boom just enough to get some sail ties on it - just get that sail to stop flogging. I did recently implement the "spider" technique that Eric mentioned, but I have to admit that the bungies do grab the dodger and lifelines sometimes on tacks and gybes so you have to be a bit careful.

[ronacarme]

My main is stock boltrope (no slugs) type. In dropping the main, I grab the bolt rope about 18" or so above the foot of the main and form the forward bottom portion of the main in a kind of trough below and to one side of the boom. I drop the rest of the luff of the main, as it comes down, into that trough and fix a sail tie around the resulting bundled luff material about a foot behind the mast. Then I move aft along the boom, continuing the trough, bundling and sail tying. The result is that the main is fixed to the boom and neatly contained within its foot portion.
Ron

[pokerrick1]

I have "Lazy Jacks" which my dealer installed, that keeps the mainsail intact on the boom - - - all done from the cockpit. Part of my PRE - sail regimine is taking the "stuff off the tables and counter surfaces and placing them on the floor - - - or that's where they will wind up anyway. I don't want to bolt the "stuff" down (microwave, TV, Ceramic Heater, etc. because I want their locations to be flexible.

Rick

[Night Sailor]

I put slugs on my main, and one of the reasons was that after the first dozen or so flakes it will fold itself reliably at the right spots. As said above, pull back toward end of boom while tying off, and start from the boom end.
Tip: in fresh breeze or rough water, especially if going solo, tie off boom on both sides to life line stanchions or stern cleats with rope, not bungee, to keep it firm amidships.
Tip: do not shut down motor until at least one sail is up and trimmed well. That insures an escape plan if something goes wrong with the sails, rigging, traffic or seaway at the worst possible time ..... and it eventually will!

[eric3a]

..

[delevi]

The Dutchman system is a great way to get a perfectly flaked sail every time, fast, even in heavy winds. Much of the time, I don't even need sail ties unless I plan to motor with the sail uncovered or if the wind is up, in which case two sail ties are all in need. The picture below is without ties, boat on trailer. Another bonus is when double reefed, the sail is nicely flaked without need to tie off. Single reef still requires tying the reef diamond lines.

Leon

[beene]

I really like the look of that system Leon.

Very nice

[mattabbe]

Sew on some slugs, you'll be glad you did. It makes the sail go up easy and come down easy too. It also helps the sail flake nicely.

[johnnyonspot]

How easy is it to install slugs? Anyone know of a good resource on the web, or this site? I searched the mods but there do not seem to be any re installation of sail slugs. Also, how would a mainsail feeder compare with the slugs? Do the slugs offer more advantage than simply making it easy to raise the sail without feeding it into the mast slot?

[mattabbe]

I got my slugs, webbing, thread, needle, and thimble all through sailrite. They can help you out if you ask them what you'll need. It took me about two hours to sew all of them in both along the boom and mast. I should have done it a long time ago.

[parrothead]

This is the proper method of flaking the mainsail.

{schooner Appledore II - Key West - last Sunday}