Sails

Fix-it Kit: Essentials for DIY Sail Repair

by Mark Corke, Posted August 14, 2012

Furl it Up

by Charles J. Doane, Posted January 6, 2012

After cruisers tested and perfected furler systems about 30 years ago, they were widely adopted on certain types of raceboats. Since then, however, there’s been an interesting reverb effect, in which offshore racers have created ever more refined and versatile furling technologies that are now trickling back into the cruising community.

Taming Full Batten Mains

by Adam Cort, Posted January 5, 2012

One of the great ironies of sailing is that as hard as it can be to get your mainsail up, it can often be just as hard to get it back down. This goes double when tucking in a reef with a slab-reefing system—one reason why so many sailors are willing to sacrifice sailing performance for the sake of in-boom or in-mast furling.

There's the Rub

by Brian Hancock, Posted January 5, 2012

Because friction makes you work harder and harms your boat’s performance, it pays to take a long, hard look around your boat to see where and how you can make it function as smoothly as possible.

Time for a New Headsail Furler

by Charles J. Doane, Posted November 14, 2011

Near the end of the 2010 boating season I noticed that the old Profurl roller-furling unit on my Tanton 39 cutter Lunacy was no longer working properly. The furler, which probably dates back to the early 1990s, was getting increasingly difficult to use.

Beat the Wrap

by Peter Nielsen, Posted April 12, 2011

The last thing you want from your furling gear is for it to jam up in a rising breeze—or ever. I must be some kind of roller-reefing Jonah, because it’s happened a few times on boats I’ve been sailing aboard. On two of those occasions, halyard wrap was to blame.Halyard wrap sounds like something you’d tear off a new piece of rope, but it’s actually the most common cause of

Mildew removal made easy

by Charles Mason, Posted August 24, 2009

If your sails are made from laminated materials there’s a good chance that you’ve struggled with ways to keep mildew from getting a toehold in the fabric."Many of the sails made today are constructed with laminated materials," says Jeff Andersen, President of the New Hampshire-based Sailmaking Support Systems. "Although a laminated sail will be lighter and potentially faster than a woven

Fix-it kit

by Sail Staff, Posted June 22, 2009

Nothing will ruin your cruise faster than a damaged or torn sail. With the BoatWorks sail-repair kit on board, you’ll be able to make emergency repairs and keep on sailing. Ours cost less than $100 to assemble but could save us hundreds in repair bills.A. Curved and straight needles of different diameters.B. Stainless-steel scissors for cutting thread and sailcloth.C.

Ready for Sea

by Sail Staff, Posted August 25, 2008

Simply hoping that your rig is trouble free is not a good strategy, says Chris LabYou need to keep up to date on the condition of your standing and running rigging, both before you launch in the spring and continually throughout the season. Your rig is an integrated system, and anything that happens to any part of it can quickly turn your sailboat into a slow-moving

Geezer Think Smart

by Chip Lawson, Posted August 25, 2008

Making sailboats easier to handle (“Sailing for Geezers,” September 2007) apparently touched a responsive chord. Here are more improvements I’ve made on my 30-year-old Pearson 40 to make it easier and safer for me to handle. Since I’m approaching 60 years of age, easier also equals fun. The Geezer mainsail reefStaying in the cockpit when the wind is building is a