Certainly the racing trend is to do away with the roller furler. I used to think that I always wanted to have one until I really needed it in a squal. The best we could do was to get it in one nasty knot with the top flapping away relentlessly. The F18 class is moving away from the roller furling requirement as is the Nacra 20 class. The Nacra 20 class even has a jib available now with two full length battens near the top that prevent it from furling all together.

It's kind of like building a bare-bones racer (like how race cars don't usually have sideview mirrors and other non-essentials)..certainly if you are racing in a fleet it's not a big deal to go without the furler.

Well,

The very first time I beat a Nacra 5.2 was solely due to my roller furling jib. The winds were up that day and we both decided to leave the beach on main alone (my jib furled and his on shore). Once we were out on the course, the wind lightened up enough that I was able to unfurl the jib and after that, the other skipper didn't really stand a chance.

It's also very handy to furl the jib when parking between races. So, I'm not about to try taking it off.

Regards,
Eric

Sorry you confused my opiniated outburst as fact. But just in case somebody did think it was fact, then they'd be correct. It can be easily argued that cats, with or without furlers, are dangerous.

GARY

I guess it is the cut, shape of the self tackers that dont' take to furling very well.

GARY

Gary:

I use a 190 square ft Pentex reacher to go with Pentex squaretop when racing Portsmouth in the Wed night races on the lake. I HAVE to furl it in over 12 knots to weather as it is to much to handle solo. I also love to furl it between races. Don't know anything about self tackers. System works great for me. Each his own.

Doug Snell
Hobie 17
www.tcdyc.com

Jib furling, per se, is not specifically the issue. What is dangerous is the inability to quickly reduce sail, whether by furling or dropping the jib and by dropping or reefing the main when a squall is approaching -- and that can happen with very little notice. Being able to furl the jib is obviously the quickest way to reduce sail on a small cat.

I can drop a main if I need too also. But if it was blowing so hard that I needed to get the main down, then there is a good chance that I wouldn't want a jib up.

My personal choice is to never have a cat with a sail that can not be doused in a reasonable amount of time. I furler on the jib is pretty crucial to my concerns.

I'm still mystified by the apparant acceptance by many of the claims that Inter 20's can't be stoped unless the tiller is constantly tended.

Won't somebody who has hove to an Inter 20 or otherwise parked it with the tiller tied down, step in here and tell us about it?

GARY

Yes this is true; however, this does not back up your original statement - cats w/o furler are dangerous. Could you elucidate on this as to particularly when we should be cautioned?

OK, my "OPINION" on dangerous cats...

I've sailed such a cat (Tornado) all my life. Have I ever been in a difficult spot because of the non-furling jib. No. (...that's a FACT, not an opinion BTW ). Being unable to stop a boat b/c of a non-furling/dousing jib seems odd to me. Ease it and head up, no?

I've also sailed Tornados in gales under jib alone after dropping the mainsail. She sails beautifully and controllably in such config. Ya, tacking/pointing is pretty tough, but you can always "tack" by gybing around the long way.

Mike.
Opinions expressed are those of the author...

Why would you not want your jib if you drop your main in heavy air – how are you going to sail? This is almost rule # 1 when heavy weather hits and you have no reef points. AAMOF this is a drill that I had practiced a few times when I started to venture out single handed, and my Prindle sailed very well.

Mike,

I've also sailed on jib only. And as I *think that* I recall, I was able to sail as high as 75 or 80 degrees off the wind if I really dragged the rudders a lot.

Were you actually able to tack? I definitely just jibed from tack to tack but did not even think that I would be able to tack.

On the same test day, I sailed bare stick only. I forget the exact results, but I was able to sail something higher than DDW in that configuration.

I do remember sailing a keeled mono hull into the wind with stick only. I was in a proteted marina. Had I been outside, the waves and current would surely have overcome the amount of lift I was generating of the mast alone.

I had GPS tracks of these tests but they all got fried when I lost a hard drive.

GARY

It is also my experience that furlers are not required. They are a nice convenience but in no way required.

I love my furler on my Tiger. It's nice to be able to furl prior to beaching to make your approach easier.

I have never been able to successfully furl my jib when the wind was above 20 upwind. The jib gets caught funny toward the top of the sail and ends up flapping like crazy. It's also very hard to furl going downwind in a big breeze for the same reason. It takes a bit of practice to get it to furl properly.

So in my experience a furler is for the most part not required. But it is an added convenience.

Mike Hill
www.stlouiscats.com

Tacking with the jig alone can be done if you get the waves just right and use backwinding to to assist. I've done it only a couple of times...much easier to take the long way around.

Regarding the need for jib furlers for safety/control, doesn't it depend to some degree if you're talking about a boat with vs without a battened jib? Obviously you can't use a furler with a battened jib, but my question is with a battened jib wouldn't you have so much stability in the draft profile that you wouldn't need one? When overpowered, just release the jib sheet, let it luff, and it won't flog much. When sailing a spi boat downwind I thought that many people just release the jib sheet, even in lots of wind, but I don't think that would work well with a non-battened jib.

A related question: many battened jibs I've seen come with three battens, with the foot of the sail frequetly without one. If there is any flogging in higher winds it's at the bottom. So why not use 4 battens?

For those of you with battened jibs, how many battens do you have and how well behaved is your sail? Do you ever wish you could furl it? Do you ever just release the main sheet and is it then depowered, out of the equation, and not flogging?


Jerry