We raced upwind with a foot or so of genoa furled several times. The furler line once secured, will be fine. FWIW, I had mine secured to a camcleat without trouble but Harken prefers it to be cleated and provide a 4" cleat with their furler kits.
Had to look up the J27 on Sailboatdata. Comparing your 12000# C&C 34+ to a 3800# J27 may not produce the same results. Your boats needs much more sail power to get it moving as it weighes three times the J-boat. But I would suggest you try the technique and don't overthink it so much. See how the sail shape changes by different amounts of furling. Our racing sail is a 140% #2 and still looked good, partially rolled. This made tacking quicker and easier as the sheets and LP are shorter. One drawback was losing the telltales but in higher winds, you don't really need them anyway. My two cents. Chuck S > On 09/12/2022 10:12 AM David Knecht via CnC-List <cnc-list@cnc-list.com> > wrote: > > > I was talking to the skipper of a J27 who nearly always wins our PHRF > class and he was telling me that while he wins a lot, he struggles in heavier > air. He said he had recently started partially roller furling his large > genoa for upwind legs and then unfurling downwind when the wind was strong > enough to overpower him. I have never considered doing that and my larger > genoa does not have “reef points” . What are the groups thoughts on the > value/feasibility of this? Any reason it would be bad for the sail? It > certainly would be easier than putting on my smaller sail when winds are > questionable. I worry about not only sail shape, but when partially furled, > the furler and genoa sheet are fighting each other, which might not be a good > thing for the furler. Dave > > S/V Aries > 1990 C&C 34+ > New London, CT > > >
