Hi gang, I'm old, and conservative. I've sailed a lot of nautical miles in widely varying conditions, and all my head sails on all my previous boats had nice reliable - always work (if you keep them lubricated) - bronze jib hanks.
If a front is coming through, I want my head sails to come down NOW, and be replaced with something smaller. That's why I find the down haul on the hanked on jib of the M15 so practical. Uncleat the jib halyard, and haul in on the down haul and your jib is on deck - and stays there. Roller furling, despite continuing mechanical improvements over the years, still means you are trusting your life to something that "might" malfunction at a critical moment. That's not a risk I'm willing to take. I've seen roller furled genoas unrolled and wildly snapping themselves to tatters in medium storms at the anchorage in Noank, CT. I've had friends that had lines snarl on their furling gear; ......now what? They couldn't roll it up and they could unfurl it again so that they could try again. They were locked into their snarled position. Jib hanks may be a bit more cumbersome and take a bit more time to use, and may not be as aerodynamic as a head sail foil, but I've never had a failure in all my years of sailing. My sailing is for enjoyment, not to win the America's Cup where every possible .01 second is critical (and you have a big crew on board), so added aerodynamic efficiency means nothing to me. My ability to change head sails to match the weather conditions is not something I'll abrogate to modern furling technology. ...........and you can't turn a furling genoa into a well functioning working jib or a storm jib. With different head sails you may want different sheet sizes; and you certainly need different sheet block locations to match the requirements of the new head sail. I may be too conservative, but I like my reliable primitive systems that always work, no matter what the weather does. Those are my two cents worth......... Connie M15 #400 _______________________________________________ http://mailman.xmission.com/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/montgomery_boats
