Winter Storage for new Racing Sail

bluefish

Lake Sailor
Just purchased a new race sail in Sept. Used it 3-4 times, what a difference from the old recreational one! Time to winter store it :(.
What's the best way to store it? Take it off the spars and fold it up (I can still see the fold marks from when I took it out of the bag it came in)? or leave it on the spars and roll up? Thoughts? Thanks....
 
The best way is to hang it by the two ends of the spars with the spars parallel to the floor. Also, you can put a couple of lengths of light foam rubber (about 2"x4" cross-section) inside along the crease. This helps to lessen the crease. I store mine this way even in the summer.
 
I think the answer very much depends on how often you are going to be using the sail. If it is going to be used on a daily or weekly basis, I would do what the fold in half method that Bill described.

However, if you really want to preserve your sail, in my opinion that is not the way to do it. Many people remove the sail from the spars to store it in the winter. I take a different approach that has proved very effective.

The spars are connected via two interlocking eyebolts at the tack of the sail. I unbolt the one eye from the upper spar and pull the bolt out of the spar. You now have two pieces. Next I untie the head of the sail from the top. Next I slide the sail off the spar from top to
bottom (you do not need to remove the sail clips or ties that hold it on. Finally, I reattach the upper spar to the eyebolt and roll the entire sail around both spars. This process takes about 5 minutes once you figure it out. While it is a little more time consuming, it eliminates the possibility of permanent creases in the sail and distortion from hanging.
 
No matter how you store it make sure to loosen the outhauls and cunningham. I lost a sail to stretch by not doing this.
 

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