Fold or roll my sail

[LETLMT]

Do most people fold their sail when storing it,or do the roll it?

If they roll it, is there a best practice? I have heard that people use a 4 foot plastic tube as a core, then fold the sail in (roughly) half at end of the top batten , then roll from the top down. I believe that I saw a video of this process but cannot find it today. How tightly do you roll it?

 

[LaLi]

I don't think I've folded a Laser sail in 20 years... except for the one fold along the top batten before rolling down. Just tight enough that it doesn't unroll unwantedly when you carry it. The roll is about as long as the foot, and you can fold that loosely in half if you don't have the space (the Mk 2 window doesn't like being folded though). No tubes or anything (except maybe a long bag) needed.

_

 

[AlanD]

I wrap around a tube, with the tack end with an extra half to full wrap (depends on the diameter of the tube) to begin with, this results in the head in the middle of the roll. With sails going back into storage I'll sometimes fold along the original lines.

 

[thieuster]

A good question! 'Wrapping' here!

A piece of tubing sightly longer than the 'foot' (I think that's the word in English) with 2 pieces of shock cord at the ends. The shock cord is guided through the eyes on the clew end and the cunninghame hole and that makes it easy for one person to roll it. We start at the bottom end - 90% of the sailors in Europe use that method.

Folding: yes, when the boat and gear is transported to a regatta somewhere Europe or - like the Olympic crew does - shipping all the stuff in a container to Innoshima (Japan).

Both methods are used and I haven't heard about or found a favourable method.

Menno

 

[Rob B]

Roll for sure. I use a 4" wide x length of the sail foot PVC tube, (made for septic systems so it's thin with lots of holes in it to reduce weight). This allows me to roll it up pretty fast on my own. Then I put in it an old J24 mainsail sleeve.

 

[torrid]

I fold mine at the top batten, then roll it along the leach to keep the battens straight as I roll it. For a sleeve, I like the ones from Intensity. You don't need to have the sail rolled super tight to get it to fit into the sleeve. Other brands I have found to be a much snugger fit, requiring you to roll the sail up very tightly.

 

[Rob B]

I fold mine at the top batten, then roll it along the leach to keep the battens straight as I roll it. For a sleeve, I like the ones from Intensity. You don't need to have the sail rolled super tight to get it to fit into the sleeve. Other brands I have found to be a much snugger fit, requiring you to roll the sail up very tightly.

For class legal sailing I find the J24 mainsail bag is large enough for me to roll 2 of my MKII sails together on the 4" pipe and still fit in the bag! This way I have my spare sail with me at every event and in one bag. If it's blowing the dog off the chain I use the older sail to preserve the newer one.