Hurt back raising mast

RyanLee

New Member
I bought my first sailboat in May (a Pico, now added a Laser Radial), and have raised and lowered the mast each time I sailed, about 25 times.

On Friday, as I was raising the mast on the laser, I hurt my back. I ended up rolling the sail around the raised mast, and tying with the cunningham as I could not take the mast back down.

Despite some moderate wind over the weekend, the laser did not move back and forth too much (it is tied to my lakeside dock in the bow and stern), so now I am thinking of leaving the mast on all the time, with the sail rolled around it.

Are there any downsides to this?

Thanks
Ryan
 
The sun will degrade the sail cloth in a few years. If you use the Intensity $130 sail and replace it every 4 years it will be fine.
 
The sun will degrade the sail cloth in a few years. If you use the Intensity $130 sail and replace it every 4 years it will be fine.

Thanks, my back is worth more than that.

Just curious, any downside to leaving the daggerboard and the rudder (both in the 'up' position) in the boat? I assume the sheets dont degrade with sun?
 
The white composite boards should weather fine. Wooden Sunfish daggers will cup so bad they won't fit in the slot ever again. Of course we only get 6 weeks of Summer here and then it's Winter again where I live. Florida might be different.
 
UV radiation does no good to fabrics. If you roll a Laser sail around the mast and leave it in the sun for a prolonged time, the exposed leech will get discoloured, which is probably irreversible. Likewise, if you leave ropes outside, their colours will fade, and they'll look ancient sooner than you'd think.
I live at 60° N, and have had a few bad experiences with this. If I were in Miami, I wouldn't leave much stuff outside uncovered.

If it's the classic foam-and-wire ("Crompton") foils that you have, they aren't affected much by sunlight, but extreme heat may cause interesting things. No problems with actual composite blades (2010 and later).

_
 
Thanks Eddie and LaLi, they are wooden folis, so I will bring these in. Likewise with the ropes.

I will leave the sail on the mast until my back is 100% better, and then always have a helper when I raise/lower the mast.

I guess this is a benefit of the Sunfish, the mast raising seems much easier.
 

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