Code Zero/Screecher Furling in Gale?

[Agility]

What is the best procedure to furl if a gale/squall slams us while the code zero is up?

Make sure halyard is tight for best furling.
Head about 140-150 deg downwind.
Let the sheets out as much as possible without too much flapping.
Consider buffeting the sail with the jib if needed.
(no main on my boat - just 2foils and 2jibs)
Furl with the electric winch on high speed.
Keep sheet as loose as possible balancing constant tension with flogging.
Turn into the winds 20-30 degrees to keep tension constant when nearing the last third of the furl.

If **** hits the fan, let sheets out max/completely and furl?

This general procedure doesn't work very well for us after about 15 knots apparent but it's the best procedure I've got. I typically have problems with our sail beginning to furl from the bottom up instead of evenly or top down. As a result we tend to have a lot of tension and a very tight furl at the bottom and loose above the sheets. This of course makes it prone to unfurling and we (especially my wife) would rather leave it out for a squall furled up safely with the continuous line furler secured instead of taking it down.

We have a 900 sq ft lightweight laminate, tight luff code zero/asymmetric/screecher, with an anti torque luff rope, attached to a continuous line furler, on a bowsprit and trimmed to the spinnaker blocks aft on the hulls of our Catamaran. Here's a picture: Gallery – agility @ sea

[JayH]

I've been caught in a squall with the Code Zero out and no main to blanket it. It was nearly impossible to get in and I shredded my hands in the process. I found that easing the sheets make it worse since the flogging caused the furler to slip. I swore not to fly the sail without the main again. Mine is 1100 sqft on a Colligo CN5 furler.

A fast electric winch may be the ticket, but without a main to blanket the zero I would be very cautious.

[Agility]

Agree on the flogging. I’ve read that a bungee/block on the continuous line might help with your issue. I have a “rough/sticky” line that seems to hold well even when a little loose. My last control line slipped like crazy even though it was the same size.

[JayH]

Yes, I almost edited to say that I thought that the slipping was more of a line problem than a furler problem. I should get a better line.

[TheOffice]

Love the Atlantic Cat. Friend has one.

There are few good options. Need to keep enough tension on the sheet that sail does not flog and furls evenly. Jib isn't going to do much good.

Other option is not to furl- head upwind (under motor) blow the halyard and gather in the sail on the tramp. Straighten it out /raise it when the wind dies.

[Agility]

Ok, but how do we easily gather a 900 sq ft sail on the trampoline in a gale?

[fxykty]

We have a 95% self tacking jib and if no main the combination of running deep and unfurling the jib is enough to take most of the pressure out of the gennaker.

But if you’re not running deep originally, why no main?

And surely you’re furling and/or dropping the sail before you’re in a gale?

In any case, what you do depends on the squall. If short duration and the seas aren’t crazy, run with it and use your boat speed to reduce your apparent. Ease the sheet so the sail is luffing but not flogging. Turn off the auto pilot and hand steer. Once the squall passes, head back to your course and reset the trim and autopilot.

If long duration or building wind, turn down wind and blanket with your jib. Get it furled any old way, then drop the halyard and gather the furled sail on the leeward trampoline. Lash it down and you’re set. It doesn’t matter if your furl is poor, as you’ve dropped the sail. This is the surest way to ensure it doesn’t unfurl.

I wouldn’t recommend heading upwind as that dramatically increases the apparent wind, which is the opposite of what you want if you want to preserve your sail.

[Agility]

Originally Posted by fxykty

We have a 95% self tacking jib and if no main the combination of running deep and unfurling the jib is enough to take most of the pressure out of the gennaker.

But if you’re not running deep originally, why no main?

And surely you’re furling and/or dropping the sail before you’re in a gale?

In any case, what you do depends on the squall. If short duration and the seas aren’t crazy, run with it and use your boat speed to reduce your apparent. Ease the sheet so the sail is luffing but not flogging. Turn off the auto pilot and hand steer. Once the squall passes, head back to your course and reset the trim and autopilot.

If long duration or building wind, turn down wind and blanket with your jib. Get it furled any old way, then drop the halyard and gather the furled sail on the leeward trampoline. Lash it down and you’re set. It doesn’t matter if your furl is poor, as you’ve dropped the sail. This is the surest way to ensure it doesn’t unfurl.

I wouldn’t recommend heading upwind as that dramatically increases the apparent wind, which is the opposite of what you want if you want to preserve your sail.

Agree with everything you say.
No main because I have no main, see original post.

One question I still have is whether I can safely run screecher at night during 10-15 knots true sailing 5-8 knots nearly dead down wind with jib out vanged flat upwind side and survive a squal with wife on watch. I know, bad idea but crossing Atlantic maybe some times it’s worth the risk?

Thanks.

[fxykty]

Originally Posted by Agility

Agree with everything you say.
No main because I have no main, see original post.

One question I still have is whether I can safely run screecher at night during 10-15 knots true sailing 5-8 knots nearly dead down wind with jib out vanged flat upwind side and survive a squal with wife on watch. I know, bad idea but crossing Atlantic maybe some times it’s worth the risk?

Thanks.

My apologies, I didn’t notice your rig details. With your rig can’t you wing and wing your two jibs? Or is that not enough sail area?

“Safely” is a relative term. If you’re in an area that doesn’t have lots of big squalls at night AND you’re able to furl the screecher when there’s too much wind (30 knots say) then it’s probably OK. If you have radar, use it to identify squalls and furl the screecher in advance.

Can you run your screecher with the mizzen (is that the right term for the aft mast when both are the same height?) jib, so you have the forward jib available to partially blanket the screecher?

Or is a parasail/wingaker a better option? What do folks do flying one of those when a squall comes through?

[Agility]

Originally Posted by fxykty

My apologies, I didn’t notice your rig details. With your rig can’t you wing and wing your two jibs? Or is that not enough sail area?

Wing and wing both jibs works but over about 130-140 degrees it gets slow hence the screecher. Wing and wing with forward jib and screecher works pretty well dead down wind. We are crossing the Atlantic so a lot of ddw.

The mastfoils aren’t too large and produce most lift/power when there is laminar flow over the wing. Perpendicular to the wind they help but don’t overpower until about 35–40 knots and then I typically feather into the wind.

[arsenelupiga]

I have 76m2 laminate screecher, furling, and working on retrieval method when singlehandling.

in order for your wife to collect it, one needs to winch and release sheet at the same time.

I use my 4 winches and make 1 circle on each one in series. So end of rope is very easy to control and feed. If too tight, remove 1 circle etc.

then feed the winching.

I collected screecher manually (without winch), in up to 15 kn true so far with no issues with that method. sheet needs to be long enough for this to work.

90m2 is a bit more I guess and will be bit harder.

[AZUS]

Good question -

My wife and I crossed the Atlantic last May in our Antares 44i.

Our practice at night was always to shorten sail/change to a more conservative sail. It was often awfully tempting, when we were streaming along swiftly with our Code 0 (my favorite sail!) flying, to just keep the ride going.

However, seven or eight hours, especially when short-handed on night watches, is a particularly long time to assume things are going to stay the same. Also, no matter the moon phase, I never felt like I understood the seas, my sails, or the wind conditions as well at night.

So, we'd always furl the Code 0 at the start of the night watch, and roll out the genoa. If the wind was gusty, or if it was particularly potent, we'd often start the night with one, or even 2 reefs in the genoa (same with mainsail). We would lose a knot or so of speed, but over the course of the night that would only put us about 8-10nm behind where we'd otherwise be (assuming all had otherwise stayed perfect overnight). We still did routine 175-180nm days, and one over 200nm.

Over the 16 days from Bermuda to Horta, this practice probably added 3/4 of a sea-day at the very most, but we never felt at risk for a moment, and we skirted a gale to the north of us, experiencing 17ft (mostly) following waves and 38kt winds for several days.

[SailFastTri]

Every multihull owner should know:
1 reef early
2 reef for the gusts
3 don’t leave the screacher up if it’s furled and you’re not planning to use it again soon.
4 Never use a screacher or spinnaker overnight on passage

The only exceptions to the above is racing boats in a race with experienced race crew that are funded by people who don’t mind writing BIG checks.

[Sailorbob8599]

Originally Posted by SailFastTri

Every multihull owner should know:
1 reef early
2 reef for the gusts
3 don’t leave the screacher up if it’s furled and you’re not planning to use it again soon.
4 Never use a screacher or spinnaker overnight on passage

The only exceptions to the above is racing boats in a race with experienced race crew that are funded by people who don’t mind writing BIG checks.

Excellent advice Sailfast; my personal thoughts on reducing sail is to do it just as soon as the thought enters my head.
Early on in my sailing days I ignored the thought a couple of times until it was almost too late but after a couple of scares, I made it my policy to act right away. My decision has always served me well. After a number of years it becomes intuitive by feel of the wind & waves.

[Agility]

Originally Posted by SailFastTri

Every multihull owner should know:
1 reef early
2 reef for the gusts
3 don’t leave the screacher up if it’s furled and you’re not planning to use it again soon.
4 Never use a screacher or spinnaker overnight on passage

The only exceptions to the above is racing boats in a race with experienced race crew that are funded by people who don’t mind writing BIG checks.

Of course this is prudent advice in general but there is always a judgement call. We make about 2-3 knots (vmg) more speed with the code 0 AND we can sail ddw instead of cracking off 30 degrees so we sleep a lot better and have a smother ride. In 10 Kts of wind we’ll do about 7 ddw vs 4.5 without the code zero. We can get 6 kts sailing at 120 apparent more or less. We have a great radar that can see squals pretty well. Also, I can curl it by myself from the safety of our forward cockpit without doing any nighttime deck work. Having said all that, I’ve never flow it all night but my tactic is to keep it up in those conditions until midnight when go off shift.

As for never leaving the code 0 up furled I don’t agree. As long as we can get a decent furl AND we put our soft shackle into the furler mechanism to lock it I don’t see any harm in keeping it out overnight even in squals.