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Main and jib; stuffing the new sails into the hull after sailing caused some wrinkles - I hope they'll even out over time

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Comment by kim whitmyre on September 5, 2011 at 9:38am: I see you are out enjoying yourself. . .Unless you have the space to roll them up, they get wrinkled! ;~) Best way to "unwrinkle" them is sailing in a good blow!

Comment by Wolf on September 5, 2011 at 10:40am: Yes, I think you're right. Maybe a good blow and some spray and the wrinkles get ironed out ;-)

Comment by boatsmith on September 5, 2011 at 11:12am: Mind you my perspective is tainted by racing for many years. I hate wadding up sails. It is perhaps my main complaint about the luff pocket wing sails. A very nice feature of a roller furling jib is that the sail rolls up neatly when not in use. Think of your sails as plastic milk bottles. The more often they are flexed back and forth the faster the degradation. The harder the crease the more damage. Dacron sailcloth sized by forcing resin into the weave under considerable pressure. This sizing helps to minimize stretch as the woven fibers try and straighten out under load. As the fabric is flexed the sizing grip on the fibers is broken down and the sail will lose its ability to hold its shape. When we stow a racing main we double the sail head to foot and roll it up from the middle to the foot. Then we slide the sail bag (condom) over the roll and put the sail below decks.This is not very prectical for cruising. You can however neatly flake a sail over a boom. Sailrite uses a different fabric on their luff pocket sail kits to allow the sail to scrunch up and not wrinkle the sail as much. Just some thoughts.
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Comment by Wolf on September 6, 2011 at 1:41am: Thanks, Boatsmith, for your sound advice. Although I'm not into racing, I want my sails to last as long as possible. In fact, last time I was stowing my mainsail in a similar way you described.

Unfortunately the sails take up too much berth space. So, as soon as I get my sailcovers, they will have to stay on deck.

Comment by Ricardo Aráoz on September 24, 2012 at 1:22pm: Ok, so the luff pocket will wrinkle your main. But OTOH there is no boom. What about folding the main sail (don't lower it) against the mast and then pull up a "sock" with the spinnaker halyard engulfing both the mast and the main sail so as to hold the sail tight to the mast and protect it. In the few cases when you want to reduce windage you can always lower the sail as usual. Might work.