Jammed Genoa - Not the Furling Line

[shehant]

Sheepish question here -- was sailing in a lot of wind last weekend and had a bad tack, jamming my furler line.  Ultimately got that unjammed, but in the process, a portion of the sail (~2-3 vertical ft of sail midway up the mast) wrapped itself backwards around the furler and is now bound up that way.

I can't get it unbound from the ground, so planning to head up the mast to get some leverage on the jam, but wanted to see if anyone had ever encountered this before or had any tips? Hoping some soapy water will lubricate it and get it unstuck.

[Noah]

I am a bit confused at your predicament, but I assume you tried to release the furling line and pull the sheets out, thus setting the sail in your slip?

[waughoo]

I am with Noah here.  It seems lime unfurling it entirely at the slip with minimal wind should resolve any problem with the way the sail wrapped around the foil.

[Jim Hardesty]

I'm with Noah and Waughoo.  Try furling at the dock, moving the sheet forward or aft may help, keep the furling line loose.  I suspect the sail is wrapped one way and the furling line the other.  May try turning the drum/foil what ever way the sail is wrapped to get it all out then deal with the furling line.  Don't see that much can be done from a bosuns chair.  If you can't get it unfurled at the dock, try sailing the wind may help.  Just don't force it too much, think it would jam it more, possibly do some damage.
I'd like to add a bit of roller furling 101.  Avoid too many turns on the drum.  When I furl Shamrock have 3 turns of the sheets around the furled sail and no line left on the drum.  When unfurling I let out the sail slowly keeping a little tension on the furling line. 
Hope that helps,
Jim

[mark_53]

I'm with Jim. Think of it as a fishing reel, if you let out with your thumb on the reel, it will tangle.

[Jim Fitch]

Hi Shehant -

The only dumb question is the one you don't ask.  I haven't tried this myself but someone once told someone I know to take the boat out on the water, bring the sheets forward so you can wrap them around the mast and then drive the boat in circles letting the change in wind direction unfold the sail.  I think this advice was to take pressure off to unwind a bound up furler like you experienced but maybe something like that would unfold your sail.

I'm not sure I understand exactly what's going on but are you sure your swivel bearings aren't jammed up and that's what's stopping the sail?  Or maybe one of the "bearing" inserts in the tube dropped down, keeping the bottom swivel from turning?  Both those things have happened to me with my old furler.

Jim

[High Current]

I'm not sure I understand exactly what's going on but are you sure your swivel bearings aren't jammed up and that's what's stopping the sail?  Or maybe one of the "bearing" inserts in the tube dropped down, keeping the bottom swivel from turning?  Both those things have happened to me with my old furler.

Jim

Good point.  I've also had the furler get tangled with a halyard, which only let it unwind so far.  From the diagram it seems as if the sail should still unwind, except maybe if there's a lot of tension on the sheets such that the folded over part can't slide because the outer wrap is holding it tightly.  Maybe manually turning the drum e.g. with a second furler line wound the opposite direction would help.

[KWKloeber]

@Shehant

I have had this happen and resolved it by manually back-unwrapping the genny.  I removed the sheets and used a short line to control the clew while I unwrapped.  I  have done it on a calm day in the slip.  And by the Admiral very slowly heading to weather so the sail wouldn't flap around.  Or by ducking in behind a grain elevator (in Buffalo Harbor) where the wind was blocked to a minimum.