Several readers have asked how to best protect the exposed part of headsails when they are roller furled.
The traditional answer to this problem is to sew a strip of UV-resistant Sunbrella along the leach and foot. But I have an abiding hate, going back over 40 years to when I was a sailmaker, for this solution. Here is why, along with some better ideas: UV Protection For Roller Furling Sails
by John Harries
Several readers have asked how to best protect the exposed part of headsails when they are roller furled.
The traditional answer to this problem is to sew a strip of UV-resistant Sunbrella along the leach and foot. But I have an abiding hate, going back over 40 years to when I was a sailmaker, for this solution. Here is why, along with some better ideas:
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John was born and brought up in Bermuda and started sailing as a child, racing locally and offshore before turning to cruising. He has sailed over 100,000 miles, most of it on his McCurdy & Rhodes 56, Morgan's Cloud, including eight ocean races to Bermuda, culminating in winning his class twice in the Newport Bermuda Race. He has skippered a series of voyages in the North Atlantic, the majority of which have been to the high latitudes. John has been helping others go voyaging by sharing his experience for twenty years, first in yachting magazines and, for the last 18 years, as co-editor/publisher of AAC.