I am in the last stages of purchasing a new Catalina 400mkII. The only remaining issue is furling main or standard. The boat will either be in Charleston SC or Oriental NC. 99% of my sailing will be coastal cruising, shorthanded or fairly inexperienced crew. I’ve chartered for 25 years but this is my 1st owned boat and I’ve never used a furling main. Your advice please
Hi Bill, The choice between an in-mast furling mainsail and a conventional slab reefing mainsail comes down to sail handling convenience vs. sailing performance. An in-mast furling mainsail is significantly smaller and the rig is larger and heavier, so the boat will sail more slowly. However, rolling the sail in and out of the mast is pretty effortless and for many boat owners the tradeoff in performance makes sense. Regards, Dan Neri
Posted by admin (November 30, 1999)
