Hanks or Furler (was Headsail construction)

Allen wrote about the advantages of hanks over furlers. I hope the list members will forgive me for this commercial interjection, but there is an intermediate choice that offers some of the best features of both. Kiwi Slides sew onto the luff of your sail, like hanks, but ride in the foil slot of your furler. You can furl the sail, but it also means when you drop that big sail in too much wind, the luff stays in control on the deck (rather than have the long luff tape blowing free with just the head and tack secured). If you have a foil with two slots, you can "hank on" one sail while another is still set, making sail changes much faster. These were imported by long-time Cal List guru Brian Cleverly, and I took over from him a couple of years ago; like the razor guy, I was so impressed by the products that I jumped at the chance when Brian decided to focus his efforts on fixing up his personal boat in preparation to heading out to sea. I will be happy to answer questions off-list, or you can check out www.desktopwings.com for more information. Thanks, Alfred Alfred Poor 1973 Tartan 34C #288 "Jambalaya" (Former owner of 1969 Cal 29 #132 "Pentaquod")

I have some experience with this furler. Since I live in Santa Barbara and a blue water cruising boat was stopped here for repairs, I was asked to accept delivery on this new furler and offered to take it from my home to the harbor for installation. The owner was pleased with it and I took a close look at it and was impressed with the build and features. Later, I had the opportunity to sail with the Reef-Rite on Per Curtiss' Cal 31. It performed as well as it looked. I was bummed that I had just finished Mariposa's first refit and had a brand new Harken Furler installed. I would have definitely bought the Rig-Rite. I had an Easy-Furl unit installed on my boat when I bought it. It was too lightly built (under-sized bearings) to have lasted as long as it did, but it also had the captive slug instead of a luff-rope and I didn't realize what a great feature that was until I replaced it with the Harken. My next furler will be a Reef-Rite. Wilkie On Jul 13, 2009, at 7:05 AM, Alfred Poor wrote: > > > > Allen wrote about the advantages of hanks over furlers. I hope the > list members will forgive me for this commercial interjection, but > there is an intermediate choice that offers some of the best > features of both. Kiwi Slides sew onto the luff of your sail, like > hanks, but ride in the foil slot of your furler. You can furl the > sail, but it also means when you drop that big sail in too much > wind, the luff stays in control on the deck (rather than have the > long luff tape blowing free with just the head and tack secured). If > you have a foil with two slots, you can “hank on” one sail while > another is still set, making sail changes much faster. These were > imported by long-time Cal List guru Brian Cleverly, and I took over > from him a couple of years ago; like the razor guy, I was so > impressed by the products that I jumped at the chance when Brian > decided to focus his efforts on fixing up his personal boat in > preparation to heading out to sea. I will be happy to answer > questions off-list, or you can check out www.desktopwings.com for > more information. > > > > Thanks, > > > > Alfred > > > > > > Alfred Poor > > 1973 Tartan 34C #288 “Jambalaya” > > (Former owner of 1969 Cal 29 #132 “Pentaquod”) > > > > >