The genoa furler is stiff or jams

A genoa furler should turn almost effortlessly: a few pulls on the furling line by hand, a little tension on the sheet, and the sail is away. When you need the winch to furl, or when everything stops halfway, it is nearly always a simple problem — a badly laid furling line on the drum, a block that rubs — but sometimes it is the halyard wrapping itself around the forestay, and then you must not insist. This guide helps you find the cause step by step, without damaging anything. Your furler manufacturer’s manual always has the last word.

1. What you notice

• Furling gets stiff, a little more each time, and you have to finish on the winch.
• It jams solid halfway, furling or unfurling.
• The furling line is stuck on the drum, its turns riding over each other.
• The drum turns but the top of the sail does not follow: the sail rolls up like a corkscrew, tight at the bottom and open at the top.
• The sail will not unfurl, or unrolls by itself at anchor in a strong wind.
• A rubbing noise or a hard spot, on every turn, always in the same place.

2. Safety first

At sea, do not force it with the winch. A winch multiplies your effort enough to break whatever is resisting: the swivel, the aluminium foil around the forestay, the sail, or the strands of the forestay itself if the halyard has wrapped around it. And the forestay holds up the mast. If furling becomes stiff, stop, ease the sheet a little and go and look: the drum first, then the top of the sail.

To get the sail in when the furler refuses to cooperate, there are two options, depending on the sea and the crew:

• Roll it by hand by turning the boat. Under engine, at low speed, steer the boat in circles in the direction that wraps the sail around the forestay; the sheet, held by hand, wraps with it. Finish by lashing the rolled sail with the sheet or with sail ties. Before putting the engine in gear, check that no line is trailing in the water: a sheet in the propeller would add one breakdown to another.
• Lower it. Only if the halyard is not wrapped around the forestay, and in a manageable sea: bear away so that the mainsail blankets the genoa, harness clipped on and lifejacket worn, one crew member on the halyard, one or two at the foot of the forestay to gather the sail as it comes down and tie it on deck. The cloth coming out of the foil groove flogs hard: never let it go over the side.

Nobody goes up the mast at sea to free a swivel, except in an emergency and with the necessary equipment and experience.

3. Likely causes, from most to least common

• Riding turns of the furling line on the drum — its turns overlap and jam. This is the most common cause: the sail was unfurled without holding back the furling line, the turns were laid loosely, and they cross on the next furl. A drum that is too full (furling line too long) or almost empty when the sail is unfurled gives the same result.
• The furling line rubs along the way — a turning block seized by salt, a line touching a stanchion or the pulpit, an angle of arrival on the drum that makes it climb or drop, a worn and swollen line that forces through the blocks.
• Too much or too little tension on the sheet — sheet too tight and furling is hard; sheet let go and the sail rolls up loose and bulky, and the roll ends up jamming.
• Halyard wrap — the genoa halyard winds itself around the forestay above the top swivel. It happens when the halyard leaves the mast too parallel to the forestay (no angle where it exits the mast, no halyard restrainer) or when the swivel sits too low because the sail is shorter than the forestay with no pennant to raise it. Typical sign: the drum turns, the top does not follow. This is the most dangerous cause: the halyard can crush or cut strands of the forestay.
• A seized top swivel — its bearings, loaded with salt or dust, no longer turn freely: the top of the sail brakes the whole furl.
• The drum bearings — the same thing at the bottom: salt, sand, corrosion. The drum turns stiffly even without the sail.
• A sail that rubs or is badly set — a UV strip catching on a spreader, a halyard not tensioned enough (the sail wrinkles along the luff and rolls badly), another halyard caught around the foil.
• Forestay tension or the foil — a forestay that is too slack bends under the sail and the foil turns in an arc; a foil bent after an impact, a joint between two foil sections coming apart. Rarer, but to be inspected.

4. What you can safely check yourself

Preferably in harbour, in light wind, in this order:

• The drum: are the turns of the line crossed or laid askew? Unfurl the sail completely while holding back the line, then furl it keeping a little tension on the sheet: the turns should lie flat, side by side.
• The turns left on the drum when the sail is fully unfurled: there should be a few (the manual says how many). If none are left, or if the drum overflows when the sail is furled, the length of the line needs revising.
• The path of the furling line, from the cockpit to the drum: every block turns by hand, the line touches neither stanchion nor pulpit, and it arrives on the drum along the axis given in the manual.
• The top of the sail, sail hoisted, with binoculars: the halyard should leave the mast at a clear angle away from the forestay, and the swivel should be near the top of the foil. If the halyard runs alongside the forestay, note it: that is an adjustment for a rigger.
• The top swivel, sail lowered (it comes down with the halyard on most furlers): it should turn by hand, with no hard spot. Rinse it with fresh water; only grease or oil it if the manual says so, as some bearings cannot take it.
• The drum turning empty, sail lowered: if it turns stiffly, rinse it thoroughly with fresh water and try again; if it stays stiff, it is the bearings.
• The sail: signs of wear or chafe on the UV strip, wrinkles along the luff (halyard too slack), stitching coming undone.
• The forestay and the foil, seen from the foot of the mast: the foil should be straight and its joints firmly in place.

5. When to stop and call a professional

As soon as the halyard has wrapped around the forestay, even once: the forestay must be checked along its whole length, and the halyard angle or the swivel height corrected. Likewise if the foil is bent or split, if the swivel or the drum stays stiff after rinsing, or if the forestay tension needs adjusting — it affects the whole tuning of the mast. Any work at the masthead, and any dismantling of the foil, is a job for a rigger. Before calling, note what you saw: where it jams, in which direction, since when.

6. Keeping it from coming back

• Always furl with a little tension on the sheet, and unfurl while holding back the furling line.
• Rinse the drum and swivel with fresh water regularly, and at every winterisation.
• Have the rig — forestay, turnbuckles, furler — checked at recommissioning, and every time you change genoa (swivel height, halyard angle).
• At anchor or on the pontoon, leave the sail tightly rolled, with two or three turns of sheet around it, so it cannot unroll in a gust.
• Have a sail loft check the sail when the UV strip wears — see how to choose a sail loft.

Record every job in the Hullteam log: what was done, the parts changed, the date. That is what will give the boat its value at resale — see which proof really counts.