Question on sail furling as it pertains to the position of the blocks.

[3DShipWright]

Hey Folks,

 

So I was wondering if someone can help educate me on how sails come to be neatly furled atop the yard, given that:

 

1. The Buntline blocks rest in front of the yards and the Buntlines themselves fall in front of the sail to where they are tied at the foot of the sail.

2. The Clewline and Clewline block rest behind the yard.

 

Basically, the Buntlines and Clewlines seem to want to fold the sail in opposite directions, which to me seems very non-conducive to a clean fold/roll of the sail cloth... What am I missing?

 

Thx in advance,

-Nate

 

PS - please ignore the problem with the stirrup/horse protruding through the sail (I have yet to fix this)

 

Figure 1. Buntlines

 

 

Figure 2. Clewlines (and tackline at the sheet block)

[popeye2sea]

The bulk of the sail is pulled up in front of the yard by the hands. Each "grab" is accordion pleated on top of the yard. The bundled sail is then inserted into the last fold to form a sort of tight skin over all.  The clews of the sail never actually go into the bundle and hang down beneath.

 

Regards,

Henry

[rwiederrich]

3D....I tackled the issue by noting that the bunt line blocks are movable on the jackstay and can be rotated to the back of the stay and thus the furled sail.  The sail then can be tightly furled with the blocks nicely stowed behind it.   I wanted my Glory of the Seas to mimic actual practice.  ON the yard not in front of it.

 

Check out my log for Glory of the Seas to see what I did to answer the call.

 

Good luck.

 

 

Rob

[Snug Harbor Johnny]

  I wanted to do a test with a piece of paper in roughly the proportion of a clipper's upper top sail bent (taped) to a piece of brass tubing representing a yard.  Yes, the clew lines pulls the corners of the sail up the back side - as the buntlines pull the lower edge of the sail up the front.  In real life, a canvas sail is REALLY thin in proportion to the yards and overall clipper dimensions - so my paper test was still well 'out of scale', but suitable for an Origami test to see if a sail can be folded so the clews hang below a furled sail as 'mouse ears' (or dog ears).

 

  There are photos of this test in Bruma's CS log on page 8 - so no need to re-post those pictures here.  The concept is that sailors were standing on the foot ropes behind the yard (the bunt blocks flipped to the back of the yard as Rob noted) and after the above mentioned raising of the lower edge both behind and in front of the yard, there will be natural 'fold lines' that the canvas finds.  The crew in unison bend over the yard to grab the front of the sail an arms length below the mast, then pull it up and just over the top of the yard (as they lean back - both hand have a purchase on the sail, so there is little danger of falling).  Then they lean forward to 'pinch' that fold of sail to the yard with their bodies, so they can lean forward again to grab another bunch.

 

  Photos of clippers with furled sails atop the yards show how compact real sails become.  Canvas that is 1/32" thick (about .030) would only be .0003" (three ten-thousandth of an inch !) at 1:100 scale (which I use for 1:96 since the math is easier and it's 'close enough').  My sheet of paper was .005" - 16 times thicker than it were 'in scale' !

 

  Anyway, I finally ended up with a compact folded 'sail' atop the yard - so to reduce the 'bunching', I cut out a piece (shown in the series of photos) and re-folded on the pre-existing fold lines, added grommeting rope, and - shazaam - I got exactly the look ... realizing that there are several ways this can look as different pictures of furled sails do show variation in application.

 

  I wanted to do a test with a piece of paper in roughly the proportion of a clipper's upper top sail bent (taped) to a piece of brass tubing representing a yard.  Yes, the clew lines pulls the corners of the sail up the back side - as the buntlines pull the lower edge of the sail up the front.  In real life, a canvas sail is REALLY thin in proportion to the yards and overall clipper dimensions - so my paper test was still well 'out of scale', but suitable for an Origami test to see if a sail can be folded so the clews hang below a furled sail as 'mouse ears' (or dog ears).

 

  There are photos of this test in Bruma's CS log on page 8 - so no need to re-post those pictures here.  The concept is that sailors were standing on the foot ropes behind the yard (the bunt blocks flipped to the back of the yard as Rob noted) and after the above mentioned raising of the lower edge both behind and in front of the yard, there will be natural 'fold lines' that the canvas finds.  The crew in unison bend over the yard to grab the front of the sail an arms length below the mast, then pull it up and just over the top of the yard (as they lean back - both hands have a purchase on the sail, so there is little danger of falling).  Then they lean forward to 'pinch' that fold of sail to the yard with their bodies, so they can reach down again to grab another bunch (single thickness of canvas - not both).

 

  Photos of clippers with furled sails atop the yards show how compact real sails become.  Canvas that is 1/32" thick (about .030) would only be .0003" (three ten-thousandth of an inch !) at 1:100 scale (which I use for 1:96 since the math is easier and it's 'close enough').  My sheet of paper was .005" - 16 times thicker than it were 'in scale' !

 

  Anyway, I finally ended up with a compact folded 'sail' atop the yard - so to reduce the 'bunching', I cut out a piece (shown in the series of photos) and re-folded on the pre-existing fold lines, added grommeting rope, and - shazaam - I got exactly the look ... realizing that there are several ways this can look as different pictures of furled sails do show variation in application.

 

  The last photo in the series is shown below:

  Once grommets have been removed (and the clew lines un-belayed), crew on deck give a tug on the sheets and the sail will practically set itself as it 'falls off the yard' and unfolds by aid of gravity.  As I always say, "Work smarter, not harder."