I have to see how the sail is attached to the stackpack … I saw several zippers when out sailing yesterday but it was not clear that unzipping them would remove the sail from the stackpack. I suppose once all the battens are out Ican roll the whole thing up together. I guess I will find out next week
And, thanks for all your advice!
Dave DeWolfe
NS25C #150 Ascension
Marriotts Cove NS
Before the boat is hauled out, I remove the sail. I typically unfasten the sail at the back then let the sail off at the front, releasing the pins on the tide track, it slides down fast. Then I fold it while in the cradle lines (that’s the tough part and it would be easier if I unclipped the cradle lines but I can’t reach them all)-folding it and getting it off the boat onto a cart is the only part I need help with, otherwise the sail comes off easily. I have a sail cover so don’t have to deal with removing the stack pack. Then over to dry grass, fold, stuff it into the bag and done for the season. I’ve never taken the wishbone down to do this and think that it would get in the way.
I am not tall, ok, I am short, but it’s really not a big deal. Reverse steps to put it back in the spring.
Just got the mast and wishbone off with experienced help, that wishbone is huge on land!
Dorothy
Cathartic. Nonsuch 30
ABYC Toronto
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Dorothy sums up sail removal pretty much the way I do it. Detach both ends and roll it into a more or less handleable ball and get it to somewhere safe to fold properly. Dropping the boom is another whole ball of wax, dropping it with sail attached sounds like a recipe for disaster. I do drop the boom onto saw horses but only after I have cleared the deck of anything that I might trip over and again, I do it while the boat is in the water. That way it’s not far to fall if I should be dumb enough slip.
Alan Steward
30C. # 144 MagnifiCat
Loyalist Cove Marina,
Bath, Ontario
I removed the sail and bagged it the other day at the mooring. Yesterday there was space at the boatyard’s face dock. So I was able to drop the bagged sail and take off the generator. Since I’m doing this myself one of best tools I’ve found to help is a COSCO hand cart. Once the sail is on the dock and put on the cart it’s just a matter of waiting for high tide so the gangway to the parking lot has the least angle to push the cart up it. I always try to “work smarter not harder”. 
Mike
BIANKA
1986 30U
Long Island
Brian Cayer -
First, congrats on your nice, new BIG boat. I am glad that you are not boat-less anymore.
Maybe I’m wrong but, based on your remarks, I don’t think that you’ve owned a Nonsuch previously. Thus, I’ll base my remarks on that supposition. Overwhelmingly, I am certain that the VAST majority of us Nonsuchers remove the sails from their boats when the boat is still in the water. THEN (and ONLY then), with the boat STILL in the water, do they drop the boom. In the spring, the reverse occurs, first the boom and last, the sail, ONCE the boat is in the water. Removing the sail and dropping the boom have, sincerely, nothing to do with each other.
This “ladder business” that you seem to be (understandably) intimidated by is a big nothing IF done absolutely safely. The ladder is used ONCE the sail is removed in order to drop the boom. Yes, it does entail leaning a ladder up against your mast. It should not be done on a rainy day (for lots of reasons like comfort, safety, etc.). It should not be done on a windy day (especially if the boat is on a mooring). It simply should be done a reasonably calm, dry day.
You lean the ladder against the mast. The top of the ladder should be, maybe, a foot higher than where the boom “intersects” the mast. The foot of the ladder sits ON the cabin top. On my NS 22, it sat butted against the roof hatch and on a piece of foam yoga mat material so as not to scratch the deck AND be more slip resistant. BUT, here is the kicker: That ladder must be tied to the mast at the bottom with a length of line to prevent it slipping further aft (and falling down). It, then, must be tied at the top of the ladder to the mast. NOW, it’s solid as a rock. It will oscillate with the boat and will be safe to climb.
The other way to get at the boom hanger lines to undo them, etc. and drop the boom is with a bosuns chair (ugh … and you better have lots of halyards - one to attach to the boom to lower it and TWO for the bosuns chair). This is a great way to get a SERIOUSLY sore and aching lower back, abrade your thighs, wrench your shoulders, etc.
Or … if you must, once the boat is on the hard, use a CHERRY PICKER with a bucket, very carefully.
Remember, there are many ways to skin a cat, remove a sail, drop the boom, etc. but there is only one “safest” way and, likely, that would be the way that 95% of us do it. No one plans to have a grisly and terrible accident but, as we know they happen. In this case, going up on a ladder on the top of a boat that is on top of a cradle makes me think of this:
Or worse …
I have attached a drawing of a ladder in “action”, tied to the mast.
To close, new and different ideas are essential (to any endeavour) but, with boats (as well as many other things) there is a huge potential for bad, bad stuff to occur. Better to end up bruised, wet and in the drink than dead on the ground. As the disgraced boxer Mike Tyson used to intone “Everyone has a plan until they get punched in the jaw”. Think that plan through very carefully and imagine what kinds of accidents could (and just may) occur.
All the best with your new boat.
Ernie A. in Toronto
Dorothy: Install “sister” clips on your cradle lines so that you can disconnect them easily and without effort.
Joe Valinoti
S/V iL Gatto NS30U #221
Sea Harbour YC
Oriental, NC USA
Get somebody to help you take down the sail. Bring it to a flat area (like a big room in a clubhouse, or a lawn), remove the battens, fold the sail, place it in a bag, and either bring it home or to a sailmaker if it needs work/cleaning. Don’t leave it where mice can get into the sail bag and eat the sail.
Joe Carroll, Madaket, Nonsuch 30 #56
Place some Bounce laundry sheets around the sail bag, not on it. No mice activity. Bob Horne, 1989 N26C #249, ENCORE, Pocasset, MA.
Thanks Joe,
Got them, it’s my height that is the issue!
Dorothy
Nonsuch 30 Cathartic
ABYC Toronto
Doing it on the hard complicates things a lot!
2 person job.
1.Remove the battens.
2.Tie up the sail with several sail ties ( 4 ) Then tie the sail ties to each to each other and the head board of the sail. You want to stay in place and not slip upwards in step 3
3.Wrap the halyard around the front of the sail and hoist it up , when practical swing the sail over the boom from the end and lower to the ground, dock.
Don’t rush, slow works best.
Carry to a dry clean place to fold and bag, 3 people make carrying the thing easier, it weights about 60 lbs buy it is awkward.
If you have a Doyle StackPack, I believe the stackpPack is sewn to the sail. Even if they are two separate items, here is how I might get them off the boat while the boat is ashore.
Thanks to all for your input on my idea of removing the sail on the hard. I will probably take the safer path of removing it at the slip. Ward Woodruff’s idea of using the halyard would work at the slip as well as on the hard I think as long as the halyard is long enough to lower it to the ground.
Brian Cayer
SV Spirit~Wind N30U #419
Deep River CT
Please disregard the misspelling of Spirit in previous posts
Place them low so you can reach them, Dorothy.
Joe Valinoti
S/V iL Gatto NS30U #221
Sea Harbour YC
Oriental, NC USA
Here is a quick video of disconnecting a Sister Clip aka Brummel Hook Joe mentioned. Makes taking down my Sailrite Sail Pack cover an easy process.
https://youtu.be/3OmuZW54Oxo
Mike
BIANKA
1986 30U
Long Island
I’ve a 22. My approach has been to detach the clew, drop the sail while removing battens and letting tides system slugs drop out of mast. I used Joe’s suggestion years ago and installed sister clips on the cradle lines to allow the sail to drop to the deck. Anyhow, I then re-hoist the sail and with a buddy, we roll the sail along the foot. When done it looks like a sloppy rug with a body inside! One guy takes the foot and walks it towards the stern while the other lowers the head.. Now have that “rolled rug” on deck which we can carry off without squeezing through dock poles. On land we unroll the rug and flake for bagging/storage. Never fun but easier with practice.
John
TOURMALINE
1984 NS 22
Bolles Harbor, Lake Erie, MI