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The Contessa Corner → General Questions/Comments → head sail bag
When I was in Florida sailing, our club used a bag that one stored the head sail in when at dock. They called it a Yankee Bag. The bag was connected to the headstay at the bow. Kind of like a main sail cover but a bag. It was nice not to have to take down sail and store inside tha cabin. Anyone heard of this type of sail bag and where one might find one for sale?
jklee
I believe Sailrite offers plans and a kit to make one of these jib bags.
When at anchor, I often stuff the headsail in its bag while the sail is still hanked on and then use the halyard to lift the bag off the deck. This keeps the sail contained and gives enough room to still work the anchor tackle.
I've see such bags in use before, either roomy sail bags or "sausage bags" as we called them in the early '80s. There was a time when you could buy them, but I haven't gone looking for one lately to know if they're still out there. One minor warning: If you leave a headsail hanked on all the time without covering the luff completely, the rope up the luff (if you have a rope luff) will shrink. That makes for a lousy set of the headsail because the luff line is now 18" shorter than the sail! You end up with ghastly horizontal folds in the sail that won't pull out no matter how hard you pull on the haliard. I just had to repair my #3 that had that problem. If you intend to use a headsail cover in a long term application, make sure it goes right around the sail, hanks and all. If you have a sail that has those symptoms, the repair is not difficult if you do your own minor sail repairs - just open up the sail near the head, add line as needed (I whip and stitch), then sew it back up again. Voila.
oh ya, you asked where they could be got...I saw them most in the '80s on racing boats like Kirbys and J24s etc. They were made by sail makers like Ulmer Kolius (UK Sails now), Hood - lofts that made racing sails. If they don't make them any more, try badgering someone with one of those boats to see if they have one they want to be rid of.
We used one from West Marine, which worked fine. On the Alberg 29, we've got a sailrite kit that we're going to build this week.
I know its not quite furling, but when you're head-to-wind, dropping the jib is so simple. The bag give (me) 80% of the primary functionality of furling (sail storage) at 5% of the cost.
I used one on my old Allmand 31 for many years. They work well. I got mine at West Marine or you could go to your local sail maker. I believe Sailrite also has a kit you can get if you're handy.
JKLee
There is a new bag, as you describe, in your hanging locker.....
Ed Jackman
I have to be honest, I haven't had a chance to build the bag yet. Life intervened, but I'm hoping to get it done shortly.
The quality of the materials and design are superb, I'd highly recommend the kit even though I haven't built it yet. As for the West bag, I don't remember which size it was. It was also a good quality product though, and I am happy to recommend that too.
Furling would be nice, but the bag seems to do virtually all of what I really need. We rarely change headsails here, so being able to keep the sail hanked on is really nice. Also frees up valuable locker space, particularly nice since I'm considering living on the boat for the summer.
I have the West Marine and I got the medium headsail bag and it handled the 110 sail (hopefully my new 135 this summer) I have. It worked just great and it was nice not to have to unhank the sail at the end of the day when it is all wet as there is a mesh bottom of the bag for the sail to drain. jklee
The Contessa Corner → General Questions/Comments → head sail bag
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