OK to store rigged windsurfing sails?

[Piotr]

Is it OK to store windsurfing sails rigged on the mast and boom instead of rolled in the bag? Any recommendations what to pay attention to when doing that?

Piotr

[Tom L]

I used to store mine rigged for the whole season. My carbon masts did develop a very slight memory, which came out after awhile. I think un-rigged would be better in the long run, but the convenience factor may win out. I still have some NP V8's that were rigged every season for years. The mylar weathers better than the Dacron. Mine were outside but protected from the elements for the most part. I'd do it.

[SteveJ]

It might help to reduce the outhaul and downhaul pressure until you were ready to sail. I wish I could leave my stuff rigged and ready at the beach.

[chanrider]

Jibber in South Padre leaves his rental sails all on the mast and stacks them on a home made flat bed trailer without the boom. Pretty slick.

David Ezzy has some pretty good rigging videos out on YouTube. Every season I have to remind myself how to rig the darn downhaul!

UNDER the sail pulley closest to the mast
UNDER the extension pulley closet to the cleat
OVER the sail pulley away from the mast
OVER the remaining extension pulley away from the cleat
UNDER the remaining center sail pulley and through the cleat

This technique makes for a very clean downhaul, here's the vid...

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kK0K5NbxBvE[/youtube]

[Piotr]

Sorry for the delayed response, but I wanted to thank all who responded to my question, also those who responded to my personal e-mail address. Following your advice I had started storing the sails with reduced outhaul and downhaul which helped a lot. When was not doing that, I noticed my sails loosing some shape. I tried also reducing batten tension, but that seemed to be too much fuss to adjust it each time I was getting to the water (I have not been doing it when I was putting my sails away in the sail bags).

So anyway, thanks a lot for the responses. This forum is a great resource because of people like you.

Piotr