Some nice ideas listed above, every yacht is different though, my preferred option is to drop the anchor and do it while parked.

My yacht is a bolt rope main and hanked on jib with tiller to steer. With no guard railing if I drop the jib it goes in the water, and the main is always sticky so needs a pull from the bottom, unfortunately I need to be hands on. Tried the down haul lines (main gets stuck) or heaving (jib is too small) to but has never worked nicely for me.

So my preferred option is to sail into irons in some nice sandy shallow water, ease the sheets, drop the anchor, and then pull the sails down by hand but not stored away in case I have engine troubles and need to raise them again quickly (happened a few more times than I would like to admit), I then start the engine, pull up the anchor and motor into port.

Well, Andrew's book is a kind of bible, recommended to all!

I see your point on the bolt rope and hanked jib. (I bet my bottom dollar, you struggle with piston hanks?)

Using auto pilot to keep boat in the wind after jib is furled it takes less than a minute to drop and secure the fully battened main with ockies to be flaked later. No bolt ropes here. Doing it so in all kind of weather for years.
I do like sailing in 20+ weather and in those conditions it is necessary to have all phases of each action worked out beforehand. While l gybe the pole on the fore deck and the boat is healing ten degrees doing 6-8 knots, one does not have time to work out the next move. It all must be a continuous flowing movement step by step fast and efficient. One eye on the water ahead, one hand for the boat one for myself.
A bit of racing and being a deck-monkey helps to learn to survive.

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sirgallivant said..
Well, Andrew's book is a kind of bible, recommended to all!

I see your point on the bolt rope and hanked jib. (I bet my bottom dollar, you struggle with piston hanks?)

Using auto pilot to keep boat in the wind after jib is furled it takes less than a minute to drop and secure the fully battened main with ockies to be flaked later. No bolt ropes here. Doing it so in all kind of weather for years.
I do like sailing in 20+ weather and in those conditions it is necessary to have all phases of each action worked out beforehand. While l gybe the pole on the fore deck and the boat is healing ten degrees doing 6-8 knots, one does not have time to work out the next move. It all must be a continuous flowing movement step by step fast and efficient. One eye on the water ahead, one hand for the boat one for myself.
A bit of racing and being a deck-monkey helps to learn to survive.

They are indeed piston hanks.
On other yachts I have used auto-pilot into the wind worked a treat, unfortunately this yacht does not have it, instead I use the sheet to tiller method balanced against jelly rubbers.

Get an auto pilot!
And Wichard hanks!

Both of them worth their weight in whatever you think most precious.

Jelly rubber is good, cut up truck inner tubes are much better!

How do you remove the old hanks? Grind them off?

This video will explain hank removal.
Not so sure about reusing them.
Seems a bit risky to say the least.
Gary

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valo said..
Hi All.
I sail single handed quite often.
I have no autopilot.
What is the best way to lower my sails when I want to motor back to my mooring?
I have tried motoring into the wind. However the boat always turns before I can get them down.
Currently I let the headsail off, motor into the mooring directly into the wind with the main sheeted in tight. Works fine in light winds. Bit tougher in heavier winds.
I have an Endeavour 26.
Thanks.

Practice on your mooring on a windy day . how easy will the main lower.

Got caught out in heavy wind by myself the other day , easy enough with furling jib , then just pointed into the wind and lowered
main from cockpit and sail fell straight into bag , so easy with lasyjacks.

After reading the op and replies I decided the time and difficulty I was I was experiencing raising or lowering my main was excessive. The boat is 31ft and new to me 4 years ago when all rigging was renewed but generally needed work at the mast. Changing from 10mm yacht rope to 8mm spectra provided a fantastic improvement. Raising can be easily achieved from the cockpit in half a minute and lowering into lazyjacks about 2 seconds.
Thanks to everyone who contributed to the thread.