Hi everyone,
I usually derig my sail on a sandy bit of dried up grass. Sail ends up going into the bag a little sandy and grubby. It is a camber sail and I try to make sure that nothing is getting into the pockets that might cause a problem. The other option is to derig on the road which no car use, I tried putting a crappy yoga mat under the boom to stop it getting scratched up, which worked, but the mat did not look to great at the end. The sail went in the bag clean and did not look like the road had any effect on it.
If you had the choice of sandy sail or maybe doing damage on a hard surface. Which would you choose?
Road is not hot but is not smooth either.

If the waters flat derig in water

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elmo said..
If the waters flat derig in water

...close to shore

The water is flat but lots of crud in the water. Would end up bringing home a good collection of seaweed. So I might be able to make some nori. Definitely close to the shore

Whenever possible, in the water.
Seaweed may be gross, but I would think it's less damaging than sand grinding its way. Plus, you would have to wait to at least have it dry.
Hose clean at home if you can.

I think the bitumen will be much worse for your sails than sand. Particularly the Dacron on batten pockets wears out from sharp, hard surfaces. Maybe depends on how smooth the road surface is. Yours sounds fairly rough if it destroys the yoga mat.
You could bring a 4m x 2m piece of shade cloth and put it down on either the road or the sandy grass. Hard wearing, easy to fold or roll up and doesn't blow away. Shade cloth has been permanently laid down at Coronation Beach as a rigging surface since the gravel road base there can be quite rough on booms and sails.

Used a hand held broom to brush off sand as I roll the sail after it's dried.

Asphalt is only a problem for the boom really and not over an area where we hold it anyway. I prefer over sand which can get in the pocket of the sail, the extension, mast halves, boom head, harness lines, etc.

Also, you can bring your own tarp.

Isn't the bitumen way too hot to put any body parts or plastic sail on? Or is it winter where you are?

I'm in the same boat as you. Sail goes in the bag a bit sandy but every few weeks I rig at home and wash down with soapy water.

At the moment I am living in Japan. Last week I headed out on a -2 day. Cold, really cold especially when you compare it to Cairns, where we were living before. I rigged up today and I was setting up a new (2nd hand) boom which took a little while to work out but by the time I got to the water the wind was up, well past what I was comfortable with (actually it was too strong when I arrived), I derigged at the dried out spot and noticed that nothing was really attached to the sail. Usually, I spend as much time on the water as possible and then only let the sail dry for a short time. I am just going to try to bring a big towel with me and see if I can get any of the excess water off before derigging and then use Manuel7 idea of the handheld broom. I do have some shade cloth here around the house and if plan A fails then I will give the shade cloth idea a try. Thanks very much for all the input.

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Henners said..
At the moment I am living in Japan. Last week I headed out on a -2 day. Cold, really cold especially when you compare it to Cairns, where we were living before. I rigged up today and I was setting up a new (2nd hand) boom which took a little while to work out but by the time I got to the water the wind was up, well past what I was comfortable with (actually it was too strong when I arrived), I derigged at the dried out spot and noticed that nothing was really attached to the sail. Usually, I spend as much time on the water as possible and then only let the sail dry for a short time. I am just going to try to bring a big towel with me and see if I can get any of the excess water off before derigging and then use Manuel7 idea of the handheld broom. I do have some shade cloth here around the house and if plan A fails then I will give the shade cloth idea a try. Thanks very much for all the input.

Make sure it's a soft brush..maybe a duster would be safer? ( no scratches).

Never worked out how to de rig in the water without loosing something

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Ben1973 said..
Never worked out how to de rig in the water without loosing something

It sounded like a dam good challenge but yeah I was thinking that I would have to tie the mast extension to my harness hook (the water gets a little murky here) stand on the boom or let it float to shore, and I think the mast pieces would also float to the shore as well whilst I was rolling up the sail. Sure it must be easier than that.

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sboardcrazy said..

Henners said..
At the moment I am living in Japan. Last week I headed out on a -2 day. Cold, really cold especially when you compare it to Cairns, where we were living before. I rigged up today and I was setting up a new (2nd hand) boom which took a little while to work out but by the time I got to the water the wind was up, well past what I was comfortable with (actually it was too strong when I arrived), I derigged at the dried out spot and noticed that nothing was really attached to the sail. Usually, I spend as much time on the water as possible and then only let the sail dry for a short time. I am just going to try to bring a big towel with me and see if I can get any of the excess water off before derigging and then use Manuel7 idea of the handheld broom. I do have some shade cloth here around the house and if plan A fails then I will give the shade cloth idea a try. Thanks very much for all the input.

Make sure it's a soft brush..maybe a duster would be safer? ( no scratches).

I saw one of the old blokes using something last week lat week. I will try to have a chat with him and see what he was using. But after he uses the hand broom so carefully, he then lays it down on the road and derigs so he might not be that reliable.

I wouldn't stress too much about a bit of sand on your sail. Many people routinely rig & de-rig on the beach in the dry sand. I choose the beach when the alternative is something with sharp or spiky bits. The real killers of sail cloth are UV light and creases. So if you avoid leaving your sail lying around in the sun and are careful not to crease it while rigging, de-rigging and storing, then your sail should last you a long time even if you regularly roll it up a bit wet and sandy.

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Ben1973 said..
Never worked out how to de rig in the water without loosing something

Yeah, well, this can be a real problem. There are ways of de-rigging and then carrying out all of the gear in one go, but I keep forgetting them. The worst moment I had was when I once carried out my boom and extension, went back and couldn't find my sail and mast . Having sailed until after sunset and not realizing there was a current meant a frantic search and rescue mission with everybody available involved. Alas, the rig was found. Cost me a couple of beers, though.

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holgs said..
I wouldn't stress too much about a bit of sand on your sail. Many people routinely rig & de-rig on the beach in the dry sand. I choose the beach when the alternative is something with sharp or spiky bits. The real killers of sail cloth are UV light and creases. So if you avoid leaving your sail lying around in the sun and are careful not to crease it while rigging, de-rigging and storing, then your sail should last you a long time even if you regularly roll it up a bit wet and sandy.

Holgs, you might be richt after all. I think I wasn't very precise on this. Avoiding unnecessary exposure to UV light has to be most important.
And yes, I used to de-rig on the sand rather then in the water. In hindsight, my sails lived long then, too. Still hate having the sand everywhere.
For all the bitumen riggers: can't you take a two step approcha? Rig on the bitumen and mount the boom free-handed somehow?

When I de-rig on a sandy area, sand sticks to the wet sail, so I was using a hand towel to brush it off as I rolled it up, but was too much a pain. Now when I de-rig on sand I then carry sail 10' to water and wash off and roll up at the same time. Then lay rolled up sail leaning on a tree root to drain while I pack everything else up.

Been shown by a mate whose sails last 15+years. Remove sail from water, wipe with a towel. Let it sit 5min then dismantle n put away.