Furling refers to stowing or dousing a boat's
sail by flaking (folding), packing (like stuffing a
spinnaker
A spinnaker is a sail designed specifically for sailing off the wind on courses between a reach (wind at 90° to the course) to downwind (course in the same direction as the wind). Spinnakers are constructed of lightweight fabric, usually n ...
into a bag), or stowing it in part or whole using
roller furling
Roller furling is a method of furling (i.e. reefing) a yacht's staysail by rolling the sail around a stay. Roller furling is typically used for foresails such as jibs or genoas.
A mainsail may also be furled by a similar system, whereby the ...
.
Furling is not synonymous with ''dousing'' (dropping) or
reefing
Reefing reduces the area of a sail, usually by folding or rolling one edge of the canvas in on itself and attaching the unused portion to a spar or a stay, as the primary measure to preserve a sailing vessel's stability in strong winds. Restoring ...
(reducing the exposed area of) a sail, but modern technologies such as roller furling are altering the term's traditional use.
Sailing rigs and rigging
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