Furling refers to stowing or dousing a boat's
sail
A sail is a tensile structure—which is made from fabric or other membrane materials—that uses wind power to propel sailing craft, including sailing ships, sailboats, windsurfers, ice boats, and even sail-powered land vehicles. Sails ma ...
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.
Furling is not synonymous with ''dousing'' (dropping) or
reefing (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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