Whats the best way anyone found to pack a sail for a plane. Just taking 1 sail on a flight with connections. any advice appreciated,
When travelling with wave gear I just chuck it all in a quiver bag and strap it up so it's not flopping around. For sending sails on their own I go with making a simple 3 fold cardboard triangle cover. Prefer it over square as it's easier to make and you can squish it a bit tighter/smaller. Can leave the handle sticking out too.
Select to expand quotepeguin said..
Whats the best way anyone found to pack a sail for a plane. Just taking 1 sail on a flight with connections. any advice appreciated,
You will need the following items:
1 metre sheet corrugated cardboard
A few metres of clear polythene builders plastic
1 roll of Norton Duct tape
Roll the sail up tight as you can and tightly wrap round two layers of card and secure with a bit of tape. It doesn't matter if the ends of the sail stick out of the card. Place the sail in the bag and wrap the whole lot with 2-3 builder's plastic and tape up all the seams with the duct tape. Allow excess plastic at each end so you can bunch it up as a cushion. You have to use good quality tape. It will allow you to reseal if need be and wont come off in transit. Stay away from the Chinese stuff. Insert a printed luggage label under the plastic while you are at it. If you open the package carefully when at your destination you can reuse your packaging for the flight home.
1. If you're worried about battens breaking. remove battens and put them in a poly or cardboard tube.
2. Wrap sail up around the tube and tie tightly.
3. Put the sail in the sail bag
4. Hand it to the chick at the counter.
If you're not worried about battens step 3 & 4 only
I did a few trips with windsurf and surf. I usually roll my 2 or 3 sail in one if space in the boardbag is limited. I do protect nose, edge and nose (this is not a typo lol)of board, however I never had a sail dammage but windsurf or surf yes even with extra protection. When someone take your gear and from the top of the pile and drop it directly on the nose, you know in adance that dingstick will not be enough!! For just one sail i would tried to check-in as a suit case ad mentionned.
If you're concerned about damage you can always put it in a length of plastic plumbers pipe (heavy) or cardboard tube..
sails are fairly robust rolled, worst case is a bit of crinkle
you must be pretty wind confident in your sailing destination with 1 sail. 
cheers for all the advice. I've now packed 3 sails tight together and stuffed into a soft surf board bag. Nice and solid.
Sails going to Jespers for repair as had local repair here in Townsville do an attempt but crap. So as I'm heading back to work via perth, I'm taking it to someone i can trust to fix it. That's got to be an ad for Jesper's work eh. QLD to WA just for a sail repair..
Then i got to thinking as heading to Jespers I'll be passing 2nd wind so maybe i can trade a couple for sails in for a new shiny RRD sail to handle for the lighter winds in Queensland..
