Even when we try, the cordage seems to find ways to end up into a mess in no time flat.

Above, the mainsheet when I don’t manage the coiling of it while hauling in one of the tails. When the gaff foresail is up, the 4:1 purchase of the peak and throat halyard mean that we have a couple hundred feet of 1/2″ line to stash somewhere. Rather than leaving the lines on the pin rack on the foredeck, the easy way for use to manage the lines (in case of needing to drop the sail quickly) is to bring them back to cleats on the outside of the cockpit combing; ah, then we have two very large bundles of line to deal with. Here, I’ve coiled one into a series of figure 8 coils that feed nicely while we’re taking down the sail and the other in a simple coil that is easy to move around the cockpit but doesn’t quite so easily pay out when we’re taking down sail.