Cheap Asian sail lofts

Sea Change

Sea Change

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In the market for a new main. We're in the Caribbean so local options are limited, and the quotes I've had are eye watering.

So far, South East Asia Sails have been prompt in their responses and the quote is very reasonable. I'm dealing with a Robert Tasker who I presume is related to Roly Tasker? Anybody have any experience with these guys?

A few other names have come up- Zoom, Lee, Far East, Direct Sails, none of whom have responded with a quote yet.

Any first hand experience with these lofts?
 
Sea Change said:
In the market for a new main. We're in the Caribbean so local options are limited, and the quotes I've had are eye watering.

So far, South East Asia Sails have been prompt in their responses and the quote is very reasonable. I'm dealing with a Robert Tasker who I presume is related to Roly Tasker? Anybody have any experience with these guys?

A few other names have come up- Zoom, Lee, Far East, Direct Sails, none of whom have responded with a quote yet.

Any first hand experience with these lofts?
Click to expand...
I bought a new mainsail from Far East sails a few years ago and my experience was excellent.
The sail was very well made with a few nice details. the pricing was very good for the spec I wanted, and the sail was made and delivered quite quickly.
I did take great care in measuring the actual rig, (and then remeasuring several more times just to be sure!) and I think this really paid off.
I would be happy to buy from them again.
Right now, I am toying with adding a new Cruising chute/Asymmetric spinnaker/Code zero and I have been talking to Direct Sails, they are offering very sharp pricing and an extra 30% off right now.
Roly Tasker are well known around the world and operate from a base I think in western Thailand, they exhibited at SBS this year so we'll probably see more of them in the UK in the future.
 
skipper021 said:
I bought a new mainsail from Far East sails a few years ago and my experience was excellent.
The sail was very well made with a few nice details. the pricing was very good for the spec I wanted, and the sail was made and delivered quite quickly.
I did take great care in measuring the actual rig, (and then remeasuring several more times just to be sure!) and I think this really paid off.
I would be happy to buy from them again.
Right now, I am toying with adding a new Cruising chute/Asymmetric spinnaker/Code zero and I have been talking to Direct Sails, they are offering very sharp pricing and an extra 30% off right now.
Roly Tasker are well known around the world and operate from a base I think in western Thailand, they exhibited at SBS this year so we'll probably see more of them in the UK in the future
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What have you found to be the best way to contact these companies? SEA Sails web form resulted in a quick response, but I've not had any response from the others and it's been nearly a week now.
 
Precision sails seem to sponsor a lot of you YouTube channels and - as far as I can tell from the telly, their sails look OK. Possibly worth a quote

However if you’re looking for sails, does that mean you’ve given a new lease of life to your Moody?
 
Best looking sails I’ve seen via You Tube are the ones by Zoom on Follow the Boat. Send a message to Demonboy who is Jamie of FTB fame.

PS. Never really liked the look of Precision’s sails. Obvs this may be different if you saw them in real life.
 
I've sailed on a couple of boats with Roly Tasker sails. The ones I have seen seem to be built for longevity and though not new had held a decent shape. This was on a Frers 60 and a Swan 47. Fittings and finishing were of high quality.
 
Daydream believer said:
Hyde are a British company with their own loft in the Phillippines. May short circuit the delivery process & get a top quality sail
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These days I regard them as a Far East company with a British office. A very far cry from the heyday of Musto and Hyde when Mustos were the go-to loft for many dinghy classes. These days they're mostly seen in dinghy classes where they are the sole supplier of sails such as Firefly, Squib (yes I know it's not a dinghy but they operate a single sail supplier rule) and the various RS classes. Most UK dinghy sailors, given the choice, are choosing to spend their money on UK-manufactured sails (caveat: I don't know where North make their dinghy sails).
 
Aja said:
I've sailed on a couple of boats with Roly Tasker sails. The ones I have seen seem to be built for longevity...
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We bought a genoa from Roly Tasker for exactly that reason; we ordered it online while still in the Caribbean, getting it posted to a friends place on the US east coast for collection. That was in 2014 and when we sold the boat in NZ in 2020 it was still in good shape without even a broken thread to be seen; so I would recommend their wares.
 
Puffin10032 said:
These days I regard them as a Far East company with a British office. A very far cry from the heyday of Musto and Hyde when Mustos were the go-to loft for many dinghy classes. These days they're mostly seen in dinghy classes where they are the sole supplier of sails such as Firefly, Squib (yes I know it's not a dinghy but they operate a single sail supplier rule) and the various RS classes. Most UK dinghy sailors, given the choice, are choosing to spend their money on UK-manufactured sails (caveat: I don't know where North make their dinghy sails).
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My cruiser sails are Hyde & I have 3 mains,3 jibs & a cruising chute by them. All excellent.
This year they were on the Clipper fleet again. They have a big cruiser customer base.
Just because they make the sails in a far east factory does not stop them being British owned company.

They badge sails for other sail suppliers
I have been told that North franchise their dinghy sail manufacture to other sailmakers. I have had North dinghy sails & they were rubbish.

But in any event, The OP was looking for an asian supplier & I made a suggestion. Everything else is somewhat irrelevant to the post
 
Daydream believer said:
Do they? Some of my Squib sails are Lonton & Gray as well as Hyde. It is the cloth that is governed. Not the sail supplier.
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You're absolutely correct (can I blame old age?). I've just looked at the current rules and they allow a maximum of 5 sailmakers each of whom must be approved by the RYA.
 
Sea Change said:
In the market for a new main. We're in the Caribbean so local options are limited, and the quotes I've had are eye watering.

So far, South East Asia Sails have been prompt in their responses and the quote is very reasonable. I'm dealing with a Robert Tasker who I presume is related to Roly Tasker? Anybody have any experience with these guys?

A few other names have come up- Zoom, Lee, Far East, Direct Sails, none of whom have responded with a quote yet.

Any first hand experience with these lofts?
Click to expand...
I'm a bit out f date.... North Sails were good, UK Sails were also good, Lee sails have been in business for decades. Neil Pryde were excellent. Most HK sails are made in China - nothing wrong with that - property is expensive in HK, sail lofts are big.

Jonathan
 
So I've got a few quotes back now. Zoom are looking like the runway favourite, with the lowest cost, fastest lead time, and some glowing reviews (including @demonboy who has had many years of tropical sailing out of his).
I had high hopes for Direct Sails but they seem to trot out a generic quote ignoring the spec I requested... they do give the figures to add on the extra reefs etc that I asked for, but I'm not sure why they do it this way.

I'm waiting on a price for Hydranet from Zoom, I'm expecting it to blow the budget but I'm curious, as I've heard such good things about it.

Any comments about choice of sailcloth? We're probably not going to go for the absolute cheapest, we'll be putting several thousand miles on this sail under tropical sun.
 
Sea Change said:
So I've got a few quotes back now. Zoom are looking like the runway favourite, with the lowest cost, fastest lead time, and some glowing reviews (including @demonboy who has had many years of tropical sailing out of his).
I had high hopes for Direct Sails but they seem to trot out a generic quote ignoring the spec I requested... they do give the figures to add on the extra reefs etc that I asked for, but I'm not sure why they do it this way.

I'm waiting on a price for Hydranet from Zoom, I'm expecting it to blow the budget but I'm curious, as I've heard such good things about it.

Any comments about choice of sailcloth? We're probably not going to go for the absolute cheapest, we'll be putting several thousand miles on this sail under tropical sun.
Click to expand...
Hydranet is a hybrid of polyester with added dyneema, worth asking for a price on Vectron which is also a hybrid but with added Vectran for stability and longer life. I have had 2 sails made from Vectran, one main and one genoa and it lives up to its claims in terms of stability and low stretch for the main and life for the genoa.
 
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