JEANNEAU SAILS

[sidon]

I HAVE A JEANNEAU S.O. 37 (2001) AND HAVE RECENTLY DONE A COUPLE OF CLUB RACES AND REALLY ENJOYED THEM. I AM THINKING OF BUYING A NEW MAIN & GENOA, AS THE MAIN IS POOR SETTING AND THE GENNY TOO FULL FOR WINDWARD LEGS. MY PROBLEM IS I DONT WHICH SAIL MANUFACTURER TO GO WITH OR WHICH TYPE TO HAVE (ie DACRON CROSS CUT OR LAMINATE RADIAL CUT). I WILL STILL BE DOING A LOT OF CRUISING SO THEREFORE, NEED A FURLING GENNY AND SINGLE LINE REEFING. I WOULD BE VERY GRATEFUL FOR ANY ADVICE. (P.S. BUDJET APPROX £5000.00 INC V.A.T.

 

[Jeremy_W]

If your main's in that bad a state after one season's cruising I'd go back to the original sailmaker and ask them to sort it out. There could be something like mast rake or bend that needs to be looked at before buying a new main. As for a furling genoa, they never set particularly well - the best of a bad bunch I've seen was by Mouse Sails, Anglesey - and are far too baggy when half-furled.

But be brutally honest with yourself before spending any money on new sails - are you a bad workman blaming your tools? As a child sailing Mirror dinghies I spent years absolutely convinced that a suit of new sails (some years it was Holt Power, sometimes Banks, Mustos must have been in there at times - today it would be Trident or Goacher) would blast me from the back of the fleet to the front. With a bit of hindsight my starting was poor, tactics weak and we were slow at tacking and weak at spinnaker hoists and drops! No suit of sails ever made can compensate for those sort of faults. Sorting out those basic errors would have put us up into the mid-fleet and then replacing the 7/8 year old Jeckells sails would have made a real difference.

Are you sailing around with a ton of water and a ton of tinned food on board? Do you serve tea and scones mid-race?

By the way, posting entirely in capitals is considered the equivalent of shouting and is bad form.

Regards,
Jeremy

 

[oldsaltoz]

G’day Sidon,
Welcome to YBW.com. The advice provided by Jeremy_W is very sound, I agree that your first step should be to see the manufacturer of your one season old sail and see what they will do for you.
If you plan to do more cruising than racing then go for a cruising set up and let the club handicapper look after you; look for a yacht that is performing about the same as yours, the same make and length if possible, then use them and their performance as a measure of whether you are improving or falling behind.
Important points for good performance are, regular crew who know and understand what their responsibilities are, equipment that works and gets regular maintenance. Good navigation and tactics the latter should be reviewed several times to comply with changes. No shouting on board, remove any and all equipment that will not be required during a race, and I mean everything; weight is your worst enemy but one of the easiest to control, so get the pots and pans off along with the canned rations, use the crews weight to your best advantage. Take enough water in the form of ice and reduce fuel tank levels and so on. Line Honours are fantastic but very expensive.
I started sailing at age 6, I’m now close to 60, still learning and still very competitive and winning trophies. Aint this sailing a fantastic sport, name another you can achieve this in (tiddlywinks not included). No doubt, others will provide you (and me) with some more positive comments.

Soavagoodweekend Old Salt Oz……

 

[Kathryn]

Try speaking to John Pollard at Westaway sails (email JPXECLNT@aol.com) Very helpful but is a bit slow in replying at times.