Tranona
Well-known member
Was out today trying out my new mainsail - third time out but first with a decent bit of wind.
My one big regret when I specced the boat was drawing the line at the outrageous extra price for upgraded sails with no option to take without sails with a price reduction. The jib was OK, particularly after recutting with a hollow in the luff, but the in mast main never set well and got increasingly baggy. Despite a recut to take some belly out it still lacked drive and over the last couple of years has stretched quite a lot resulting in greater leeway. You could see it stretching as wind speed increased.
So new sail time and getting ones head around all the options. The ultimate seems to be battens, either short ones to hold the luff up, or full length which enables some roach, but is very expensive as it means a more expensive cloth before adding the cost of the batten. When I went for quotes, there was some concern about whether there was room in the mast section for a battened sail when furled - a common criticism of battens is that they can make furling more difficult. Easy, then to not pursue that avenue.
The next decision was what sort of cloth. There is a bewildering variety available so I aimed at getting quotes for comparison based on a "basic" dacron and a "high performance" cloth. Inevitably quotes did not all fall into those 2 neat categories, particularly for the better cloths. I got 5 quotes, 3 from UK one from Thailand and one from China. It was the last 2 that gave a wider choice of cloths, whereas all 3 UK quoted a basic cloth and Vectron. To my surprise the 2 far east quotes were much the same as the UK for basic and way more expensive for Vectron, but did offer alternative "better" cloths closer in price to UK Vectron. The 3 UK prices were very similar, but one offered very quick delivery and as I had been satisfied with all the previous sails I had from them stuck with the familiar. Delivered and fitted as promised just over 2 weeks ago.
Was it worth it? Of course. First, glad I did not go with battens as the sail is a very tight fit in the mast. To help the leech hold up there is a spectra rope sewn into the leech which does help. However, trim is a lot more critical to firm up the leech and keep the telltales flying. One of the downsides of the boat is no traveller. The mainsheet comes down to a strong point at the front of the cockpit table which is handy for the helm rather than the usual old Bavaria traveller on the coachroof and mainsheet inaccessible from the helm. So all you can do is haul in or out. I have never bothered with the vang with the old sail because it made no difference, but guess might be worth trying. Flattening the sail with the outhaul when the wind got up into the teens certainly helped with helm balance. Hopefully will get a couple more days out before the weather closes in and a chance to learn a bit more.
My one big regret when I specced the boat was drawing the line at the outrageous extra price for upgraded sails with no option to take without sails with a price reduction. The jib was OK, particularly after recutting with a hollow in the luff, but the in mast main never set well and got increasingly baggy. Despite a recut to take some belly out it still lacked drive and over the last couple of years has stretched quite a lot resulting in greater leeway. You could see it stretching as wind speed increased.
So new sail time and getting ones head around all the options. The ultimate seems to be battens, either short ones to hold the luff up, or full length which enables some roach, but is very expensive as it means a more expensive cloth before adding the cost of the batten. When I went for quotes, there was some concern about whether there was room in the mast section for a battened sail when furled - a common criticism of battens is that they can make furling more difficult. Easy, then to not pursue that avenue.
The next decision was what sort of cloth. There is a bewildering variety available so I aimed at getting quotes for comparison based on a "basic" dacron and a "high performance" cloth. Inevitably quotes did not all fall into those 2 neat categories, particularly for the better cloths. I got 5 quotes, 3 from UK one from Thailand and one from China. It was the last 2 that gave a wider choice of cloths, whereas all 3 UK quoted a basic cloth and Vectron. To my surprise the 2 far east quotes were much the same as the UK for basic and way more expensive for Vectron, but did offer alternative "better" cloths closer in price to UK Vectron. The 3 UK prices were very similar, but one offered very quick delivery and as I had been satisfied with all the previous sails I had from them stuck with the familiar. Delivered and fitted as promised just over 2 weeks ago.
Was it worth it? Of course. First, glad I did not go with battens as the sail is a very tight fit in the mast. To help the leech hold up there is a spectra rope sewn into the leech which does help. However, trim is a lot more critical to firm up the leech and keep the telltales flying. One of the downsides of the boat is no traveller. The mainsheet comes down to a strong point at the front of the cockpit table which is handy for the helm rather than the usual old Bavaria traveller on the coachroof and mainsheet inaccessible from the helm. So all you can do is haul in or out. I have never bothered with the vang with the old sail because it made no difference, but guess might be worth trying. Flattening the sail with the outhaul when the wind got up into the teens certainly helped with helm balance. Hopefully will get a couple more days out before the weather closes in and a chance to learn a bit more.
