NEW SAILS

Inachos486

Inachos486

Member
Joined
21 Sep 2009
Messages
35
Location
Ware HERTS
www.sailawayyachtholidays.com
Can I get some advice please on buying a set new sails.
My partner and I spend six months a year on our Feeling 486 in Greece (Ionian). She is currently in Cleopatra Yard (Preveza) and this next season I must have a new set of sails. It will be easy to have sails made in the Uk and shipped out but I just wondered if anyone has any experience of buying in Greece and how you faired. Lefcas Town Marina have a sailmaker, has anyone used them? Cheers:).
 
Can't comment on your local sails but when in a similar position in France we looked at the local French offer, the UK (Gowen, who'd made the previous one) and Lee Sails in HK. For the Lee price we could have bought two new mains from them and still been (just ahead). So we bought the Lee ones and been satisfied with it. You do have to do some measuring and photos but they're very helpful and it all makes sense in the end. They sent us the wrong stakapak and replaced it free of charge.

They're at leesails.com and when we did the job in 2007 the main contact was Helen Fung. No connection except a happy customer.
 
Can't comment on the sailmaker in Lefkas, but DL in Athens made the sails on my Bavaria 37 - very good, but this is a afirly undemanding boat.

However, as there are so many choices of materials, cuts and finishes, plus the fact that sails are a big investment, suggest you do some research on the options available. Then you can gets quotes from a number of sailmakers against your requirements. There is very good information available to help you understand the options on the websites of the major sailmakers.

There are benefits in having the sailmaker close to your boat so that he can measure up , discuss your requirements in detail and then fit the sails on completion. However, if the boat is a standard production model you should be able to replicate much of this process following the measuring instructions from the sailmaker.
 
Had a set of sails from DK very reasonable priced.but not IMo that good . I am told that they use a lot of cut off material from the amount of sails they make for Kiricoulis yachting. They made a stack pack and bimini which were very good.

Have had a new Geneo and main made by Quantum Greece cost 6500euro. Very good quality, boat makes hull speed 8.6kts in as little as 15kts wind speed.
 
Inachos486 said:
Can I get some advice please on buying a set new sails.
My partner and I spend six months a year on our Feeling 486 in Greece (Ionian). She is currently in Cleopatra Yard (Preveza) and this next season I must have a new set of sails. It will be easy to have sails made in the Uk and shipped out but I just wondered if anyone has any experience of buying in Greece and how you faired. Lefcas Town Marina have a sailmaker, has anyone used them? Cheers:).
Click to expand...

We are looking into new sails as well and wondering which country is best to buy from (boat currently in Turkey). Have to dsagree with Tranona here - the only sails I don't want go have are DL sails. The set looks wrong to me on the ones we have seen and the only furling mainsails I have seen jammed have been DL sails. They don't seem to have the foot right.

Don't want to cause offence to Tranona who seems happy with his, it's just that having a furling main I have been put off DL.

Cheers,

Bob
 
bob234 said:
Don't want to cause offence to Tranona who seems happy with his, it's just that having a furling main I have been put off DL.

Cheers,

Bob
Click to expand...

It is the furling main I am most pleased with compared to the original Bavaria one. The sails were bought by Kiriacoulis as part of my contract with them, so did not have any direct dealings.
 
Tranona said:
It is the furling main I am most pleased with compared to the original Bavaria one. The sails were bought by Kiriacoulis as part of my contract with them, so did not have any direct dealings.
Click to expand...

That's interesting. Mine is a Bavaria too although I have been very happy with the Elvstrom furling main.

Glad you are pleased with yours. Perhaps I will give them another look.

Cheers,

Bob
 
Roaring Girl said:
Can't comment on your local sails but when in a similar position in France we looked at the local French offer, the UK (Gowen, who'd made the previous one) and Lee Sails in HK. For the Lee price we could have bought two new mains from them and still been (just ahead). So we bought the Lee ones and been satisfied with it. You do have to do some measuring and photos but they're very helpful and it all makes sense in the end. They sent us the wrong stakapak and replaced it free of charge.

They're at leesails.com and when we did the job in 2007 the main contact was Helen Fung. No connection except a happy customer.
Click to expand...
Thanks for your input, never considered HK but will have a look. Heard mixed views on Chineese made sails but I assume yours are still fine and doing a good job.
Chers
Paul
 
Sails from Hong Kong

We got our sails delivered in Phuket - Company called Far East Sails in Hong Kong - sails very impressive - they gave me some pretty good service - The prices are good but you have to measure your boat. If you get a local sail loft they will also come out and measure but where I travel there is not a loft.
 
Quantum (Corfu)

rtboss1 said:
Had a set of sails from DK very reasonable priced.but not IMo that good . I am told that they use a lot of cut off material from the amount of sails they make for Kiricoulis yachting. They made a stack pack and bimini which were very good.

Have had a new Geneo and main made by Quantum Greece cost 6500euro. Very good quality, boat makes hull speed 8.6kts in as little as 15kts wind speed.
Click to expand...

I'm looking for a new gennie, and have been sniffing around the various sailmakers, both in the UK and in Greece for a while now,and I've plummed for Quantum.
I am friends with the familly who run the ex Elvstrom sailmakers in Kontokalli, just outside Gouvia Marina, who are the local agents for Quantum and I've used their services for years.

So, although I know how good they are, I'll soon be able to report on how good Quantum really are.
 
We've just had a new set made by Crusader in Poole. I went round the sailmakers here in Gouvia and by internet to a stack of UK companies. The Greek makers were all well over the top in terms of cost compared to UK - even when shipping costs were taken into account - in the region of 20% more than UK. Their prices were all very close to one another for similar materials.....

UK companies were much more varied in their pricing. In the end, we went with Crusader, as they were offering a good winter discount, would invoice us before 4 Jan (to beat the VAT rise) and were therefore considerably cheaper (like about £600 less than the next up). The sails have now been finished and delivered to our UK address; I'll report back on how they work out in due course.
 
Still happy with our sails!

We asked the local French loft (we were in Port Napoleon at the time) to come and measure, which he did, and we told him we wanted the measurements and would pay for his time if we didn't commission sails from him. But when we tried to do just that he got v grumpy and wouldn't give us the measurements (or take money for his time!).

So we combined the info Gowen helpfully gave us from when they made the previous sail, and did our measurements ourselves and actually it worked out fine though I think the leech could be slightly fuller.
 
Another vote for Crusader

I had new main and genoa made by Crusader in Poole before we sailed our Feeling 346 to Lefkas 5 years ago. I was very happy with the price and service at the time and I've been happy with the sails since. If I were in the market again Id be tempted to buy from Crusader again and then and ship out. That said we had a really good bimini made by the sailmaker in Kontokali (Gouvia). Dont know what his sails are like but seemed like a good setup and I would also be tempted to investigate that option.
 
What do you do with the old sails. Do you ship them home to UK or what.

I bought a boat in Gouvia once and it had two old mains three or four old headsails aboard. I could hardly move around the boat so I chucked all the old ones on the quay ready for the skip. Next morning I couldn't face dumping them so I put them all back aboard again.
 
Kemp

Generally speaking Greece seems to be similar to Mallorca in terms of value for money. The sails made here are OK but always more expensive for the equivalent.

We always deal with Kemp in Poole. They use the same loft and work force as Hood. The only difference being you don´t get the "blue" badge which comes at an extra cost. Kemp however are excellent value, and I have 2 Hydranet sails on my own boat made by Kemp and they´re great. I know they make them in house in Poole - so you´re not getting any "winky-wonky" stuff coming in from China.
 
Personaly i have my own sailmaker whom i wouldn't change even if the chinese would give them for free.Now Quandum - they make excellent sails according to the international standard of the company and they have a garranty that covers most of the world.DL i would stay away from them roumor has it that they buy all left over materials from other companies and their sails strech after a couple of seasons so they're no good.Kemp and crusader i've seen lots of boats that they bring them along from England and they seem to fit fine.I prefer to have my sails done here also because it's easier to make contact in person with them and you get things for free like the main sail cover which came for free plus a tip about where to get new halliards for half the price.I mean it's never just the sails but then again you vote with your pocket.
 
I am currently in Turkey and must buy new sails. Did you get your sails out of Turkey? if so who did you go with and what were your experiences?
 
My Hanse 430 will arrive in Preveza about 20th May and I have just fitted a new Chinese made jib. You are welcome to take a look and see what you think. I did the measurements and emailed to a sail designer in Canada who did the computer plot then emailed to China factory. The sail sets well and is battened, which removes the issue of the fluttering leach which we always got on the original Hood sails.
 
I said earlier that I'd come back on this thread and say how the new Crusader sails were. Crusader were late delivering them so they paid to frieght them out to me here in Gouvia. The sails are fine, they fit well and enable Rampage to get much better upwind perfomrance than the old, somewhat knackered set. Apart from the slightly late delivery, which Crusader resolved at their expense, I'm very happy with the sails and the really good price I paid for them - they were over €1200 cheaper than the lowest quote from the local sailmakers here in Gouvia.
 
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