Racing sail conversion to cruising

[scrambledegg]

When I bought my boat four years ago I inherited some racing sails with it. One of these is a Genoa in very nice condition made of racing laminate. I've only used this sail on a couple of occasions because I haven't entered any races and I know that keeping it furled up on the forestay is sure to wreck it quickly. Nor do I have the crew power/motivation to hoist it/lower it every trip.
What I wonder is if it can be fitted with sacrificial UV strips and luff strips to turn it into a cruising sail. I know I can talk to a sail maker about this idea but I would like to hear from anybody who may have done this and their experiences.

 

[Lightwave395]

I did exactly that with a kevlar No2 headsail, but the cost of the UV strip was £300 (15M luff) and used for cruising the sail didn't last too long. You'll obviously be aware that the racing sail will furl but not reef, although you can leave it up...
Being a glutton for punishment I had the remaining No1 recut but without UV strip (another£300) so as to fit my furler and made sure I took it down after sailing. I concluded after all that was probably more sensible to sell the racing sails and I've since bought a 'proper' tri-radial cruising genny in 8/10 condition for £550, which was probably what I should have done in the first place !

 

[scrambledegg]

. You'll obviously be aware that the racing sail will furl but not reef, although you can leave it up...

Please clarify why it can't be reefed if it has the foam luff strips added. Or, is it not possible to add those retrospectively to a laminate?

 

[Lightwave395]

Please clarify why it can't be reefed if it has the foam luff strips added. Or, is it not possible to add those retrospectively to a laminate?

I didn't discuss with the sailmaker whether a foam luff would be possible but based on the cost of a UV strip I suspect that the cost of adding foam to the luff, if indeed it is possible, would make it an uneconomical job. Depending on the cut of the race sail, the shape might be grim if reefed, as I found with mine when I tried it just to see.
You'd need to have that discussion with the sailmaker - Westaway did mine, I'm sure any sailmaker would be happy to have the discussion, at least after they've tried hard to sell you a new one !

 

[scrambledegg]

I didn't discuss with the sailmaker whether a foam luff would be possible but based on the cost of a UV strip I suspect that the cost of adding foam to the luff, if indeed it is possible, would make it an uneconomical job. Depending on the cut of the race sail, the shape might be grim if reefed, as I found with mine when I tried it just to see.
You'd need to have that discussion with the sailmaker - Westaway did mine, I'm sure any sailmaker would be happy to have the discussion, at least after they've tried hard to sell you a new one !

Ha! Yes! At least partly I'm trying to gather ammunition against the sailmaker's push for a new sail.
Thank you.

 

[scottie]

I suspect that furling sails are cut differently to allow for furling and will most probably have different stress reinforcement
Why not try and sell racing sails whilst still good and put proceeds to a nice well cut cruising sail which will be easier to work with anyway

 

[lw395]

I suspect that furling sails are cut differently to allow for furling and will most probably have different stress reinforcement
Why not try and sell racing sails whilst still good and put proceeds to a nice well cut cruising sail which will be easier to work with anyway

Depends what you can get for them.
Even a fairly well worn laminate racing genoa can be a real improvement over a cruising sail. If you have the shed space, keeping the racing sails for racing and buying a decent cruising sail is a good option.
If you have a No3 blade racing jib, which will furl on the roller, then one of those lace-up covers is an option.

 

[BobnLesley]

...Why not try and sell racing sails whilst still good and put proceeds to a nice well cut cruising sail which will be easier to work with anyway

No personal experience, but we've met several yachts whilst long term cruising who reported along the lines of: "We had some racing sails when we set-off, but they fell apart in 1/2/3 years"; this has mostly been North American boats whilst in the Caribbean, so I suspect it might be the high UV they don't like? We also know a couple of yachts who cruise from regatta to regatta around the Caribbean and one indeed now crossed to NZ that race fairly seriously; all have their racing sails carefully stowed away for the cruising passages.

 

[Lightwave395]

Depends what you can get for them.
Even a fairly well worn laminate racing genoa can be a real improvement over a cruising sail. If you have the shed space, keeping the racing sails for racing and buying a decent cruising sail is a good option.
If you have a No3 blade racing jib, which will furl on the roller, then one of those lace-up covers is an option.

My personal experience - I'd agree with your cover suggestion and indeed had thought of it, although I think the main issue with tired racing sails is degradation of the laminate even though the shape generally stays good until it literally falls apart... I also concluded that as most racing No3's are battened (well mine was) that wouldn't work for me.
It further transpired that the cost of modifying my No2 headsail to suit the new roller reefing plus the exorbitant cost of a 'hoistable' lace up cover was getting up towards a new cruising sail with potentially a much longer life.
In the event, I wanted a decent size (120%-135%) headsail for our three month cruise and with time running out I had my No2 altered, the laminate was a bit tired but not too bad, the shape was still good, but the job was hardly cheap or course.
We left Cowes in early May, got down as far as La Rochelle and re-crossed the channel to Portland in early August, all in an average of 4 to 10 knots of breeze. The laminate had started looking a bit like 'cheesecloth' in places down the leech over the previous couple of weeks and this got slowly worse finally falling apart on the sail back to Cowes from Portland in 25 knots of wind...