Sail colours: if white isn't right, why is it so popular?

White sails easiest to see I would question, if you want hi vis sails bring Orange or stripped I would say would be best, although ugly as... White sails in over F6 with all those whits caps, white sails might not be the best colour..

Racing wise for racing I would want the same as everyone else, if your the only one with tan sails and are over the start line its very easy to pick you out of the fleet...

For me I would suggest red sails so when I bleed on them it does not stain, or can I have white blood please...
 
I sail in the Med sunshine and have never had a problem with white sails. While I do have a problem with eyesight deterioration my ophthalmologist has warned me about glare reflecting from the sea surface rather than something above me like sails. Sunglasses would be a logical solution wherever the source is and a sensible precaution for anyone in lower latitudes. I never do wear them but my wife always does on the rare occasions she is aboard.

I would never have any other colour than white for both my sails and my car. I want to be seen on both the sea and the road and white is the best for lodging in the sensory perceptions. I have, on more than one occasion, had to shine a powerful light on the mainsail at night to warn another ship of my presence.
 
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Barnac1e said:
I sail in the Med sunshine and have never had a problem with white sails.
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+1

I've never heard anyone say white isn't right except the OP. I don't spend hours looking at the sails except the spi when trimming it. Sunglasses are the answer.
 
I have cream sails on my Cutter with a cream powder coated mast to match sails/deck. Maybe an answer to glare. I prefer the look of the tan sails on the Drascombe, they go well with a bit of wood :D

Not so sure this looks right. Think you need a Gaff rig for tan sails...

Embletonundersail.jpg


Still looks nice though. When did bermudan rigs or similar come in, did they ever have tan sails?
 
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dancrane said:
That's pretty smart thinking. I haven't worn sunglasses for many a year. I just sit around in the shade, contributing endlessly to a sunglasses forum. ;)
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Love it. One of your best posts!

I never wore a hat or sunglasses and worked outdoors for many years as well as sailing a lot at weekends. I had cataracts removed from both eyes in my mid 40s. Possibly some connection!
 
dancrane said:
I found the Jeanneau's clean white main & genoa pretty blinding, overhead...

...?
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Couldn't agree more. That glare is ghastly. I've just spent a fortune tinting my new sail a greyish colour with strands of carabon - much easier to look at...and drool over...and frighten the opposition...and remove my last excuse for sailing slowly:cool:
 
Woodlouse said:
White is down to tradition and cost. White canvas is cheaper than coloured material.
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I think that's probably got it in one.

Pops bought a Windrush as the first family boat and that had light blue sails, like Enterprise blue, maybe a bit lighter. It looked ok and maybe there was a bit less glare off them.

A cream deck probably does more for glare reduction though. And shades
 
Zagato said:
When did bermudan rigs or similar come in, did they ever have tan sails?
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Started to appear in the 1920s, I think, for racing boats. Racers had had cotton rather than tanned flax for about 70 years before that, so were white even when they were still gaff rigged. One of the marks of a fine yacht - white sails rather than the fishermen's tan :)

I guess the gaff to bermudan changeover for cruisers took place over the 1930s and 40s (disrupted by the war, obviously). "Goblin" in We Didn't Mean to go to Sea was bermudan rigged, albeit an early one with mast hoops instead of sail track, and that's set in the early to middle '30s, I think, with the boat being based on Arthur Ransome's own one at the same time. I think she's described as having red sails in the book, so at least some bermudan cruising boats did in the days of natural fibre.

Pete
 
Original bermuda sloops had tanned sails, they were working boats in tropics, after all.
Moreover since "modern bermudian sail" was in use from antiquity I'd guess many were dark ;)
Leg o' mutton rig I think this was called in Britain earlier; but later on Royal Navy had fast "Bermudian Sloops" (not being sloops really), before Trafalgar...
So you will know better what colour RN sail were. But I'd guess light tan :p
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Royal_Navy_-_Bermuda_Sloop2.jpeg
 
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Rossynant said:
Original bermuda sloops had tanned sails, they were working boats in tropics, after all.
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True :)

I was only speaking in the context of British racing and cruising yachts.

I have a book on yacht design from the 1930s, which makes the implicit assumption that cruisers will generally have gaff rigs, with the odd exception among smaller vessels, and racers by now will be bermudan but will tend to lose their tall slender rigs on occasion for a while yet, until the technology is perfected.

Pete
 
Another major advantages of MABs: the mat oxidised gel coat and old dirty old sails are much easier on the eyes.......or something

Though to be serious my, '80s boat has a light grey gelcoat deck and cockpit
 
I finally replaced my grey manky sails with some lovely cream ones. Easy on the eye. Should have got round to it 20 years earlier though.

R
 
Rossynant said:
And now they perfected the technology by cutting the tops off, reverting to gaff concept :D
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Not really though. They've just increased the chord of the sail making the top third far more powerful and efficient. They haven't cut the height down because they still need the luff length. The gulf between that and a gaffer is huge even though they might bare the vaguest of similarities.
 
Woodlouse said:
Not really though. They've just increased the chord of the sail making the top third far more powerful and efficient. They haven't cut the height down because they still need the luff length. The gulf between that and a gaffer is huge even though they might bare the vaguest of similarities.
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Depends what you see as "gaffer".
Difference in aerodynamics is between triangle (with sharp angle on top, where air escapes from sail) and square. It's not about giving more area up there, but about aerodynamics. Different flow, actually better.

Look at those - gaffers they are, and quite traditional ;) really such a difference? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=grwxsMuFmMs

Funny to say, but Bermudian Rig originally often had small gaff or big headboard up there, not going to a point exactly. It was mostly racing rules that made triangle sail popular, outside of racing rules it has no reason other than simpler rig. For this reason it was used in small craft for milennia, but nobody thought it better :)
 
What's wrong with white sails? I have never had any glare problems with white sails in Europe or the tropics. White decks is a different question. White is presumably less visible in a foam-flecked sea, but more visible at night if you need to shine a spotlight on your sails.
 
When I had my most recent set of sails made, the sailmaker said they would be grey. The reason given was for UV protection. Laminate sails, so I'm guessing the grey scrim protects the mylar core.
 
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