Sails From Hong Kong

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Sea_Sense

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Hi

Has anybody ordered sails from Hong Kong or China?

I have had quotes from 6 sail makers in the UK and visited a few sail lofts. Sail makers in the UK tell me that "you can't fault the 'Chinese' sails in terms of cut and stitching etc. but we do thing differently here". One sail loft even offered to order them from China for me saying they would be able to check the measurements etc.

However their 'differently' with the dollar exchange rate means I can buy a sail made from the same sail cloth (Contender etc.) for over half the price of what most UK sail makers are quoting and guaranteed for 2 years. If you take the import tax into account then it still a saving of about 40% including delivery charges.

If you think that you may replace a sail after 5 years that is a huge saving.

I am thinking there must be a catch! So any body had experiences of buying sails from abroad = good or bad?
 
Yes, bad experience, thank G I paid with Visa, they refunded money, but I was surprised it turned sour, long story, but I ordered 2 sails, they came, well made, luff to long, they said our fault send them back we will sort at our expence, once they had them and my dosh they said it,s my fault, I must pay for recut and carriage! I think the fact that Visa refunded my money after hearing the story and checking it out illoustrates that I was in the right.
Long established company, as I said I was very suprised, by their attitude.
But it has not put me off ordering from the Far East, I will be ordering from another company soon. pm if you need more info.
 
I too have come to the conclusion that sails from china must represent excellent vfm. The question is whether to go direct, fareastsails has a good website and their quote and spec looks excellent, or use a UK firm such as C J International who act as UK agents. I think that I would favour the latter route as you at least have someone in the UK to pick up the phone to even though it may cost a bit more.

I used this latter route for a cruising chute and quality etc was fine.

If buying direct from China or HK I'm not sure what sort of allowance to make for Customs duties, clearance fees etc as well as the obligatoryt 17.5% VAT.

Regards
 
I really do think this is a case of support your local sailmaker. You may (or may not) save a few bob initially buying from furrin parts, but you're going to be royally b*ggered when your sail needs a repair in the middle of a summer cruise, and the every local sailmaker has gone to the wall.
 
We have a Mainsail from HK Sails, and a genoa from Hong Kong Sailmakers - Lee I think. Both are very well made, with all the bells and whistles you would expect from robust cruising sails including some good hand finishing (leather). The measurements were correct - BUT, you will have to be extremely accurate yourself when making the order and filling in the forms, which I did over the internet. They cost a fraction of all the UK quotes we obtained, including air freight and taxes. And they came quickly straight to the front door. If you order through a UK agent all the delivery costs and taxes are factored into the quote; if you order direct, as we did for the genoa, you will have to pay the duty COD.

We are very pleased with both sails. They did say that if we required any alterations, it could be done in UK at their expense.

It would be great to be able to support local sailmakers - but for us, price and speed won the day. We have had some bad experiences with local sailmakers, and don´t feel that you can trust them to do a good job just because they are British. If they want to compete with the HK/China makers, they will have to improve their customer service and prices somewhat,
 
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I really do think this is a case of support your local sailmaker. You may (or may not) save a few bob initially buying from furrin parts, but you're going to be royally b*ggered when your sail needs a repair in the middle of a summer cruise, and the every local sailmaker has gone to the wall.

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I've said many times here that the best advice is to talk to a good (ie recommended) sailmaker that is local and by that I meant within the local sailing area not just in the UK! I have had many sails made over the years including 5 full suits of headsails and mainsail, not to mention a couple of mizzens 3 spinnakers and 3 storm jibs. All of these were supplied by a local sailmaker who was prepared to come out to my boat and measure MY setup, where tracks and genoa cars were, exact dimensions not from an old IOR certificate or a standard sailplan. That was a sailmaker who once he knew what I expected was able to talk me through the various options and the costs versus performance and life. On several occasions (different boats) the 'standard' sailplan dimensions (and in one case the IOR cert) were not what was there in practice and sails made to that would have been too long in the luff or whatever. It is worth noting that NONE of the big name lofts would come visit my boat, even when I was in the market for 3 headsails + mainsail + spinnaker and going racing. As a result my local guy got the order as well as many successive ones since.

Would I buy from the far east? Not likely! Nor from someone who farms out orders to the far east either, and that includes some so called 'names'. I know if I have a problem, my guy is there and will sort me out and get me back sailing as quickly as possible, I'm a regular customer, I expect (and get) priority treatment. Also because he is local reputations are at stake and word gets around locally very fast when things go wrong just as they do when things go right!

I cannot but help thinking that those who buy cheap and especially off the internet don't really know good from bad and if the sail doesn't fall apart for enough years it has been a good one, whereas there is much more to it than that IMO.
 
I knew I would get flack from someone when I said that I had ordered sails using measurements on the internet! But I take exception to the comment that I probably don´t know good from bad. We have been sailing for over 30 years, with a good few miles under our belts , in what is essentially a one off boat. This means that the measurements for the sailmaker had to be exactly correct e.g for the position of cars, tracks etc and offset for the main to the boom etc. All was exactly as we wanted. The sails are a few years old now, the shape is still good, and the cloth good quality. The only stitches needed since new are mostly because of accidental snags.

We used to use ¨reputable¨ local sailmakers in the Bristol area - result, one baggy main, where we had asked for flat; and a replacement sacrificial strip sewn on with non UV proof thread. Incidentally, they also cut off the hemmed leech where the sacrificial strip was placed overall the cloth and replaced it for a tabling that was of a lighter and inferior cloth. The result of this was the tabling parting company of the sail in blowy conditions in Antigua and caused us an anxious hour when, in blowy conditions, I had to haul my husband up the rig to come down the forestay and cut the ribbons away before we could furl the sail.......only 15 months after the job was done. The same firm rerigged our boat, and despite doing their own measurements, with the boat in th adjacent yard, got it all too short.....and put in shackles to make it good - and were surprised that we weren´t happy! Customer service - whats that?!

I know that this is a rant against a couple of sailmakers in one area only - but we were known well by both and at the time I was Commodore of the biggest local sailing club - not good advertising.

If the sails made in HK/China are not worth it, why are some of the most prestigious firms in UK farming out their work? I would still be happy to order another sail from HK - straight to my door here in a sleepy corner of Spain. BUT - I would still check and double check my measurements, and state exactly what I want before work starts.
 
You haven't had flack from anyone. This is a threaded forum, and you can see which responses go to which response in a thread, and none have been to your post, so don't be so sensitive. If you'd been flamed, you'd know about it by now.
have read many favourable comments on HK sailmakers on these forums previously.
 
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If the sails made in HK/China are not worth it, why are some of the most prestigious firms in UK farming out their work? I would still be happy to order another sail from HK - straight to my door here in a sleepy corner of Spain. BUT - I would still check and double check my measurements, and state exactly what I want before work starts.

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It's called maximising 'profit'! Some of those companies may well be making huge savings but they are still charging 'designer' prices to the customer over here. And some of the so called 'prestigious' ones are only so in their own advertising IMO.

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I knew I would get flack from someone when I said that I had ordered sails using measurements on the internet! But I take exception to the comment that I probably don´t know good from bad. We have been sailing for over 30 years, with a good few miles under our belts , in what is essentially a one off boat. This means that the measurements for the sailmaker had to be exactly correct e.g for the position of cars, tracks etc and offset for the main to the boom etc. All was exactly as we wanted. The sails are a few years old now, the shape is still good, and the cloth good quality. The only stitches needed since new are mostly because of accidental snags.


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Well I was talking in general terms not specifically about you and I'm sorry if it seemed that I was. The fact is that there ARE lots of people out there, many too with lots of miles under their belts that don't really know a good sail from a bad one, the criteria for 'good' is if it doesn't fall apart, not that it sets well and makes the boat perform to it's best and still sets well a few years down the line. I've heard many people say things like 'their SoandSo sail is 12 years old and still going strong' when in truth yes it is bulletproof but so out of shape it pushes the boat sideways faster than forwards! There are lots of posts on the forums about sail types, materials and cuts and you can see from these that however good they are at sailing, the sails themselves are still a bit of a black art. That isn't a criticism, merely an observation and could equally apply to say a racing driver's knowledge of the inside of his engine.
 
I concur.

Whilst I have never priced up sails directly from China, I have recently been getting pricing from UK companies who import the finished product from the far East though.

In the end I have chosen a local sailmaker, not only is he visiting the boat to take the measurements, but he has given me good advice on materials and cut. I also know from past experience when the sails are returned for wash and repair in years to come he will do an excellent job if past work is anything to go by.

Oh! Nearly forgot there was little or no price difference between his quote for new main and genoa and an imported product!
 
Agree entirly with your exception taking, I think I know your very "tiddly" boat, Alcoutim? she is well set up, obviously by experienced sailors. Who also have a fairly good idea how a decent sail should set!
I too had a British made genny fall to pieces, 2yrs old, in mid Atlantic, on a single handed crossing, worrying at the time, the same sailmaker, very well known, got the staysail wrong too and had to alter it.
The sails from Hong Kong, that were wrong for me, were beautifully made but sadly to long in the luff. Their mistake, no allowance for hardware or stretch
I will be ordering shortly from Far East Sails HK as soon as I have a reliable delivery address, (wintering abroad).
 
A couple of small business sailmakers I have spoken to have said they would prefer to do repairs than make sails because the big companies such as Crusader et al can sell sails cheaper than the local man can buy the basic materials.
 
Well I have to say that I bought a mainsail from Far East Sails and although customer service was good, as my yacht was a one off, it took 20 e-mails each to get explain the cut at the tack and foot. The manufacture took much longer than they said it would too. 4 weeks longer infact.

The material was not as good as I expected, nor did they include a luff rope. Apart from that it is a good sail - the important thing is that it got me sailing this season and the money saved on the sails went on all sorts of essentials which I needed to launch a boat with. If you are on a v. tight budget this is really the only way to IMO.

I would like to get a trad cream sail made for me in the UK sometime though, but at over £1,000 for a 22fter, I have to refill my coffers!
 
I bought a cruising chute from HK sails recently but although its decently made it just doesn't set very well - disappointing. All my other sails are also mail-order, Crusader, made in England, and have been great.
 
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I am thinking there must be a catch!

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Yes, your pension, never mind that though, it will most likely be the next generation who suffer, so you enjoy it while you can eh?
 
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