Sails made in Hong Kong

[ColinR]

as advertised in the PBO and YM. They are certainly a lot cheaper but has anyone tried them? Are they good?

Colin

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[Mirelle]

They are not made in Hong Kong - Hong Kong has higher wages than Britain!

They are made in mainland China in lofts owned by Hong Kong sailmakers, who have shifted their production facilities to China to benefit from lower wage and rent costs there.

Hong Kong has several very active yacht clubs and a strong racing scene, including the South China Sea Race, HK-Manila, which is the same distance as the Fastnet but in what are arguably more difficult waters, and many keen owners, who have come close to lifting the Admiral's Cup more than once.

These sails are designed by very capable sailmakers with excellent facilities and can be built from good materials (they can certainly do carbon fibre and kevlar if you like).

These are large firms, with a world wide reputation at stake - they are much bigger businesses than your average local sailmaker here in Britain.

Having said which, it is up to you to specify what you want. I am biassed, having lived in Hong Kong for some years but I would not hesitate to order sails from HK provided it is a type of boat (reasonably modern production type) that they understand.

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[Neal]

make sure you compare like with like....

About six years ago, I was after new sails (staysail, jib and vertically cut main), for my old wooden gaff cutter.

I contacted about half a dozen sailmakers for quotes. Hong Kong were initially much cheaper than all the others. Most expensive were Ratseys.

I then asked Hong Kong to quote for the same spec as Ratseys (I wanted heavy cloth, triple stiching, handmade rope grommets etc... ie really well made, traditional-looking sails, but, err...shuffle awkwardly on my feet, from modern materails). The revised quote was spectactularly high.

In fact, I ordered the sails from the knowledgeable and helpful Cynthia at Wilkinson Sails at Conyer. I got a wonderful set of top quality sails at a good, but not cheap, price.

So, nothing wrong with buying cheap, but don't only look at price. Make sure you know what features you are compromising on.


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[BrianJ]

Suggest you talk to Rolly Tsker sails in Phuket... great sailmaker.
BrianJ

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[Mirelle]

Re: make sure you compare like with like....

Agreed. I also have a wooden gaff cutter and her sails come from Gayle Heard (now North Sea Sails) in Tollesbury, James Lawrence in Brightlingsea and Wilkinsons (my sister worked there!). But for standard sails for a production boat I think HK is fine, and I would go there for a spinnaker or a ghoster.

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[Deep_6]

I have HK Genoa via C & J 2 years now and I'm very satisfied.

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[wildbeaver]

Bought a cruising chute from them recently. Arrived on time and to spec. Seems good quality for the price. You have to be VERY precise about what you want / measurements etc. Snuffler works well too. I needed to make some minor adjustments / add sheets etc but still a bargain.

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[global_odyssey]

Re: Sails made in China

I had a quote for sails from HK, which was only about 10 percent cheaper than in UK.
From experience of general manufacturing in China (via HK), labour costs are about 10 percent of UK labour. This includes reasonable skill levels. I imagine sailmaking wages are similar to engineering.
Materials are generally the same cost around the world. The labour content of sail-making is high. I imagine a sail made in China could profitablty retail at 50 percent (or less) of a UK equivalent price and still make a nice profit.
Experience also tells me the chinese find it difficult to make anything right first time from drawings. They are better equipped to copy something which already exists. When they've made a few the same, things are generally OK. This is good news for volume-built boat owners, but I would be concerned about 1-off sails capability.
For me a 10 - 20 percent price saving isn't a big enough incentive to take the risk that things might not be quite right. I would prefer to take my sails to a local sailmaker I can talk to and get advice from in person, discuss rig changes, improvements, etc.
Hope this isn't too contentious.

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