Ultimate Sails, Hamble?

Yngmar

Yngmar

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After visiting the boatshow for some batten advice, I'm shopping for a new furling mainsail with short vertical battens. I've talked to Paul at the show and he made not only a good impression, but also a very competitive quote.

Which brings us to the usual question - who's got an Ultimate sail and how do you like it? How was the purchase process and did it fit first try? Any trouble?

Cheers :-)
 
I have an ultimate laminate self tacking jib.
The price is higher than Hyde, but Hyde were not available to measure the sail before the mast was dropped. This year i have bought a top of the range Hyde main but the cheaper laminate would have been £ 1000 cheaper than Ultimate's equivalent laminate. ( Ultimate circa £ 3800)
I insisted that Ultimate sent someone to measure & the sail fits perfectly. However, the batten pockets are so tight it takes 20 minutes to get them in or out of the sail. It is so difficult I cannot do a sail change on the deck under way.( one cannot fold a laminate sail with vertical battens so they have to come out first ) If it was not for the hassle of sending back I would return it & have it altered. However, I bought the sail & when I found the problem I needed the sail & could not return.
The sail bag is a joke as the zip has been placed the wrong way round & no one can work out how it is supposed to work as a deck bag for sail changes ,but that is a minor point & once again it would have gone back with the sail
As for set of the sail - Absolutely no complaints. It sets perfectly & is a powerful sail. I have had 3 other self tacking sails ( North, Lonton & Gray & Hyde, all dacron)& this is definitely the best.( but is laminate) I sent it for cleaning at the end of last season & the sailmaker I took it to said it looked bullet proof & was well over weight for the job. But I prefer that to a lightweight sail that will not last
So yes-If it was not for price I might have gone back to them but they are ridiculously overpriced & as Hyde still have the details of my last mainsail i have stuck with them - I have Hyde sails on my Phantom, Squib & my Hanse & they are all good. I am only changing my Marblehead mainsail as I want to start racing again
 
Thanks Daydream. Bit of a mixed review - how long ago was this?

For my Dacron sail their quote was actually the best out of 4 (and by a good margin), the guy at the show (Paul) knew his stuff well and sounded convincing and the small demo sails they brought looked good (but then they always do). For this low price they've not only offered to come the significant distance to Brighton to measure it, but also to come again to deliver and fit it. This sounded almost a bit too good so I thought I'd ask around :)
 
Shameless plug here...

A really good friend (Nicky Octon) is opening a loft in Shamrock Quay tomorrow (NJO Sails).

She's ex-Doyles, and I'm sure she would appreciate the business, and would do a superb job for you at a good price.
 
Yngmar said:
After visiting the boatshow for some batten advice, I'm shopping for a new furling mainsail with short vertical battens. I've talked to Paul at the show and he made not only a good impression, but also a very competitive quote.

Which brings us to the usual question - who's got an Ultimate sail and how do you like it? How was the purchase process and did it fit first try? Any trouble?

Cheers :-)
Click to expand...

I was very happy with Paul when he ran Sobstad / Elvstrom - no reason to doubt you would get anything other than great service. The sails he supplied for my Channel 31 have been really good and he's very knowledgeable. I'm sure US will be very good and will be where I go when my sails eventually need replacing
 
Yngmar said:
Thanks Daydream. Bit of a mixed review - how long ago was this?
Click to expand...

a month

Got to remember that these sails are made in Chinese sail lofts whereas Hyde are made in the Philippines but they own the sail loft so have control over what they get & are British
I understand that North do have their own lofts but a lot are just franchised lofts
One thing about companies like North & Hyde is that they do put effort into design. Hydes work with classes to produce the best sails ie my Squib has Hyde sails & nothing else beats it. I chose ultimate because I wanted a self tacking sail & they had been working in the J casss which as you probably know uses a blade jib. I felt that the experience in designing these would fit in with my self tacking jib & the proof was in the sailing. I suspect that some smaller firms do not have this backup & if you want the best shape then they are not the place to go unless you have a one design where they may have found a sweet sail shape that works

But if the designs sent to china are properly controlled then they should be Ok & I have to say my sail works Ok ( apart from the batten problem)
 
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Have you tried Crusader? Paul Lees came to us in Ipswich to measure up, the sails fitted, were the best price by far, we got two sails, stackpack, dodgers and sprayhood for LESS than the price of a genoa made in China with Ultimates name on.
 
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