Our last boat was a Hughes H25. A beautiful little sailing boat. It took no time to get up and moving in a breeze, tack on a dime, and forgive you for every mistake that novice sailors make. (read: putting the spreaders in the water, on a day so windy, even God would stay in port). However, as with old sailors, goes old sails, and ours were over the hill. Not wanting to spend a whole bunch of money on them, I took the sails home one winter to refurbish them. I had read Emiliano Marino's book, The Sailmaker's Apprentice, and was convinced that a battenless, roachless main would be best for us. We were not racers, we were cruisers, and as such did not need any fancy sailing apparatus that would give us the "edge". I recut the mainsail, giving it a roach-ectomy, added two reefs, and a reef to the 100% jib, so that I could shorten the rig down to little scraps, and keep the spreaders out of the water on really windy days. Ironically, the boat performed exactly the same as it did before, perhaps just a tad better, and it got rid of the excessive weather helm that tends to plague those little boats.
My point is, that as a cruiser, it is better to look for the simple solutions. Most people I talk to now, have full batten mainsails. In fact, our boat has one too. Why anyone would go to the trouble of putting a $3000.00 racing sail on a cruising boat, that would be just as happy with a $1700.00 sail, is beyond me. I have had battens, and I have been battenless, and I choose battenless anytime. Without battens, you can put the mainsail up in just about any wind short of a gale, in any direction. Where as with a battened main, you have to be pointed into the wind. That alone is a huge advantage. Plus, a main without battens will need a lot less maintenance, as nothing will eat away at the cloth, like a fibreglass stick.
Now, as I mentioned above, we have a full batten mainsail. It is not in bad shape, but we are going cruising, and that sail will need to perform a lot more than it has in the past. I would prefer something a little stronger and a little more bullet proof. Also, the staysail is original to the boat, which makes it 28 years old. That is too long for any sail to be asked to perform. Luckily though, the previous owner had just bought a new yankee for the furler in 2009, and it is in great shape. So, I need two new sails, at about $1700.00 per, plus taxes. Anyone have $3500.00 I can borrow. Just kidding. The answer was Sailrite. A great company, providing sewing supplies and kits for sailors, and some of them smoker types too. I am not affiliated with the company, and they don't have any public stock offerings, but I would work there in a heart beat if I could. The 16 hour commute, one way, would kill me. Their closest outlet to me is in Indiana.
Sailrite put together a kit for my mainsail, including all the hardware, precut panels for the sails, a kit for my staysail, all the tools, punches, cutters, grommet dies, butane hot knife, and an industrial electric/hand crank sewing machine with all the bells and whistles, for $3000.00. And, included in that price was a bunch of extra supplies to keep me going for years, thread, needles, grommets, etc... All I have to do is put the kits together, which will wait for January, when my workshop will become a sail loft. But, I saved a few pennies, and I damn near have enough stuff to open my own sail repair business.
Mainsail Features:
7.4 oz Dacron fabric. About as heavy as I can get for a boat this size without getting into plywood. No, but seriously, a heavy built main, needs a heavy fabric. The only problem will be in very light winds, and I may experiment with a nylon main later on.
No headboard. Sail companies use headboards to expedite the sailmaking process, and to add just that little bit extra sail area for a racing advantage.
Hand sewn grommets. The head, tack, clew, and all the reef points have hand sewn grommets. They are much stronger than the machine pressed ones, but they are so time consuming that a sail maker couldn't possibly do it with out a lot of added expense.
3 sets of reef points. I wanted the ability to shorten the main down to a tiny scrap, so that I could ride out a storm if need be. May never see one, but for the extra $30, what the hell. And then I don't have to worry about a storm trysail if I ever find my self further abroad.
Triple stitched seams. Racers will talk about sail stretching, and when that happens, the sail losses shape, and becomes less efficient. So the newer the sails, the less stretch, the better shape, the better the "edge". However, with today's dacron fabrics, there is really no stretch to speak of. The materials are so good, that the manufactures have all but eliminated it. However, the seams, on the other hand have lots of stretch, and the best way to keep that stretch to a minimum is put an extra row of stitching in. Plus, it just makes the sail that much stronger. You'll not likely get tripled stitched seams from a sail maker, unless you ask, and yes, that will cost more.
The staysail is similarly designed, with only two sets of reefs. Same fabric, the theory being that the staysail is mainly used in heavier winds, and once reefed all the way down is the right size for a storm sail.
So here is the reefing schedule for our Bayfield 29. At what wind strength? I don't know yet, that is one of the things we'll have to figure out. But since we don't have an anemometer on board, it doesn't matter much. We'll reef when we think its a good time.
Light winds to Gale
1. Full main, full staysail, full yankee
2. Full main, staysail bagged on deck, full yankee(most normal situation)
3. 1st reef in main, full staysail, yankee furled
4. 2nd reef in main, 1st reef in staysail, yankee furled
5. 3rd reef in main, 2nd reef in staysail, yankee furled
6. Main down, 2nd reef in staysail, yankee furled (Hove to)
7. Pray to the God of your choice.
I also have a brand new reacher that came with the boat, and I am looking forward to playing with it this year when the winds get light. And, I intend to sew up a riding sail for the back stay when at anchor. But that should give us a nice full complement of choices.
I want to relate a little story about the importance of a proper sail wardrobe for a sailboat. Some friends of ours retired and wanted to sail to the Carribean. They purchase a boat that would be big enough for their family, outfitted it, and away they went. The sails were ok, but they had seen better days. On top of that, the boat did not really have a reputation for being a good sailing boat. They took their trip, over 2 years, as far as Grenada, and back to Canada. It was a good trip, but at one point in their story I recall how they had to get a tow from one of the islands back to a major port to get their engine repaired, not once or twice, but on three different occasions. I didn't bother to ask them why their sails were broken, as I figured that might not go over well, but it made me realize that if they had bought a better sailing boat, with a good set of sails, then they could have traveled all over the Carribean and only repaired the engine later when they happened to be in the right place. As a side note, when I looked at the hundreds of photos of their trip, I didn't see one picture where the mainsail was up. The genoa was unfurled occasionally while they were motor sailing. I am not saying there is anything wrong with being a powerboat, but if your going to be a powerboat, don't go sailing.
My rant for the day. Don't get me wrong. I am not trying to tout my way as the only way, it is just an ideal that I prefer. However, what I find in talking to people is that a lot of sailors really don't know that much about sails, let alone which sails would be best for them. Most sailors believe in the natural progression of sail design, but sometimes its the old ideas that work the best. But most importantly, sailboats were meant to be sailed.
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