There comes a time in every yacht owners life when you hear things you really don't want to hear.
Today was one of those days.
The call came though this afternoon "Hi Graham, it's Andy from Crusader Sails" after our usualy conversation about our lives and the weather etc, came the news I really didn't want to hear, the genoa - the big flappy white sail at the front - is almost an ex sail, shuffling to the end of its mortal coil. It's had a long life, well long for a sail, short for cat, tree or car, but 1 sail year is worth about 10 human years. It has seen many places and sailed the miles, but that, is that. It could be repaired, and if we weren't off to Scotland it would probably last us a few more seasons, but we are and it probably won't.
It could be patched up, but this will cost well on the way towards the price of a new sail, so is it worth it? Who can tell?
I'd be happier with a new one, who wouldn't? But the cost came as a bit of a shock. First off, I don't want standard Dacron sail cloth. While Dacron will last longer, it will lose its shape a lot quicker. Will the loss of shape make a difference to a cruising boat? I believe the honest answer is yes. It slows the boat down, increases the healing angle, and rather that the sail holding its shape and accelerating through the gusts, the sail stretches, and the boat heals over more. The extra money for non stretchy cruising laminate sails seems a small price to pay for a sail that will hold it's shape over it's lifetime.
Without going into too much detail it's the shape of the sail that provides the power to go through the water, in much the same way that the shape of a wing keeps a plane in the air. The engines on a plane just provide forward thrust, it's the shape of the wing that lifts the plane off the ground. So the better a sail can keep it's shape, the faster ther yacht will sail.
The main sail isn't looking much better, in fact to quote Andy "it's looking a bit nasty in places" so it's out with the credit card once more....
The joys of owning a boat
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