Sail shape is important
30 Jul 2015
The Clipper fleet of round the world yachts has Hyde Sails
Whether sails are professionally serviced or not often depends on the age of the sails, but regardless of this, owners should always take them off the boat over the winter, writes Katina Read.
“Sails should be eyeballed to see if they need service work which many lofts offer. Lofts will give the sails a once over and repair any broken stitching,” explained Hyde Sails salesman Andrew Woodhouse, known universally as ‘Wooderz’.
“What the service will do will allow the sailmaker to see if they need servicing or need new sails, depending on the usage and state of the sails. The sailmaker will have a financial interest in selling new sails.”
The decision needs to be made by the individual, he explained, with customers needing to decide what they expect from their sails – a sail or a white triangle.
“Sail shape is important to the racing sailor and to many cruising sailors – the whole idea of having a cruising boat is that they sail from A to B rather than motoring,” said Wooderz.
And he warned that if users do want to order a set of sails, they should do it when the sailmaker is offering deals at the end of the season, rather than the week before Easter, days before their boat is due to be launched.
“Every sailmaker’s calendar is the same – sails need to be ordered in the autumn, before Christmas. The financial adviser – usually the wife – will also be a lot happier as the sails will be cheaper.
“I often hear the line ‘I don’t know when Easter is’ with customers still expecting their new sails to be ready on time for their boats to be launched, despite only ordering them the week before.”
For Hyde Sails, the most popular sails are either top end quality racing sails, or the cheapest possible that do not necessarily provide the best value for money if users want longevity and performance.
The company supplies sails for Optimists up to 80 footers and says the range of sail cloths available is expanding.
Previously sails were made of cotton and polyester, but now additional fibres, such as Dyneema and Spectra are being added to the weave, helping with longevity and sail shape.
In addition, cloths are now being produced with a UV finish for users sailing in hotter climates.
“Technology and knowledge is improving, for example, the early laminate sails used to delaminate after a couple of years, but now they are not delaminating as quickly as they used to.
“Users need to know what they’re going to be using the sail for; it comes down to aspirations, cash and pocket,” said Wooderz. “Users have to trust their sailmaker to sell the sail most applicable to the sailing they’re going to be doing.”
And he suggested when shopping around for sails and comparing quotes, it’s important to get the type of sail cloth and weight, together with sail area and specification, detailed in the quote.
The company has supplied sails to the latest Clipper Round the World Race with a mid-range cloth, a fabric, says Wooderz, that while at the end of the journey will look tired, will easily take them around the world.