old jib or furled Jenny?

[David Morton]

As the spring winds gust up to 15-20 knots or better, I am contemplating starting the season with my 100% jib, rather than my 150 jenny. My thinking is I'll get better sail shape with the jib than with a heavily furled jenny. My problem is my jib is old. But I don't really know what kind of shape it is in, having not bent it on at all during my first season with Wielewaal last summer. Is there any way of evaluating the quality of a sail off the boat? What should I look for in my sail, spread out on the front lawn, that would help me decide if it is worth using this year? Next step would be my sailmaker (who I actually trust with an honest answer!).

David

[Steve Laume]

Whenever I have gotten a new boat or sails, I have taken them to the sailmaker for an evaluation. He spreads them out while I am there and gives me an assessment of their over all condition and note any repairs that might be needed. Some times it has only been a couple of stitches and he is able to do the work right away. Other times there has been a bit more needed and I leave the sail with him.

I have never bothered to lay them out on the lawn. It just seems easier to do it at the sail loft and then there is someone there that knows exactly what they are looking out with the ability to make the repairs, Steve.

[Terry]

It's been seven years now that I've had Cassandra. Early in the first summer of sailing, the head pulled completely off the furled Genoa. I took it to a North Sails loft to be sewed. The fellow kindly said it wouldn't cost much and would be done soon. It took two months and cost $250. He said the sail wouldn't last the remainder of the year, as it was completely shot. So this summer, the eighth summer of my having Cassandra, I'll be using the same sail. But perhaps it will blow out this year, or perhaps not.

Just my quarters worth (two cents adjusted for inflation).

Have a great season!

[Brian2]

I'd roll it out to see if there were holes or anything obvious, and if not, I'd put it on and try it for a short, close to home sail. If it is so bad it shreds, at least you are close to home.

[Maine_Buzzard]

Grab the leech, just above the clew.

Now get a really good grip on the sail. Press as hard as you can with a thumb, trying like hell to poke through it. No holding back.

No tears? You have a good sail.

Half you hand went through? That's why you need a new sail.

60% of the time, it works all the time...

[Steve Laume]

Rotted sail cloth is not the only problem you might encounter. You could have sound cloth but a very bad shape. This is something a sailmaker would be able to evaluate. I have never had rotted cloth but have had bad stitching on a couple of sails. That old adage about a stitch in time definitely applies to sails. If you have any questionable areas restitched before they blow out it isn't a big deal. If a whole seam lets go it will be a mess. Worn or damaged sail slugs are also something to look at. So are the batten pockets and leach line. All of these are easily addressed by any sailmaker but could cause problems if you just fly the sail until it fails.

Unless you know that your sail is complete junk and you are just going to use it until it blows up, it is well worth doing preventative maintenance on it like you would do on any other part of your boat. For what a new sail costs, it is pretty cheap to have a sailmaker go over your sail every so often and to be sure it will last. While not as catastrophic as a rig or hull failure, you really don't want to blow out a sail, Steve.

[David Morton]

Thanks for the replies. I've taken a good look and the seams and stitching seem ok with a couple of areas that look a little frayed, but fixable. Cloth around the leech seems intact to my eye and thumb! I was hoping to avoid a trip down to Yarmouth, but the prudent course seems to let my sailmaker have a go at it before I bend it on and make things worse.

David

[tartansailor]

If you have trees on your property, suspend the sail horizontally (head and tack) nice and tight.
then haul the clew by hand and you will get your answer.
Dick

[Squid]

I just went through a similar process three weeks ago… This is my third season with this boat and I had not pulled out all the spare sails which I were told were the old worn out ones. The original Main, Genoa 135, a Storm Jib and an unknown but something smaller than the 135 that came with the boat.. Installed at purchase was a pretty good main and a there year old 135.

I hoisted the Storm Jib just to look at it… Never been out of the bag… I pulled the unknown Genoa out and it was a Doyle 120 almost in new condition…. I left it up and kept the normally installed 135 in the bag. Of note, I have used SailCare to clean/refurbish the Main that was on the boat and they do great work… Just something to keep in your info bucket for future reference.

Have a great sailing season…. Just loaded the beer in the ice box yesterday and made the appropriate deck log entry…. Officially OPEN..