bart sr, if you want people to listen to you don't tell b/s as you did below.
(would bart jr tell such tales? probably not.)

The type of sails a person has is an
easy way to tell what kind of person
they are.

It is important to at least have white
sails in good shape, because if you are
fighting your way off a lee shore with
lame sails, you will make too much leeway,
and if they blow out, worse can happen.

A serious sailor has good sails, or
at least a plan to buy good sails at
the first opportunity. While a cheezy
sailor has cheezy sails.

I helped deliver a boat once with a friend.
He bought used sails for his boat. After
seeing his sails for only a few minutes I
knew that one of the two sails was going
to come apart that day.

It was blowing Southwesterly about 25+
knots or so, coming out of Buzzzards Bay.
So when the genoa came apart I was ready,
I was at the helm and bore off a milli-
second later, to make it easier to furl
up the shreads.

After that we had to turn the motor on, as
the boat wouldn't point in those seas.
I think we were just east of the "Hen and
Chickens" or "Old Cock" when it happened.
Once past, we were able to crack off and
shut down the motor and made very good time
under main alone and got in just at sunset.

Since the genoa wouldn't furl very well, we
had lot of windage and that made docking
tricky. My friend was an Ok sailor and he
did get it in the slip ok, and was wise enough
to refurl it a little tighter, in the channel,
before docking.

By the way, the main was for another boat
and had a foot and head that were too short.
What a joke! I have to remember to give him
some more grief about that. I'll be helping
he deliver his new boat, one of the Benty-toad
ocean rated boats, from Annapolis to Rhode
Island this spring. At least this boat will
have sails less than 20 years old.

One other intersting thing happened that day.
When sailing with someone new, there are many
clues to the expereince level of other sailors.

At one point I found myself on the leeward
side of the boat, rail down. I put my hand
up and the third man on the boat, Dave, without
hesitation, hoisted me to the high side. A
good sailor reacts quickly. It is always nice
to have good sailors on board.

Bart Senior

DSK wrote

I've talked with (& sailed with too) a lot of people who seem to want to
brag
about how cheaply they got their sails. I always smile & nod politely but
thinking 'what's the point? Would $X more break the bank when you've
already
paid for a $YY,000 boat?' I have also sailed with some people who have
horribly bagged out worthless sails, often they want advice on adjustments
&
trim. One guy I sailed with last year had his boat's original sails from 25
years ago... the thing would not tack through 110 degrees, the main was so
baggy. But we enjoyed sailing all the same. It's a question of what you
want.

Fresh Breezes- Doug King