That's good, considering that you apparently have no clue
what the black bands are for.


There is actual professional disagreement about the max hoist mark
which is found on some, but certainly not all sailboats.
I spoke to my loft about it and typically the black band is just a
piece of tape, showing maximum hoist for the sail that is sold with the
boat. In some cases you can extend the hoist a bit, and some cruising
sails will shorten it for a roach that's well beyond 10%. (BTW, the
roach of my Kevlar main is 8.5%).
But some spar manufacturers place the mark also as uppermost structural
point to raise a sail to. The Seldon mast that went into a Hughes 38
here was so marked and the thick weld-backing only extended that far
anyway. You couldn't hoist above that point.
Then there's the J30 I sail on which has two mains. The hoists are a
bit off and don't match at all. The shorter sail is better, but it's
only a few inches short. He could care less. He wins with that sail and
mostly cruises anyway.
All three lofts I spoke to agree that max hoist is for the SAIL in
almost every case though, not a structural factor. I asked Doyle about
my Kevlar main (we initially thought it measured short on the hoist by
a whopping 9 inches, but it was only 4.) and the sq. ft for my main is
actually greater than the stock sail. So the sail is "wrong" for being
short on the hoist by 4 inches and having more sail area via the roach
than the standard sail. Doyle, who lost a sale because I bought this,
says that the sail will be great and with no loss of sail area, it will
be a very fast sail. There was also a discussion about the inert
properties of Kevlar which transmit most of the wind force where it
belongs. He called it the "best economical conversion of wind energy
available for a sail." Kevlar also retains shape until it dies...while
Dacron starts deforming from day one. CF and other materials were also
discussed. "As far as hoists go" He said, "we can go a bit higher or a
bit shorter if you're not racing design that is!" He cuts dacron a bit
short because it'll stretch...less so for a Kevlar of course!
In any case, I have a great cruising sail. It was built for racing, but
so what? It's in near new condition and fits like a glove. When we
hoisted it actually went higher up than the Beneteau Mylar, so what's
up with that?
Makes no difference. It will be a fast sail and it looks awesome! And
Sloco is miserable over it! Wait until he sees my Lewmar 80mm HL
blocks!

Pics posting soon.


RB
35s5
NY