When looking at a new set of sails, how can you tell if they were
built for offshore use or for coastal use? Is there a quick and easy
way to tell?

There are no "offshore" or "coastal" sails - but there are well made
and poorly made sails - you can use either in either place.
In sails unlike cars - you often get what you pay for.


On Thu, 10 Jun 2004 02:29:02 GMT, (Norm) wrote:

When looking at a new set of sails, how can you tell if they were
built for offshore use or for coastal use? Is there a quick and easy
way to tell?

"Mark" wrote in message
...
There are no "offshore" or "coastal" sails - but there are well made
and poorly made sails - you can use either in either place.
In sails unlike cars - you often get what you pay for.


And I've read that, with a visual check, it can be hard to tell just how
good condition a sail is in. I guess take them to a qualified sailmaker for
inspection.

On Thu, 10 Jun 2004 02:29:02 GMT, (Norm) wrote:

When looking at a new set of sails, how can you tell if they were
built for offshore use or for coastal use? Is there a quick and easy
way to tell?

No. Depends on make, material and user specifications, particularly as
offshore cruisers tend to be very particular about cut,
reinforcements, etc.

A few clues: Offshore sails come in a greater variety for various
conditions, i.e. hank-ons in various sizes, with the extra
reinforcements at the corners to cope with the higher anticipated
winds common offshore. Frequently, there will be triple or quadruple
stitching instead of double; look for extra "chafe" patches, beefier
grommets, now-exotic stuff like downhaul grommets, two or three sets
of reef points, and a somewhat heavier (not always, however) and
thicker material.

Coastal sails are GENERALLY lighter air sails, and are commeasurately
lighter built to keep the boat going. Also, coastal sailors tend to
have one main, one roller-furled genny and maybe a cruising spinnaker
and a storm jib. Offshore will have more sails, period, inclding
staysails, trysails, storm jib(s) and whatnot. Roller furling is a
boon, but the offshore sailor won't hesitate to strip the forestay in
a blow and run up a proper storm jib.

In my experience, coastal sails are replaced far less frequently,
simply because they don't have to be.

R.

Typically 'off-shore' sails will have triple stitching, seam end
patches (to prevent seam splits), heavier weight fabric, heavier weight
stitching thread, added chafe patches on the leech at reefing points,
a 3rd reef, leech purse lines that can be tensioned from the leech or
alternately from the tack, chafe patches at spreader position ..... On
some top-end off-shore sails the seams will sometimes be glued AND
triple stitched .... eg.: bombproof.

Triple stitching is the most obvious clue.



In article , Norm
wrote:

When looking at a new set of sails, how can you tell if they were
built for offshore use or for coastal use? Is there a quick and easy
way to tell?

Norm wrote:
When looking at a new set of sails, how can you tell if they were
built for offshore use or for coastal use? Is there a quick and easy
way to tell?

Rich H hit the nail on the head. Some other things are to be familiar
with sailcloth and gage the weight versus size of sail; whether the
type of cloth is appropriate (for example a dense twill oriented versus
a fine thread heavily sized cloth).

Sometimes details are a giveaway, for example there's a New England loft
whose name I cannot recall right now; they specialize in sails for
classic & gaff rigged boats but make fine offshore sails- they have a
way of oversewing leather protectors on the D-rings & tabling that is
beautiful yet very functional. Detail work like that, found at the
headboard especially (because it's out of sight most of the time), is
hard to imitate and is most likely to be found on a good sail.

Fresh Breezes- Doug King

On Thu, 10 Jun 2004 09:32:37 -0400, DSK wrote:

Detail work like that, found at the
headboard especially (because it's out of sight most of the time), is
hard to imitate and is most likely to be found on a good sail.

Fresh Breezes- Doug King

Now you know why I scavenge and salvage older sails. You can develop
an eye for which ones were overbuilt and carefully finished in the
first place and take them to a loft for evaluation. I have a couple of
genoas in remarkably good shape that needed $100 of work and will
serve me for four to six seasons of Lake Ontario cruising.

And as I go out in heavy Lake weather (which can get hairy as ocean
sailing, if for far shorter periods of time), I don't have a problem
"inheriting" a decent, if dirty, ocean-cut sail. Sails are easy to
clean, but a lot of people are richer than that G

R.