A new use for the "old bag" ?

Flappy

New Member
Greetings all,
Recently I purchased a new sail to replace my old bagged out sail..The old sail is still good enough for a practice sail..Someone told me that my old soft sail would perform better in light winds than my new one because it would shape out better with less effort..Is this true?.Would it only be true on certain legs?.Does an old sail ever have an advantage over a new sail?.
 
I would only ever use an old sail again if it was in moderately decent condition, and it was blowing over 25 consistently, only so I don't blow out my new sail. I think it's better to use a new sail in light winds, as the sail isable to support itself, especially downwind, it needs to be able to hold it's shape.
 
The question suggests you could stand to learn a bit more about sail shaping.

Learn to recognize a tight vs. an open leech...

A twisted vs. an untwisted sail...

A forward vs. an aft draft...

Deep vs. shallow draft...

How to use your available sail controls to shift between these...

And when you'd want which shapes...

And which shapes are never desirable...

The question is "Does an old sail ever have an advantage over a new sail?" and the answer is: When the old sail is being trimmed by a crafty old codger who knows what shape he's looking for, and how to use the sail controls to achieve that shape, while the new sail is being trimmed by a novice.
 
anything under 6knts the old sail (not original sail tho) will be faster than a brand new one or a very lightly used one
compare an old one to at new one theres a pretty signifigant size difference also when it is conditions were you need to heel the boat to keep wind the old one will be faster always I dont know exactly why but it works. I think its b/c the leech is blown and the sail twists a bit more also its more sensitive b/c the fibers are loose, to small wind fluctuations wereas a 'tight' new sail will set differently and not accelerate the boat. wew i sail Lots of phrf boats with unlimited sail choices often put up the older sails if they don't own a floater when the wind goes below about 5-6 knots and they often win
 
Have a friend who always uses her old sail in light air. It's thinner and she says the wind can lift it easier, like a spinnaker. She's fast.
 
Yea, I'm not gonna believe that

Ditto. And its not often that I totally agree with Ross ;)

As an experiment, a friend and I went out one day in a near drifter, about 2 or 3 knots of wind at the most. I had always beaten him in these conditions previously, so we agreed that I'd use an old sail, and he'd use a new one on that day, whereas usually I always used a newer one. I also had quite a weight advantage.

We did simple boatspeed exercises, no tactical stuff, and guess what.....

I got thrashed! Lesson learned! Old sails are not fast, even in light winds, despite what the loonies at the bar might tell you!

Biggest single difference seemed to be pointing ability, and when he went lower to where I was pointing, he was simply faster!

I just got a shiny new one for christmas, so sadly I now have no excuses if I dont win! :'(
 

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