Race sail Life
- Thread starter altair
- Start date
Alan Glos
Active Member
Very good question. A lot depends on sun exposure and sailing in (very) heavy air a lot.
I tend to get a new race sail about every 3-4 years, but I still get beat by skippers with much older sails! The real test is: how is your sail doing in the win/loss tally with good competition? If you are winning consistently, no need for a new sail. But if skippers you beat before are now beating you consistently, especially in straight line speed, maybe it is time to spring the $425 for a new race sail. Vanguard had a great 25% off sail a few months ago - too bad if you missed it.
Alan Glos
Cazenovia, NY
I tend to get a new race sail about every 3-4 years, but I still get beat by skippers with much older sails! The real test is: how is your sail doing in the win/loss tally with good competition? If you are winning consistently, no need for a new sail. But if skippers you beat before are now beating you consistently, especially in straight line speed, maybe it is time to spring the $425 for a new race sail. Vanguard had a great 25% off sail a few months ago - too bad if you missed it.
Alan Glos
Cazenovia, NY
What are the qualities that define the sail as a high performance fabric airfoil?
When it’s new it has an optimum attainable shape for maximum performance. Achieving the most aerodynamic presentation is a function of clipping or lacing on, outhaul adjustment (in our case x2), halyard attachment point, vang tension, traveler angle, and sheet tension. Much of these rigging variables dependant on the present wind. Optimization can be quantified by fine tuning successive upwind reaches over the same course under the same conditions until the best time is attained. That would establish a benchmark for sail performance. As the sail ages by fabric stretch and distortion, rigging adjustments are made to compensate. The sail remains viable so long as it can still be adjusted to perform near the benchmark time. When the sail runs out adjustability to meet the performance desired its competitive value has expired. How soon that limit is reached depends on the sail quality, how much you sail, and how hard you sail. A seven year old sail could be 6 years past it prime for someone who sails daily and races hard every weekend or if sailed and raced only a few times all season, just getting broken in.
When it’s new it has an optimum attainable shape for maximum performance. Achieving the most aerodynamic presentation is a function of clipping or lacing on, outhaul adjustment (in our case x2), halyard attachment point, vang tension, traveler angle, and sheet tension. Much of these rigging variables dependant on the present wind. Optimization can be quantified by fine tuning successive upwind reaches over the same course under the same conditions until the best time is attained. That would establish a benchmark for sail performance. As the sail ages by fabric stretch and distortion, rigging adjustments are made to compensate. The sail remains viable so long as it can still be adjusted to perform near the benchmark time. When the sail runs out adjustability to meet the performance desired its competitive value has expired. How soon that limit is reached depends on the sail quality, how much you sail, and how hard you sail. A seven year old sail could be 6 years past it prime for someone who sails daily and races hard every weekend or if sailed and raced only a few times all season, just getting broken in.
beldar boathead
Married to Primat Boathead
I generally agree with Dan. However, you cannot tune a sail by timing your speed. First, conditions are never constant - waves, shifts, velocity, etc. all are too variable. Secondly, your speed might be the same, but you might be pointing lower to achieve that speed. The only way to tune is to get two boats out and adjust the sails until both boats are going fast and pointing well.
BB
No argument, conditions are forever variable - - (there goes Portsmouth out the window)
Point being, the measure of whether or not a sail is still viable is quantified in whether or not it can still be trimmed to be competitive. When your outa trim your outa sail - - or something like that.
Exposure to the elements and use are only wear factors. In and of themselves they are not measures of when, just indicators of how quickly you might get there.
It's the difference between acknowledging you corner your car hard and peel out often and actually measuring the depth of the tire tread when deciding to replace your tires.
.
Point being, the measure of whether or not a sail is still viable is quantified in whether or not it can still be trimmed to be competitive. When your outa trim your outa sail - - or something like that.
Exposure to the elements and use are only wear factors. In and of themselves they are not measures of when, just indicators of how quickly you might get there.
It's the difference between acknowledging you corner your car hard and peel out often and actually measuring the depth of the tire tread when deciding to replace your tires.
.