HookEm
New Member
It appears that the maufacture's suggested selling price of a Sunfish racing sail is $410, or that is at least what a number of on line sites show as their price. Does anyone sell a class legal racing sail for less?
Best prices on racing sail?
- Thread starter HookEm
- Start date
I think that almost all racers would love to know of such a place, but I doubt it exists 'officially'
. However, a group purchase should get you a lower price. Also, most shops will throw in numbers for free (which will save you about $25-30). If you have a shop nearby, you can always ask for a discount, free shipping, or whatever else you can think of 
.
Tim Polaski
79429
Sunfish sails are made offshore in Sri Lanka.....but yeah...why does North monopolize one design classes with "one" manufacturer of sail and charge so much?
Example....Neil pryde could supply 420 sails to our club junior program for about half of what big brother charges.
I can buy a state of the art windsurfing sail with full battens and more seams and panels for about what a plain dacron sunfish sail costs. The sunfish sail has had no development since its inception. A floridian sailmaker can cut a knock off race sail for half! Made in USA. Where's the money going? Into their big boat R&D?
Why do we put up with the high prices? Do some of the royalties come back to the class? Perhaps they pay for British Royal Navy Rum at the worlds council meetings?
Example....Neil pryde could supply 420 sails to our club junior program for about half of what big brother charges.
I can buy a state of the art windsurfing sail with full battens and more seams and panels for about what a plain dacron sunfish sail costs. The sunfish sail has had no development since its inception. A floridian sailmaker can cut a knock off race sail for half! Made in USA. Where's the money going? Into their big boat R&D?
Why do we put up with the high prices? Do some of the royalties come back to the class? Perhaps they pay for British Royal Navy Rum at the worlds council meetings?
sailorf2
New Member
The prices for sunfish stuff is pretty standardized. I've never found one place where the price is a lot lower.
mike4947
Member
Nope the "royalties"/payments for being the sole supplier go to Vanguard. There were IIRC at least three suppliers over the years for SUnfish sails. The first were actual sailing canoe sails bought retail from (I forgot the canoe manufacturer) But the OEM supplier to the canoe company was Ratsey Laphorn. The Alcort started buying direct and did actually lower the price to almost match the lower wholesale price they got from direct OEM buying.
Then there was the second generation Ratsey In IIRC 1968-1969 when the Scorpion from North Carolina boat started blowing away the Sunfish. Ratsey increased the draft and that was the end of the Scorpion.
The third generation (and my favorite even over the new racing sails was a 3.9 ounce Fleet cloth sail by the then Fogh loft in Canada. A really heavy duty high draft sail with damn near the area of a racing sail. But fairly expensive to make.
I had a solid red Fogh sail mad eby the Canadian loft. The best sail I ever had on a fish. Trading it back and forth with racing sails on 2-3 different boats and skippers it always had the edge, not to mention the heavier material didn't ahve the stretch of the newer sail cloth.
When Fogh sold out to North it was about the time the racing sail started. For IIRC a year or so the sails were made in Canada at the former Fogh loft. And recreational sails were made in Siara Lanka. North has since move all the fish sails to Indonesia and for a year or two did have massive quality control issues with the lighter sail cloth than the older 3.9 ounce fleet cloth used in the Fogh sails and that started the rumors that, yellow tape/blue tape/ or no colored tape sails were better quality and faster.
AS for stretching, if you do any heavy air sailing and have the outhaul and cunningham strapped down to flatten the sail MAKE SURE you RELEASE then before putting the sail instorage for any length of time. I didn't and the sail stretched to the point of being unusable for anything but day sailing. I new racing sail immediately brought me back to by old finishing positions rather than at the back of the fleet. An expensive lesson I don't want anyone else have to learn.
Tim Polaski
79429
Great info Mike,
To add a little more, the rec sail that came with my 1999 fish was made by Neil Pryde and had the class approved patch on it. My wife's 1999 fish had a North rec sail on it. Go figure. So they were toying around with Neil Pryde at one point at least. The neil pryde was a heavier cloth and flatter cut by far than the north rec sail.
Tim
To add a little more, the rec sail that came with my 1999 fish was made by Neil Pryde and had the class approved patch on it. My wife's 1999 fish had a North rec sail on it. Go figure. So they were toying around with Neil Pryde at one point at least. The neil pryde was a heavier cloth and flatter cut by far than the north rec sail.
Tim
Old Geezer
Member
What??? British Royal Navy Rum? How do I get on this world council junket?
sailorf2
New Member
We pay the price because we love to race our boats. All you need is one sail. If you get anymore thats because you want to get them. Granted they do stretch and become a little less competitive. North Sails makes a good, class legal sail. Your not going to find a better price for a sunfish race sail equivalent.
IMHO there must be only one supplier of class legal sails to keep the concept of "one design" valid. If you have more than one supplier you will have sails with different sailing performance, even thought the sails should be identical, and thus taking away from the "one Design" concept of "equal equipment". If there is more than one provider it soon brecome a race as to who can produce the fastest sail among providers and who can afford to purchase the fastest sails among competitors. I have no idea on who makes the choice of sail provider, as I do not know who, in fact has control of the Sunfish Class. (Class office, boat builder, or concensus of both) The choice of that supplier should be made by considering several factors, such as, but maybe not limited to, quality of product, affordabilty of product, and uniformity of product.
Tim Polaski
79429
I agree with the thinking and notion that there should be one manufacturer BUT the point I'm making is that the sails are being cut overseas in Sri Lanka and still cost $400. Nobody ever seems to question the price being paid. Why does it cost X amount? When your insurance rates go up, do you ever shop around to see if you are just being gouged? A Floridian can make a sail in his loft for about $200 that is essentially a copy of the race cut, without the badge. The uniformity may vary a bit, but it is one guy working in America! If he were the class supplier he could do a lot for uniformity with an extra $200 per sail to measure twice. But does it cost double for the uniformity? In summary, these are low tech sails made of low tech material being made overseas and sold over here for a comparatively large pricetag. You get what I'm saying?
Old Geezer
Member
You mean that the vendor is charging what the market will bear for sails and perhaps making a bit of extra profit on this item to cover other costs in his business so that overall he can proivde a great little boat at amazingly good value?
Tim Polaski
79429
Geezer,
You wouldn't by chance be interested in a slightly used elevator pass then would you?? I'll sell it a market the mrket will bear!
You wouldn't by chance be interested in a slightly used elevator pass then would you?? I'll sell it a market the mrket will bear!