breaking in new sail

calicosine

calicosine

New Member
i have a brand new sail i want to break in this weekend. what is the reccomended way to do this? how much wind is too much?are there any points of sailing you should avoid untill the sail is broke in?.....thanks to all.......terry
 
calicosine said:
i have a brand new sail i want to break in this weekend. what is the reccomended way to do this? how much wind is too much?are there any points of sailing you should avoid untill the sail is broke in?.....thanks to all.......terry
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From what I recall you are supposed to sail on a reach in 8-12. I guess this trains the sail into a nice shape. Not sure if that's knots or mph, but I think it's mph. You need some hours like that, like 6 or 8. You want to avoid heavy air, that's for sure.
 
thanks for the link, I've heard this advice many times before. Sailmakers that sell dacron one-design sails for other classes also say that some breaking in is necessary before sails are really 'fast'

the main difference between breaking in sails from a loft and breaking in factory-made laser mains is that breaking in a laser sail is absolutely necessary unless you want to pour that 500 bones down the toilet. In other words, you can really screw up your sail if you take it out in heavy air, put on a lot of controls, and sheet it in hard.

at least thats what I've experienced. I remember once I took a sail out and thte first time I used it was in a regatta with short-course racing in about 11-14 knots. Never thought anything of it. I put the sail away and only used it for regattas. The first time I encountered a heavy air event, I was really surprised the first time I sheeted in, the leech fluttered so badly that the sound startled me!

I assumed after that it was because the sail wasn't broken in properly....now I know the leech is the first thing to go on a laser sail (its too bad we have to put up with such inferior product), but this was less than half a dozen days on the water.

thoughts?
 
Thoughts? I know you can win a national junior title, go through the whole series to earn selection for the Open Worlds, and win one of the hottest district titles on the planet (ie world Open champ was 7th) with just one sail.

So it would be surprising if they really got slow fast; assuming of course you take care of them (never letting them flap, rig witht eh sail on the ground and drop the rig in when the boat is at the water's edge and your in your wetsuit, and reach around between races).

I could be wrong, I've never gone from new sail straight to old and then lined up against the same people.
 
they do get slow....how quickly that happens is a matter of debate.
My question is how important breaking in a sail is in keeping[/I] it fast
for longer periods of time. In other words, can you damage a sail by
not breaking it in?
 
Oddly enough this is what prompted me to develop my practice sails. You can pamper the class legal sail and still get out on the water on the harsher days that might trash your expensive sail. Since we also use firmer cloth our sails will withstand the heavy air and hold their shape longer. at $199.00 it is easier to take than wearing out a $500.00 sail!
 
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