New Sail for Xmas! Color schemes?

ssshield

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Am restoring a '76 Sunfish. What's your favorite Sunfish sail color scheme? I'm trying to avoid white because here in Oklahoma the red clay stains white really bad. I'd like to purchase the color scheme if possible, so "During the carter administration they made this one sail.." isn't helpful. Any help appreciated.

Thanks! - S
 
Here's mine in my profile picture. It's not class legal but works fine at my club. In fact, they told me I didn't even need numbers. It sticks out pretty good against all the other white sails. :)
 
Am restoring a '76 Sunfish. What's your favorite Sunfish sail color scheme? I'm trying to avoid white because here in Oklahoma the red clay stains white really bad. I'd like to purchase the color scheme if possible, so "During the carter administration they made this one sail.." isn't helpful. Any help appreciated.

Thanks! - S
I had two circa 1976 'fish for my daughters. Sails were red/white/ blue. Nice
 
It should come as no surprise that in 1976, the US bicentennial year, the most popular color scheme for the Sunfish was a red-white-blue sail, white hull and deck, blue splashrail and red-white-blue deck stripes fore and aft. The Neil Pryde "Patriot" aftermarket sail has nice bright r-w-b panels. It is a little flat for my taste, but the NP sails are well made and a good value for the cost. I have purchased several for project boats, and I have always been pleased with them.

Yes, avoid white if your lake has a lot of iron rich silt in it. I ruined a nice white North race sail in such a lake in Ohio.

Alan Glos
Cazenovia, NY
 
Regarding dirty sail... I know it is generally verboten and I would never do it on a newer sail but I just washed one in a LG front-load washer. This washer is a lot easier on clothes then my old top-load Kenmore. I wanted to wash the decades of grime/clay/mud from the sail as well as give the sail-tape a chance of sticking over the many rips. I'll probably still have to scrub some spots and apply alcohol to make sure patches stick.
 
The sail definitely came out cleaner. This was on a gentle cycle which only lasts about 30 minutes compared to normal which is about an hour.
 
what type of detergent did you use? any bleach? I have a few old, old sails that it might be worth trying on.
 
I did not use bleach since that particuilar sail was the traditional old sunfish style with color stripes as well as white areas. My sunfish logo was already faded but if one cared about that, bleach might be a concern with it as well. I used the same detergent that I use for my regular laundry, that is whatever is cheapest at Target for high efficiency front loader washers and doesn't have an overengineered pour spout (my personal pet peeve); these are all liquid type. I believe the wash cycle was a warm one... I don't believe Nylon has shrinkage issues but I'll let you know once I patch and re-mount on the spars!
 
I have not washed a newer sail but I have washed several older sails that are already soft in my front load machine. I add some powdered Oxyclean to the load as well as liquid detergent. Does a decent job but typically with these older sails not all stains come out.
 
For those of us who have resold sails, the red/white/blue is by far the most popular. There's a gent down in FL who makes a very nice sail. Contact me for his name if interested.....
 
Still on the fence. I sail on red clay Oklahoma lakes, so white sails don't last long here. Hard to beat a $135 Intensity brand new though. Guess I just need to suck it up and pay the extra $100 for colors. I really do like the red and blue at the top of this thread though. Wouldn't show stains nearly as bad.
 
Here's another Neil Pryde red/blue color combination, this time with yellow and white as well - if this color combination is helpful to anyone else out there.

Pricepoint aside, Sunfish did produce a similar red/blue/yellow combination like the one below a few years back - but without the white. That was a real sharp looking combination, and there were a few still available out on the web about two years ago - I believe it was Colie Sails in NJ that still had a a couple left in stock. I've forgotten the name that Sunfish gave to that particular color combination.

Also on the Neil Pryde sails, the sails tend to be very "pastel looking" in real life, as compared to the illustrations shown up on the NP website, so if anyone is interested in the NP sails, it's best to Google the NP color combination that you are interested in such as to get an accurate picture of the final product (same for the newer Sunfish combinations as well). You'd be surprised at how many photos of actual Sunfish sails that you can find out there on the web.

Additionally, many of the newer Sunfish, Neil Pryde, and similar aftermarket color combinations allow you to "blend off" your original Sunfish deck and trim colors, thus making it easier to match the original deck/trim combinations. As Sunfish has produced so many different shades of colors out there over the past decades, it can be extremely hard to match up the exact deck colors - like blue for instance. One way to work around this dilemma is to select a multi-colored sail, such as to "blend off" the original deck/trim colors.

Shown below two 1972/73 era Sunfish models, one with a 1970's style medium blue and the other with a 1950's style teal blue. Both used multiple colored sails to "blend off" the original deck colors, as it was nearly impossible to match up the original shades of blue. The modern day white colored FRP centerboards and rudders also help to blend off the colors of the various replacement sails as well.
 

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I have to agree that is definatly a northeren beach. On a different note I got a sail for Chistmas and I was wondering does it always have a, don't know how to put, plastic like feel. or does it break in after a while.
 
Aaron: New sails are like that due to the coating. You want to preserve that crispy feel as long as possible.
 
Thanks, but how do I do that? Also how should I clean it?

Please read up on sail care on this Forum (there's a Search box in the upper right area).
Ideally, one removes the sail from the spars after an outing. Subsequently, one folds it nicely; rolling is an alternative although with the long foot, that's a bit of a pain. Most people though, don't take the sail off but roll it towards the spars and tie the sheet loosely (!) around the bundle. Also loosen the Cunningham and outhaul, if you have rigged those controls.

Unless you stick your sail in the mud, you shouldn't have to clean it. But if you do want to clean up a dirty spot, use some gentle detergent and a sponge, (Scotchbrite) Dobie pad or soft brush. Then rinse with water and let the sail dry. Rust spots will have to be removed differently (check this Forum).


If you sail in salt water, rinse the sail (and everything else, especially the metal parts) afterwards.
 

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