North "racing" sail life

[redboat]

Painfully aware of the sometimes all too short competitive life of many different types of racing sails but unfamiliar with the Sunfish and it's unique sailplan.

Does tightening the outhaul and cunningham flatten it enough to reduce most of the effect of aging?

Have an older tired looking sail that came with the boat. Safe to assume it's a dropcloth?

What is the competitive life of these rags?

Thanks.

 

[mike4947]

Actually leaving the outhaul/cunningham tighten over time will damage the sail. A year old sail that I happened to sail the last day in 25+ knot winds and forgot to release the outhaul/cunningham before storing it for the winter stretched the sail to the point it was worthless for racing. Buying a new sail put me back in my "normal" position in the fleet.

Just between you and me I wish they'd go back to the "fleet cloth" Fogh used to make their sails from. I had one made by his Canada loft with all red panels in IIRC 1981. To this day it still performs right with new racing sails. And I replaced the racing sails on the average every three years. That's with weekend racing from the end of June till Labor day every Sat & Sunday.