I just picked up this sail. It needs a couple of patches (baby fish ) but is otherwise in excellent shape. I’m curious about it because of the US prefix to the sail number (followed by 5294) and that the letters and numbers are stitched in. It has a nice window. No sailmaker or other identifiers. Was this prefix used for a certain race or just the way the number was assigned?
That’s what I wondered, but thought it would say that somewhere on the sail. Just curious, really. The sail was listed as FREE, left in a box and my sister in law was in the area to grab it for me! It’s a good day!
Nowadays country codes are three letters, but up til maybe 20 years ago they were two. Some sailors liked putting their country letters on the sail whether required or not. See attached for an example.
These days, I believe, the (three digit) country code has to be below the number at a distance specified by World Sailing (or the class; I am not sure).
Only applies to international events, of course.