E38 New Sails - musings

G'day E owners,

I am planning to purchase a new set of sails within the next 6 months for 'Merrimist' my 86' E38200.
After some searching on the web and sending out requests to different sail lofts/manufacturers, I am more confused. Especially about the weight of cloth and type of mterial.
I plan to head off at some stage in the next 18 months, blue water/coastal cruising short handed. Not considering high end carbon/kevlar impregnated sails.
Am going to purchase the following,; 1. new mainsail, battened with two reefs, 2. new furling headsail 135% with foam luff and UV strip and 3. storm sails?
Would like to hear from others about their experience and opinions regarding sail weights and cuts/materials for mid range priced sails, (blue water and coastal cruising) by that I mean I am considering to expect change out of 10k for mid range priced sails.
Completed online query form North sails website, no reply, Quantum - never got back to me, best reply and price I did receive is from EPSails on the West coast.
Look forward to comments and/or info on sail cloth weight for both main and headsail the type of cut/materials.
Any comments on a set of storm sails is also welcomed.

Will be also purchasing new mainsail mast track from Tides Marine at same time.

Hammy
waiting for weather window to depart Madeira to Newport RI on Dubois 144'

Hammy,
I don’t have any advice concerning cloth, etc. However, I have a couple comments.

If you are getting a storm trysail you should have a dedicated mast track for it. Otherwise, you will find it too difficult to deploy shorthanded in the heavy conditions when you’ll want it. For most coastal cruising I like a very deep third reef in the main, well reinforced.

The Tidesmarine track is a great idea. I love it. It works well with our full battened mainsail.

Those Dubois 44 meter super yachts are magnificent! Have a great crossing!
Mike Jacker

Storm Trysail

Joliba said:

Hammy,
I don’t have any advice concerning cloth, etc. However, I have a couple comments.

If you are getting a storm trysail you should have a dedicated mast track for it. Otherwise, you will find it too difficult to deploy shorthanded in the heavy conditions when you’ll want it. For most coastal cruising I like a very deep third reef in the main, well reinforced.

The Tidesmarine track is a great idea. I love it. It works well with our full battened mainsail.

Those Dubois 44 meter super yachts are magnificent! Have a great crossing!
Mike Jacker

Click to expand...

Hi Mike,

seperate track on mast for storm trysail, never gave that any thought, appreciate the suggestion, must look into deciding which would better suit me.
i.e. mainsail with two reefs and a seperate track for storm trysail, or as you suggest, have a sail loft manufacture a mainsail with three reefs......

Some more fun home work, will follow up when all done.

Thank you for your comment, 'get crossing'. Most recent transit, Barcelona to Gib, to Madeira all uneventful. Read; uneventful = good. Now waiting for weather window to head to Newport RI to carry out some yard work.

Hammy
Engineer
SY Artemis

After some thought I went with a 9 oz. Dacron mainsail and four full-length battens. It's a little heavier than usual, for the thrashing you get shorthanded offshore. By which I just mean responding to broaches is slower than with a full crew, and the sail cannot be a princess.

Four full length battens are essential, I believe.

I don't believe in storm trysails--too much gear and complication. I prefer a third reef, which gets used a lot in winds over 25 knots. In storm-trysail conditions, I would run bare with a Jordan Series drogue.

Genoa is 120 percent. My sailmaker persuaded me to get a high clew, for visibility and because the lead of the sheet is less critical, and because on a whisker pole it is somewhat more symmetrical than a decksweeper. A 135 overlap would be fine. My 120 is 420 square feet, which is still 40 sf larger than the mainsail.

I don't know how I could improve this rig, at least for my needs. For daysailing or club racing I would choose UK tape drive sails, medium fancy lighter weight stuff, looks cool, holds shape, etc. But Dacron will outlast any performance sail.

Sails

There are many options. Peter at sobstad has been very helpful to me. You can tell him you refered by the e38 in Utah. I have also been happy with the north sails I have purchased over the years. I am very curious how the 3dl Dacron is holding up and how it relates in price. I have found with all sail lofts it is about the people. Call different offices and see who is helpful. The Midwest quantum office was good last time I used them. Also north San Diego and San Francisco. I would think Annapolis would have some insight into Bermuda

A couple of more thoughts on the storm sails, since I have gone down that rabbit hole and have been thinking those thoughts...

As noted above, unless they have separate rigging, they will never get used because it will be too much trouble to change sails. One hopes that once that is in place, it will be more facile to use them. Not only a separate track, and stay but separate halyards, sheets, turning blocks, tack fittings... There is a lot of cost beyond the sails themselves. Can these be installed so they don't interfere with or chafe the main? How far should the secondary track be from the main track? (I think that the spinnaker pole topping lift might at least double as the storm jib halyard, on my boat.) If a trysail is to be flown without removing the main, its tack will have to clear the head of the flaked main on its track - that's quite far up! (And quite a long pennant.) So the "swallowtail" style trysail may be needed to lower the center of effort.

If a set that fit my boat had not fallen into my lap, I might never have gone down this path. If I realized at the outset how much extra rigging it would take, I might have said "no thanks!" But fortunately I enjoy tinkering with stuff, so on we go. If you are not a mad scientist at heart, it might end up being overly daunting.

One reason that a trysail is sometimes advocated over a third reef is that the main itself is not risked during heavy weather. It's a completely separate back-up - and possibly sacrificial - sail that takes up very little stowage space. Possibly this is why off-shore racing rules require them. Although the main sails on those boats are probably a lot more fragile. I hear plenty of tails of woe from would-be cruisers who have shredded their sails off Cape Mendocino...