Sailmaker poll Comments welcome

I recently ordered and received Stars and Stripes sails for my Hobie 21 SC from Ullman sails in Sarasota. Not cheap but they're beautiful. Super friendly and responsive to work with.

I've got sails for my SC20 and a self tacking Jib for my SC17 from Smyth. Sails were nice and the prices were really good. I've seen some comment that he has his made over seas if that's a concern. He does the design and farma out the construction. The 17 Jib was made in Fl i believe. Al in all I was happy.

Randy (Smyth) was great to work with , he made a furling jib for my Prindle 19, excellent quality

It is my understanding, unless you are getting a hand built, custom one off and paying a premium for it- most large/premium sail lofts now have beach cat sails produced overseas to be competitive

This was the case when i spoke with Chip at Whirlwind years ago - and what i hear recently for the most part too.

This would be my list:

Glaser - but he is not producing new sails at the moment from what i heard
Landenberger
E/P
Whirlwind
Smyth
sail technologies (st pete fl)

SLO - wouldn't ever consider doing business with them again

Schurr (Pensacola)
Glaser
Smyth

Fwiw, Smyth hasn't built his own sails maybe ever. Years ago, Sabre built for him, then Schurr, and now I understand that he just sends to the China Sail Factory like everyone else these days. As long as QC happens and the product is supported it's NOMB where made

Edited by jaybird1111 on Aug 31, 2017 - 05:10 PM.

Jay bird, thanks I forgot about Schurr. I also don't care if they're made in Asia. There are great seamstresses all over the world. Like you said, if the QC is good it doesn't matter.

Just getting a jib made up by chip buck at whirlwind. The one I bought from him 5 years ago was made in Asia but this one he is doing. I don't think he was happy with the outsourced sails. However I think he's pretty backed up. Well worth the wait though. I love the sail set he mhade for my 5.2. I have a set of so e/p sails for my 5.7, the Pentex main is very nice but the jib was a little fragile. I would go with Dacron for a jib just because they see a bit more abuse.

Edited by Wolfman on Aug 31, 2017 - 11:49 PM.

Wolfman wrote: I would go with Dacron for a jib just because they see a bit more abuse.

This is a common chant from experienced racers.
Heavyweight Dacron at that.

klozhald wrote: [quote=Wolfman]I would go with Dacron for a jib just because they see a bit more abuse.

This is a common chant from experienced racers.
Heavyweight Dacron at that.

Pros and cons to each material

the dacron jib will last forever - but will be out of shape after time and will typically weigh more

the laminate ones will hold their shape until they die, but will not last as long and become frail with time and use and UV

There is also Carolina Sail and Canvas. Bach is always response, I can't speak to his quality as I haven't seen it in person.

Chip at Whirlwind Sails built a fantastic jib for me at a fantastic price several years ago for a Hobie 18. For any of the older boats, I would not hesitate to go with Chip. He designed the original sails for many of the Hobies for a period in excess of a decade, so he knows what he is doing.

For a modern race boat, Glaser and Bach I believe are your best options. The question I would ask is what software are they running and can it handle a full 3-D model of the rig? Decksweepers on the A's and the F18's are coming out now because only recent versions of the software actually model the full flow field correctly; North, Quantum, Doyle and some of the French lofts have had this capability all along but didn't necessarily apply it to beach catamarans.

MN3 wrote: frail with time and use and UV

Really good point.
Too many sailors leave their sails up overnight and all weekend.
The extra time spent in the sun does take its toll on both types.

The breakfast I eat before a race easily outweighs my Dacron jib! 😀

I may have to rename my cat El Gordo!

Edited by klozhald on Sep 01, 2017 - 04:03 PM.

samc99us wrote: There is also Carolina Sail and Canvas. Bach is always response, I can't speak to his quality as I haven't seen it in person.

I guess I am qualified to address that.

The simple truth is that the sails built in 2016 had fantastic race results but, ultimately did not meet acceptable quality standards. This was both a result of learning the ropes and products failing to perform as advertised. Some of the issues with bonding products took a year to show up. I will say, we made every effort to continuously improve and did not charge customers for making improvements or repairs, even a year later. It took a while to find the right people with the right advice. Sailmaking at our level is not exactly something you can just get yourself a book on or learn online. 😉

On the plus side I believe we have a race entry to race win ratio that probably rivals anyone in the world. Our first design won 70% of the races it entered across two different sailors. We have quite a few wins and podium finishes between different sailors since then.

Its a tough business, I have A LOT of money tied up in space, software and equipment to build sails. Building in Asia would have been much cheaper and maybe even profitable. 😀 I can't blame anyone for going that route.

My boat has only ever had two sets of sails, the original Elliott/Patterson and now the square top laminate set from SLO. I really like these new sails and I think the quality on the build is very high. They answered every question I had and I had a bunch. They delivered on time and the price seemed fair to me. One other thing, the tangerine color sails are the coolest thing ever on top of the dark blue hulls. So way big style points too.

For sure dealing with the laminate sails and the square top are fussy compared to the dacron and I can see that the jib will not last as long as the main, but again, the cool factor is way up there with both sails in tangerine. I would have to confirm by unrolling my sails, but I think these were also domestically made which is a plus in my book.

Bought my boat used from www.thecatouse1.com several years ago. Went back to them for sail recommendations, and after a bit of research, bought a set (Main, Jib, Spin) made by Performance Sails. They where on par price wise with everyone else and are the current sail makers for the new boats. The sails are beautiful..have no complaints.

That being said, I don't have much to compare them to as haven't spent a lot of time around other Nacra's. If there are any manufactures out there who want to send a set over for me to try for a while...I'd be happy do do a very detailed write up comparing them! 😉 😉