I’m trying to ship some sails from San Jose CA to Memphis. Any suggestions? The rolled up sails are 8’ long and weigh about 30lbs. FedEx is $250.

CentralTransport. They are not geared for retail, but you can make it happen. Saves significant money if you avoid "residential delivery/pickup". A pickup form the sail loft is ok, but delivery to your home will cost, so see if you can pick it up at a local CentralTransport warehouse.

You have a few options. First, I would check UPS and USPS, sometimes they are cheaper.

Next up is Air Cargo. Southwest flies out of both San Jose and Memphis and may be able to help, but you have to be an authorized shipper.

Final option is a transport company like Martin is suggesting. I've looked into these guys for shipping masts before, https://www.forwardair.com/, they have locations at most major airports.

The issue I had with shipping a sail was the battens. I pulled them out, folded the sail, boxed it up, marked it
"DO NOT OPEN WITH BLADE" on all sides, and shipped it for about $25 USPS retail ground from VA to NY.
The postal symbol is the outline of a utility knife in a red circle with a line through it.
That left the 96" batten package, now thinner and lighter but still long. I kept the length to a minimum, under 101 inches I believe, and reduced the width and height as much as possible. I used a box from a flooring installer that had trim in it. It still cost $96 retail ground. Pad the end of the batten box well. They will blow out the ends otherwise.

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'82 Super Cat 15
Hull #315
Virginia
Previously owned: '70 H14, '79 H16, '68 Sailmaster 26, '85 H14T
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gahamby

The issue I had with shipping a sail was the battens. I pulled them out, folded the sail, boxed it up, marked it
"DO NOT OPEN WITH BLADE" on all sides, and shipped it for about $25 USPS retail ground from VA to NY.
The postal symbol is the outline of a utility knife in a red circle with a line through it.
That left the 96" batten package, now thinner and lighter but still long. I kept the length to a minimum, under 101 inches I believe, and reduced the width and height as much as possible. I used a box from a flooring installer that had trim in it. It still cost $96 retail ground. Pad the end of the batten box well. They will blow out the ends otherwise.

that's ok with an oldstyle dacron sail. Don't fold a new laminate sail!!! no no no no

The trick is getting the length-width-girth total of the package to less than 165 inches (and no more than 108 inches in length). If you can do that you avoid that big jump in price for oversize package.

When I bought a set of Pentex sails from EP they shipped them in a long box created from two long narrow boxes. If you nest two 10 inch x 48 inch boxes using the flaps you can end up with a 108 + 10 + 10 + 10 + 10 = 148 inches, even a 12 inch box would still be 156 inches.

Create the box, then print your own UPS label from their online service and drop it off at the UPS store for the best overall price.

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Damon Linkous
1992 Hobie 18
Memphis, TN

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martin_langhoff

gahamby

The issue I had with shipping a sail was the battens. I pulled them out, folded the sail, boxed it up, marked it
"DO NOT OPEN WITH BLADE" on all sides, and shipped it for about $25 USPS retail ground from VA to NY.
The postal symbol is the outline of a utility knife in a red circle with a line through it.
That left the 96" batten package, now thinner and lighter but still long. I kept the length to a minimum, under 101 inches I believe, and reduced the width and height as much as possible. I used a box from a flooring installer that had trim in it. It still cost $96 retail ground. Pad the end of the batten box well. They will blow out the ends otherwise.

that's ok with an oldstyle dacron sail. Don't fold a new laminate sail!!! no no no no

Generally advisable but I had a brand new pentex jib shipped from a sailmaker once folded and it was completely fine.

What about U-Ship.... seems like you could get someone to piggyback it a load they may be bringing your way.

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John Schwartz
Ventura, CA
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Sounds expensive, I paid about 10% of that quote when I bought my H16 main from Ca. I had to ditch the largest batten though. Hub to Hub with a company like forwardair is a good way to go and I’m sure there are others, I know not everyone’s paying $250 to ship sails.