Shopping for new sails?
I mentioned a couple weeks ago that Rebecca and I finally had the chance to meet up with Jamie and Behan on Totem. If you don’t follow their story, you’re probably not be aware that in his former life, Jamie was a sailmaker. In fact, he still is!
Recently, Jamie published a few articles on sails, which I am told are considered somewhat controversial to certain people in the industry. Personally, I thought they were both amusingly written, and educational! It definitely cast some doubt on some assumptions that I had about sails. Unless you’re cruising on a trawler like a few of our friends, I think you should check them out.
Adjusting luff tension. 🙂
While I have no first hand knowledge of working with Jamie to purchase new sails, I know that when the time comes that we are shopping, we’ll definitely be speaking to him.
Thanks for the nod Mike–it’s very much appreciated! Jamie’s got a knack for taking things that tend to get explained in technospeak or jargon (if at all) and turning them into plain English…or just using his racing background to share tips that work in our cruising world. Glad you liked his articles — he’s ready when you are. 😉
You’re welcome, Behan, and thanks! 🙂
Mike – thanks for the post promo! I’m also happy to answer questions that people have about their sails or rigging.
That’s a great offer. Bring on the questions, folks.
And Happy Birthday Jamie!
In my 20 years of sailing both cruising boats, racing boats, monohull, and catamarans I would say I disagree about head ring g versus headboard, agree with the foot of the sail, and the explanation of luff tension…
The only reason I can think of for the head board is to spread the force of the halyard pulling up on the sail over a greater area. Do you have another reason?
I’m curious if Wiley has a reason as well, or personal preference which is fine of course.
Head ring with webbing straps distributes the load into the sail just fine. Remember that external clew and tack rings, webbed on, are very common (and I think usually better than pressed rings there)- and the clew has higher load than tack or head.
I don’t think Wiley receives notifications when there are additional comments so I messaged him on FB and asked him why he said that. I assumed that he felt that it was stronger, and that the head board spread the load out over a larger area. He said yes, that is why.