Should I re-cut my sails or buy new ones?
QI’ve got a 1979 Jaguar 25 which had a fairly old Dacron mainsail when I bought her seven years ago. I’m not sure of the age of the sail but I think it might be quite tired now. I’m aware that sails stretch over time and that will have an adverse effect on my sailing. I’m now considering buying a new sail but will it really make a big difference? I only do short coastal cruising and am not looking to set the world alight. Is a new sail really the best option or will re-cutting hold off the inevitable? Martin Thorpe
AThis is always a difficult call to make and I’m aware that a new mainsail will be a massive cost in comparison to boat price. In an ideal world, obviously you would buy a new main which will make the boat lighter on the helm, keep the boat flatter and have a massive effect on performance, especially upwind. But it’s a big ask cost-wise.
The problem is that the actual fabric itself is woven and has resin holding the fibres together, which does break down and then you are left with just the fibres, which will stretch. As they stretch the sail gets deeper so you will need to reef earlier.
The bolt rope on an old sail shrinks and the Dacron stretches so often you can’t get full hoist in the sail due to bolt rope shrinkage, which makes the sail even deeper. The deeper it gets, the more leech return you get which gives you more power. If you get someone to release the bolt rope when this happens it makes the sail a lot flatter and a lot more manageable.
The other thing you could do is fit a flattener about nine inches up from the clew then you can attach a reefing line to that and take some tension into it which will help flatten out the sail.
I understand the dilemma but hopefully sorting the bolt rope and doing what you can to flatten the sail will give you another couple of seasons if it is not too far gone. Jeremy White, Elvstrom Sails