How
good are your sails? That's a very subjective question which depends
on how your use your boat, it's age, how much your sails have
been used and cared for, and your measurement of satisfactory
performance.
There
are two major components
Shape and condition
Shape.
Every type of sail has an optimum shape defined, over time most
materials stretch and the shape slowly changes. This will be
very important to racers who want the best performance all the
time and less important to cruisers.
While
you can look at your sails and "see" the shape they
form to the wind, the best way with sails to judge the shape
is to simply lie on deck with a camera facing up the sail and
take a few shots… the developed pictures will not only
capture more than your eye, they are useful to show your sailmaker
when he is inspecting your sails or you are discussing your
sail needs. The addition of draft stripes to your sail will
help illustrate the position of the draft and the shape formed
by the sail.
Condition.
Every sail suffers from effects of use in different ways, the
sun has damaging effect over time, every tack or gibe causes
stress on the sail, even folding can destroy fibres in some
materials over time. Hathaways will carefully inspect your sail
by hand (Hathaway's
Inspection). There are some things you can look for yourself…
loose stitching, or stitching which comes apart or frays as
you flake the sail are signs that the thread has become sun
damaged. Material which tears easily is another sign. Dirt and
salt can degrade sails also and should be cleaned off (Hathaway's
sail cleaning). Any sign of chafe or fraying is a sign of
wear and should be looked at by Hathaways.
Contact Hathaways about cleaning
and inspecting your sails
