Sails

Fifty years ago virtually every genoa made for performance sailing was miter cut, like the photo the left, whether constructed of cotton, nylon or the then new Dacron. The miter in these sails was not simply a benign seam to hold the two halves of the sail together, but rather, a very sophisticatedly crafted avenue into the heart of the sail, that when done right, could anticipate the natural stretching and locking of the fibers in the cloth, guaranteeing that the draft would stay forward and the after area of the sail would stay flat and clean. Sailmaker’s reputations were built on the execution of their miters, perhaps none more so than Hood sails of the 1960’s (Many hard-used Hood genoas can be found today that look and perform better than their two or three year old counterparts from “modern lofts”). But, by the 70’s mitered genoas were being pushed into obscurity by the pressure of modern economics (the miter is labor intensive) and production requirements (it takes trained sailmakers, not kids hired off the street). Sailmakers were also eager to produce sails that were “fast out of the bag”. In reality, such sails were a little less fast each and every time used. The fact remains that material does stretch, no matter whether it’s new modern Kevlar, Spectra, Technora, Mylar and certainly Dacron-only cloth, and it’s the responsibility of the sailmaker to deal with the problem. In exotic materials, the solution is to radiate the panels out from each of the load corners of the sail. This is simple with CAD-CAM, and competitive because laminates are much more stable than woven-only cloth. But, woven-only Dacron is the odds-on favorite for cruising sails – lower cost and the incredible durability of 15-20 years in many sails. So, if the material is so durable, why not execute the design and construction to hold the shape in place as well? Bravo, the miter cut – especially for roller reefing genoas – which is practically every genoa built today. Other sailmakers simply make cross-cut genoas and shrug their shoulders about the consequences. We take the extra time and skill necessary to build a truly long-lasting, stay-flat when reefed, genoa – for serious cruising performance. Some sailmakers offer radial cut genoas from woven-only cloth, but we do not because the breakdown is rapid and the resulting washboard looking sail is something we would not want our name on.

Years ago there were limited sailcloth options for sailmakers using Dacron for cruising and racing sails. That was then. The “this is now,” like most things, is a lot more complicated. We’ll put aside hi-tech racing sail material for now and talk about cruising sails – serious offshore, club knock-about racing, inshore, mom-and-pop – the sails that make up 75% of what we do. Unfortunately for the new sail buyer, sailcloth manufacturers have seen fit, for reasons of competitive pricing and the need to compete with offshore sources for OEM sails, to offer several grades of polyester fabric for sailmaking. Additionally unfortunate is that most of the brand name lofts, and the little guys too, use the not-so-good stuff for their “cruising” market and it’s difficult for the layman to tell the difference. The reason they do it is that the OEM cloths are so much cheaper. It’s very compelling.