[dinghysailor]

What Sails do you like? Loose footed vs. traditional, Which loft? Feel free to name any others I haven't. What special options have you seen that you like, (aramid luff wires etc.) What would you order if you had to outfit a fleet?

This post has been edited by dinghysailor: 17 March 2004 - 07:32 PM

[Nantucket Red]

dinghysailor, on Mar 17 2004, 07:09 PM, said:

What Sails do you like? Loose footed vs. traditional, Which loft? Feel free to name any others I haven't. What special options have you seen that you like, (aramid luff wires etc.)

Charleston uses Dabney Sails.......out of Mobile, AL (I think)

[GreenBowman]

dpends on your din-gee, but if ur laser welll den,,, fuck the ilca

[SW Dropout]

Strange question...based on the choices and the boat options listed above, it looks like the person is asking which loft makes the best COLLEGIATE dinghy sails, not dinghy sails generally.

If you're talking about collegiate sails, it all depends on your program. Longevity is a big thing for most programs that lack money. If you're on the West Coast and have to take your boats with you when you travel, perhaps performance factors in a little bit, but I don't know how the PCIYRA and NWICSA deal with that specifically (do they still rotate boats even when guests bring their own?) The argument in favor of Winters sails is that even though they're slightly more expensive, they last much longer for institutional use, and thus save you money in the long run. They make a good product, and Dan Winters is a good guy.

Otherwise, if you're looking for specific characteristics of sails for your local fleet, any sailmaker will customize them a little bit -- if you have a wavy venue and want fuller jibs, great. Bigger windows? Different color numbers/heads for team racing? Almost anyone will do that.

If you're talking about dinghy sails generally, that is another ballgame entirely, and can depend a lot on which class you're in and who has experts there.

[Bort]

Nantucket Red, on Mar 17 2004, 07:12 PM, said:

Charleston uses Dabney Sails.......out of Mobile, AL (I think)

Any relation to Dave?

[Nantucket Red]

Bort, on Mar 17 2004, 07:44 PM, said:

Nantucket Red, on Mar 17 2004, 07:12 PM, said:

Charleston uses Dabney Sails.......out of Mobile, AL (I think)

Any relation to Dave?

yeah, Dave is the asst. Coach now and that is his family's company. He had them make a set of 24 420 sails and 6 FJ Sails (I think those numbers are right).

[Steal Your Face]

Go with a local loft. Support is a huge factor. If you have 18 boats have the loft make at least 19 mains and 20 jibs. Number the mains with the 3 foot #s. Have the spare mains with no # on them so you can rotate them into a regatta without screwing up the rotation. Have the loft make 1 suit and try it out. Loose footed mains are a great idea because its' a snap to switch them out if you need to. Also thru bolting the compression battens into to sail saves on buying battens in the long run. Also skip the wire luffs in the jibs. Have a local rigger splice up some luff "wires" out of spectra or something similar. This really saves the jibs when getting rolled at the end of the day. Windows in the jibs should have some kind of reinforcement in them so they last longer. Start with a small window because it'll get bigger after being replaced every year. As long as all of the suits are the same it really doesn't matter too much.


SYF

[LAHS_Sailing_Capt.]

Well I voted for Quantum but in terms of durability I have noticed that they are really good for the first several regattas but then performace starts to lack. Right now in HS sailing we use North mains and Ullman jibs. They seem to be doing fine but then again since everyone at the HS regattas uses sails provided by PCISA then it is hard to tell.

[RumSponge]

marc, on Mar 17 2004, 08:11 PM, said:

i hate north

i love north

[Nantucket Red]

Hoju, on Mar 17 2004, 09:01 PM, said:

marc, on Mar 17 2004, 08:11 PM, said:

i hate north

i love north

I love boobs.....wait, wrong thread.

[Steal Your Face]

Well I came from, and coached at, a big high school program that had "unlimited" funding and attended a small college (and coached there after too) that didn't have much funding. While buying new sails for the college team the difference in price between 18 mains and 20 mains was around ~$200. Have a bake sale, sell T shirts, beg the school (again), blackmail the Athletic Dir., wholesale your homemade porn tapes...do what you have to do to raise the cash.

[lumpywater]

While my college uses Dan Winters, I personally am a whore to North Sails. They put together some great shit, but they bend you over in terms of prices and delivery for some of their larger OD classes.

[Azzurri505]

Pinnell And Bax
Bojsen Moller

(For a 5o anyway)

[Ghandi]

Bowdoins Quantum Lark sails are pretty cool. Not sure how they'll last etc, but they look good.

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[Steal Your Face]

Bowdin's Quantums should hold up just fine and if they start to fall apart they'll probably get fixed ASAP. Don't forget that Bowdin's coach works for Quantum. 2 cool jobs...

SYF

[squirelly]

Actually the Quantum Lark sails are a Kevlar based cloth. Very little kevlar in them, but they have held up for 2 full seasons of practicing and regattas. One thing you have to look at when buying any sails you have to look at the quality of cloth not just the weight. Find out which cloth you are going to be getting then do a little research on each one. Heck call Contender, Challenge, or even Bainbridge and find out what they think about the cloth. The better the cloth the longer lasting the sail is. Quantum has been working on the clear sails for a couple of years and have come out with a really cool product to sail with especially in team racing regattas.

[Nantucket Red]

Guest, on Mar 18 2004, 04:33 PM, said:

What makes them so "cool" for team racing?

Visibility............

[squirelly]

Twaron and Kevlar are the same thing. Kevlar is a trademarked name by DuPont. Twaron is the same thing but from a company based out of Japan. So they have Twaron/Kevlar in them.