Sail Construction

Judging by some of the replies I've received thus far (and I appreciate all of them), I suspect I should have described my situation more specifically. Thanks to the stability of the Cal 40, the 150% genoa I am looking to replace is rarely reefed on Coeur d'Alene, even though I and my wife are usually the only crew. And were we still racing, I would be taking advantage of the twin head foil system to change sails. Rather, as a 72 year-old weekend sailor, I enjoy the luxury of not having to hoist and fold a headsail each time I use the boat. As for conflicting advice, that is precisely what I have heard from various sailmakers. Some praise the foam luff for making furling easier: others suggest that the foam can develop a "memory" and, over time, discolors and disintegrates. Again, any advice you can offer would be much appreciated. Dick Dozier Pantera Cal 40 #110

Given your stated use of the sail for roller furling I would like to add my experience for you to put in the pot. We purchased a "cruising" 135% roller furling genoa from UK sails in Houston. This sail is engineered with a heavy dacron material and has reinforcements sewn in at the 110% and 85% reefing points, but no foam on the luff. We have reefed this jib in very heavy winds and had almost no problem with the luff shaking or "bagging". You might think that this means the sail does not perform well -- wrong! We have won or placed in numerous cruising class non-spinnaker races and have out-paced numerous boats on the bay using this genoa. The sail is 23 years old and still holding it's shape. You might refer back to my earlier remarks about passing a brand new Beneteau 34 with main and jib set and trimmed while sailing only my 135 genoa. That was two or three months ago. I don't know how they accomplished this when they cut the sail. But, the only thing we have ever had to do while reefing this Ulmer Kolius sail is change the jib car locations on the deck -- usually done before a tack and immediately after the reef is taken in. We use an Harken 2000 roller reefing system. Donald Dutton, 1986 Cal 33-2, "Quantum Evolution" "Twenty Years from now, you will be more disappointed by the things you didn't do than by the things you did do. So throw off the bowlines. Sail away from the safe harbor. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream. Discover." ........Mark Twain From: Richard Dozier <dd… [at] verizon.net> To: Ca… [at] yahoogroups.com Sent: Friday, July 10, 2009 12:44:49 PM Subject: [Cal_Boats] Sail Construction Judging by some of the replies I've received thus far (and I appreciate all of them), I suspect I should have described my situation more specifically. Thanks to the stability of the Cal 40, the 150% genoa I am looking to replace is rarely reefed on Coeur d'Alene, even though I and my wife are usually the only crew. And were we still racing, I would be taking advantage of the twin head foil system to change sails. Rather, as a 72 year-old weekend sailor, I enjoy the luxury of not having to hoist and fold a headsail each time I use the boat. As for conflicting advice, that is precisely what I have heard from various sailmakers. Some praise the foam luff for making furling easier: others suggest that the foam can develop a "memory" and, over time, discolors and disintegrates. Again, any advice you can offer would be much appreciated. Dick Dozier Pantera Cal 40 #110