New Sails.

[Carbon]

I bought my Catalina 34 this spring knowing that the sails were blown and that I'd be ordering new sails promptly. At first, I thought I'd get a suit of traditional cut Dacron sails and be done with it. But once I started shopping I started thinking about triradial cut sails in one of the laminated sailcloths. There is a fairly active club racing scene on the lake and I wanted to be competitive. My first thought was that putting "racing" sails on a cruising boat would be silly. Upon reflection, I started thinking "why not?". It's not a Porsche, so if my mid-life crisis is contained to upgraded sails, I'm doing pretty good.

I got quotes from Precision, Quantum, and Evolution for a triradial cut Main and 135% Genoa. After some research, I settled on Contender CDX pro sailcloth for a good mix of price, durability, and performance. I got the quotes back and started having second thoughts about indulging my mid-life crisis; they were expensive.

Along the way, I came across a place called Direct-Sails (www.direct-sails.com). At first, I was ruling them out because they do not have a US presence at all. The sales and design office is in Hong Kong and the actual loft is in Shenzen China. I got a quote from them and the price difference was too big to ignore. Roughly 30% less than the name brands.

Along the way, I also learned that all the big lofts have their sails made somewhere in Asia; Vietnam, China, etc... Even North Sails has sails in the C34 size range made in Sri Lanka. Unless you have your sails made at a local loft, they are coming out of Asia. Well, there is no local loft in the middle of Missouri.

After a lot of correspondence with Direct-Sails, I became convinced that they are a legit business and loft and PayPaled off half the money.

We went through about a week of measuring and double-checking and they released the design to manufacturing. I had the sails about a month after that which includes the shipping time.

The upshot is that it was a great experience. They did everything they said they'd do and beat the delivery time by a week. They fit perfectly, and I can't find any quality problems at all. The stitching is excellent and all the material and hardware is top notch.

We are in the middle of the summer doldrums in the Midwest and I've only had the new sails out once with light wind. So, I can't attest to the performance of the boat with them. But they fit perfectly and look great. I'm sure they will be a big improvement over the blown-out bedsheets I took off.

I've got a few pictures and I plan to take more this weekend (hopefully with more wind).

Jack 



 

[Ron Hill]

Jack : Glad that things worked out OK for you. 8932 is your racing numbers?

A thought

[scgunner]

Jack,

Your new sails look very nice. The bad news is if you get into racing your mid life crisis will not be contained with a new set of sails. In racing whether it be with sails, wheels, or wings you'll always be looking for a way to go faster and going faster is expensive.

As you've discovered most production sails are made offshore and are adequate for most sailors while being reasonably priced. If you have specific custom needs like racing or long distance cruising a good loft like North Sails will do it in house of course that's when it starts to get pricey. When Illman Sails was building me a new jib they had just gotten back a huge racing main they had recently completed for $50,000 it had been tested and raced a couple of times and was back to get a new set of battens custom made in Italy for an additional $10,000! You can only imagine the cost for the full inventory of sails on that boat. As the old saying in racing goes "It costs money to run up front".

[Stu Jackson]

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As the old saying in racing goes "It costs money to run up front".

I may be an outlier when it comes to that oft-repeated phrase.  My PO had not bought the stock Catalina sails in 1986, but chose to go with a local loft, but still dacron.  Back in that time the stock Catalina sails were not as good as they became later with Ullman.

I started racing in Fleet 1 in San Francisco in 1999.  Those skippers had been racing since 1987 when the nucleus of the fleet was formed because the local Catalina dealers promoted the then-brand new Catalina 34, which was selling like hotcakes at IHOP!   

Those skippers created a very fair handicap rating system which evolved over the years into a Racing Division and a Cruising Division, a luxury found nowhere else for Catalina 34s.  This was partly because of sheer quantity of our one-design fleet, and also due to the inherent fairness of the skippers who formed the racing committee.  The split into divisions occurred mid-way through my racing "career," in the early 2000s, around 2004 or 5.

So I was racing with only a working jib and 1986 sails from 1999 through 2008.  I ended up going from the "Back of the Pack" (in a story entitled just that which I wrote for Mainsheet) to success in 2006 and the next few years.

It doesn't always take mega-bucks to race and be successful.  Knowing the course(s), the racing rules and having good consistent crew are also critical components.  Recognizing the Corinthian Spirit of the Fleet 1 skippers remains one of the key factors of my 25 year love affair with our Catalina 34. 

Point being that while new good-to-great sails sure would help they should not be considered an expensive "necessity" for any C34 skipper interested in getting into racing.

[Carbon]

Jack : Glad that things worked out OK for you. 8932 is your racing numbers?

A thought

Ron

8932 is not a true "racing number" issued by US Sailing. It's my dad's birthday. Direct-Sails puts a number on for no additional charge. I thought I'd use it to pay a little homage to my father who was a lifelong sailor.

Jack

[Carbon]

Jack,

Your new sails look very nice. The bad news is if you get into racing your mid life crisis will not be contained with a new set of sails. In racing whether it be with sails, wheels, or wings you'll always be looking for a way to go faster and going faster is expensive.

There is no doubt you can go crazy spending money on sails. For fun, I got some quotes on "high end" sails. They quickly got to the point that it would cost a substantial percentage of what I paid for the boat. It made no sense to me to spend that kind of money for C34 sails.

The sails I got from the loft I bought them from were only 15% - 20% more than traditional cut dacron sails. My spreadsheet says I spent an additional $1800 for the Contender CDX Pro fabric and the tri-cut radial design. I think it was worth it.

Even if I still get beat like a rented mule, they do look cool.

Jack

[Carbon]

A couple more pictures from this weekend.

I don't have them set very well. This is my first loose-footed mainsail and I clearly don't have enough outhaul tension. I was having trouble getting enough twist out of the main and my theory is that the loose outhaul was the culprit.

Also, the jib halyard was too loose leading to some wrinkles at the luff. As we get used to the sails, we can get better shape out of them.

Even with the sub-optimum set, she was pretty fast. The thing I really noticed is the reduction in weather helm and the tendency to round up in the gust. I'm happy with the initial results.

Jack 

[Gulfsailor]

What would the cost be from this company for a basic set of cruising sails?

[Ron Hill]

Jack : Good for you - paying homage to your Father    (just about my age!!)

A thought

[Carbon]

What would the cost be from this company for a basic set of cruising sails?

I never got a quote from them for traditional cross-cut dacron sails. They are easy to get in touch with. They are in Hong Kong, but they reply to emails promptly with a day's delay for the time zones.

www.direct-sails.com

You'll probably be working with a guy named Richard. He's a good guy and very knowledgeable. I talked to him one time, most of the transaction was done via email.

[scgunner]

Carbon,

Is there anything better than when that first gust snaps those sails brand new full!