Sail Ho!

My new mainsail arrived Friday afternoon from Bacon Sails (Annapolis, MD). I hoisted it without inserting any tracks (because it does not have any) and it fits, just barely. It is a bit larger than my old sail, both luff (against the mast) and foot (on the boom), but it fits. Many folk have remarked that the SC 31 sail plan is light, except for the Genoa jib, and I am glad to have the extra few inches!

The next step is to remove the tracks from the old sail and place them on the new sail, although I might leave the foot loose (what is called a loose-footed mainsail), saving a lot of work and maybe improving the sail shape. The luff tracks are little stainless shackles protected by plastic covers and just need to be unscrewed, but the foot tracks are sewn on, considerable work for each one and there are about a million or so to sew, or at least a dozen or sew to so. So, it is a bit easier to leave the foot loose.

This sail lacks any reefing, which could be  disastrous in a gale. I am pretty sure that if I had reefed the old sail in time during our crossing from Apalachicola that it would not have blown out. Still, its condition was not so good, but the timing to be inspired to buy a replacement sail could not have been worse. There are two sail lofts in Fort Myers and I don't think adding reef points and cringles will be too expensive.

Once the reef points are in, I could sail away!