Has anyone had any experience with Air Force Sails out of Florida? They have aligned with Sailnet, and I received (as I suspect many C30 owners did) a flier from them in September. Their prices seem very appealing, but I've not heard of them before.
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Sam Lust
J S I ?
Johnson Sails of St. Petersburg, Florida was bought by Sail Net and I believe their Johnson line of sails became Air Force. Both pricing and features seem nice. You might want to check out Sails East also if you're looking for VERY moderately priced sails, as I am. Their pricing seems even lower and the features seem the same. Sails East are sewn overseas of American cloth. Lee Sails is also a good one to check, also offshore made. I have two friends who are very happy with their Lee sails
Johnson Sails of St. Petersburg, Florida was bought by Sail Net and I believe their Johnson line of sails became Air Force. Both pricing and features seem nice. You might want to check out Sails East also if you're looking for VERY moderately priced sails, as I am. Their pricing seems even lower and the features seem the same. Sails East are sewn overseas of American cloth. Lee Sails is also a good one to check, also offshore made. I have two friends who are very happy with their Lee sails
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Joe
My two cents....
Hi Doug, Yeah, I ended up buying some air force sails,(a main and 110 for my C-27) but, that's not what I started out to do. Here's the story: After getting good reports on Sobstad I decided to get a quote. In Feb. I contacted them through the sailnet website and was soon sent a quote from their rep, Lin Robson. He emailed me a bunch of stuff about Sobstad and the quotes appeared to be pretty reasonable. My intent was to upgrade my sail inventory with club racing level dacron sails. Anyway, I put off the purchase for a few months and then deciced to go for it, and I called Lin to ask if the quotes were still good. He said yes, just a few changes, and suggested some upgrades with slightly higher price... anyway I agreed, gave him the measurements, arranged for payment, and eagerly waited the 6 weeks for the sails. When they arrived I was excited, but somewhat surprised to find Air Force sails, not Sobstad, in the UPS box. Hmmmm...the sails were beautiful and all, but oh well, I guess I'll keep 'em. I also noticed there was no Catalina insignia on the main and a day or two later I saw a Sail magazine ad for Air Force offering a 15% discount on their sails. The main that was described in the ad sounded exactly like the "custom" I had just purchased. So I e-mailed Lin for an explanation. His reply was this: Johnson sails was a sub-contractor to Sobstad. When Sailnet bought Johnson, Sobstad opted out. Lin stayed with Johnson and they became AirForce. He apologized for neglecting to tell me that when I inquired about the status of the Sobstad quote he had sent me. Then he offered to send me the insignia and numbers right away, again, apologizing for not mentioning that during the ordering process. Finally he said that I was not elegible for the 15% discount cuz I already had the sails, they had the money, and it was too late. Well, I still liked my sails, but I was starting to feel a little bruised. A week or so later the insignia set and nunbers arrived, however one of the insignias was damaged. Plus there was a charge to my credit card for $65 which was unauthorized. Again, notifying Lin, he promised to send me a replacement. 30 days pass, no replacement. Well now I'm pissed so I send him an e-mail telling him of my displeasure. The I returned the merchandise via UPS..... 3 months later I have yet to hear from him or AirForce nor has my $65 been returned. I turned the matter over to the credit card company. As I said, I love my sails, but I won't buy any more from AirForce, they've blown it with me. I'll be ordering two more sails soon but I'm buying local, or maybe CruisingDirect cause they're owned by North. Hey I know this was a long story, but, it's like therapy you know. If you've read this far, THANKS, I feel better now!
Hi Doug, Yeah, I ended up buying some air force sails,(a main and 110 for my C-27) but, that's not what I started out to do. Here's the story: After getting good reports on Sobstad I decided to get a quote. In Feb. I contacted them through the sailnet website and was soon sent a quote from their rep, Lin Robson. He emailed me a bunch of stuff about Sobstad and the quotes appeared to be pretty reasonable. My intent was to upgrade my sail inventory with club racing level dacron sails. Anyway, I put off the purchase for a few months and then deciced to go for it, and I called Lin to ask if the quotes were still good. He said yes, just a few changes, and suggested some upgrades with slightly higher price... anyway I agreed, gave him the measurements, arranged for payment, and eagerly waited the 6 weeks for the sails. When they arrived I was excited, but somewhat surprised to find Air Force sails, not Sobstad, in the UPS box. Hmmmm...the sails were beautiful and all, but oh well, I guess I'll keep 'em. I also noticed there was no Catalina insignia on the main and a day or two later I saw a Sail magazine ad for Air Force offering a 15% discount on their sails. The main that was described in the ad sounded exactly like the "custom" I had just purchased. So I e-mailed Lin for an explanation. His reply was this: Johnson sails was a sub-contractor to Sobstad. When Sailnet bought Johnson, Sobstad opted out. Lin stayed with Johnson and they became AirForce. He apologized for neglecting to tell me that when I inquired about the status of the Sobstad quote he had sent me. Then he offered to send me the insignia and numbers right away, again, apologizing for not mentioning that during the ordering process. Finally he said that I was not elegible for the 15% discount cuz I already had the sails, they had the money, and it was too late. Well, I still liked my sails, but I was starting to feel a little bruised. A week or so later the insignia set and nunbers arrived, however one of the insignias was damaged. Plus there was a charge to my credit card for $65 which was unauthorized. Again, notifying Lin, he promised to send me a replacement. 30 days pass, no replacement. Well now I'm pissed so I send him an e-mail telling him of my displeasure. The I returned the merchandise via UPS..... 3 months later I have yet to hear from him or AirForce nor has my $65 been returned. I turned the matter over to the credit card company. As I said, I love my sails, but I won't buy any more from AirForce, they've blown it with me. I'll be ordering two more sails soon but I'm buying local, or maybe CruisingDirect cause they're owned by North. Hey I know this was a long story, but, it's like therapy you know. If you've read this far, THANKS, I feel better now!
J
Justin - O'day Owners' Web
What you pay for
I know a couple of people with Air Force sails, and they seem happy with them, but I also know several people who don't feel they last as long as others. I think its a case of getting what you pay for in terms of materials and manufacturing prowess. Anybody with a home pc can now design and make high quality sail designs. Foil design is a pretty well known science. Similarly, there are a lot of good cloths out there, so its unlikely that two similarly designed sails will sail differently on the day they're new. I wonder though about thread quality, stitch count along panel seams, tack and clew and headboard reinforcements, and sail coating. I know that the Spindrift main that came with my daysailer is no where near as nicely made as the North main it has now. Similarly I have two brand new sails on my Catalina, a factory headsail and a Doyle main. There is no comparison between them if you put them next to each other and compare the way the seams are done. Yes, the main cost more but I expect it to last a lot longer. To decide which sail is right for you, you need to think about how you use your boat and how long you think you are going to have it. I sail almost every day during our season, and buy gear with heavy use in mind. My Zodiac, also new this year, is already showing some signs of heavy use and I treat it well compared to most. If you do not imagine that you will be sailing this boat in 1o years, you may not need ten years worth of sails. On the other hand, when I was buying the my Daysailer, one of the things that induced me to buy the one I did was the fact that the previous owned obviously cared enough to buy the best. ymmv, Justin - O'day Owners' Web
I know a couple of people with Air Force sails, and they seem happy with them, but I also know several people who don't feel they last as long as others. I think its a case of getting what you pay for in terms of materials and manufacturing prowess. Anybody with a home pc can now design and make high quality sail designs. Foil design is a pretty well known science. Similarly, there are a lot of good cloths out there, so its unlikely that two similarly designed sails will sail differently on the day they're new. I wonder though about thread quality, stitch count along panel seams, tack and clew and headboard reinforcements, and sail coating. I know that the Spindrift main that came with my daysailer is no where near as nicely made as the North main it has now. Similarly I have two brand new sails on my Catalina, a factory headsail and a Doyle main. There is no comparison between them if you put them next to each other and compare the way the seams are done. Yes, the main cost more but I expect it to last a lot longer. To decide which sail is right for you, you need to think about how you use your boat and how long you think you are going to have it. I sail almost every day during our season, and buy gear with heavy use in mind. My Zodiac, also new this year, is already showing some signs of heavy use and I treat it well compared to most. If you do not imagine that you will be sailing this boat in 1o years, you may not need ten years worth of sails. On the other hand, when I was buying the my Daysailer, one of the things that induced me to buy the one I did was the fact that the previous owned obviously cared enough to buy the best. ymmv, Justin - O'day Owners' Web
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Jmalt
Thanks for the info, JOE!!!
Thanks for taking the time to post your info re: Airforce Sails. I had recently been in touch with them about replacing a 135 roller on my 27. I think it was Lin too, who I talked to. He gave me a quote which was pretty much the same as other lofts (a few pennies off from Quantum Sails, ala "West Marine"). He told me my pricing was special as it was only good for this month (pressure tactic #1). I decided to wait to get other loft quotes, cause I wasn't too impressed with them. Now I'm glad you shared your experince w/ them cause I would be pissed too! To have to even put on the insignia/numbers myself after the loft did not do it would make me doubly pissed!! I plan to probably get my sail this winter at the seattle boat show from a local loft which offers true boat show prices, but more importantly is accountable and stands behind there product. THX!
Thanks for taking the time to post your info re: Airforce Sails. I had recently been in touch with them about replacing a 135 roller on my 27. I think it was Lin too, who I talked to. He gave me a quote which was pretty much the same as other lofts (a few pennies off from Quantum Sails, ala "West Marine"). He told me my pricing was special as it was only good for this month (pressure tactic #1). I decided to wait to get other loft quotes, cause I wasn't too impressed with them. Now I'm glad you shared your experince w/ them cause I would be pissed too! To have to even put on the insignia/numbers myself after the loft did not do it would make me doubly pissed!! I plan to probably get my sail this winter at the seattle boat show from a local loft which offers true boat show prices, but more importantly is accountable and stands behind there product. THX!
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steven f.
shop around
I blew out my main sail several months ago and my wife and I have been shopping around a LOT. We've looked on the net and been to boat shows and spoke to many of the sail makers. This was a long process, many of the sail makers use the exact same material. You need to determine what type of sail is right for you, loose footed vs.standard foot, fully battened or conventional or maybe a combination of both, etc, etc. The combinations go on and on, make sure you are comparing apples to apples when you shop for a sail. As for Air Force sails, they were our number 2 choice behind Super Sails of Ft. Laurderdale. The ONLY reason for us using Super Sails was that they drove across the state to measure my boat, Air Force Sails simply gave me very detailed instructions on how to measure the boat. Had it not been for the measuring issue I would have gone with Air Force.
I blew out my main sail several months ago and my wife and I have been shopping around a LOT. We've looked on the net and been to boat shows and spoke to many of the sail makers. This was a long process, many of the sail makers use the exact same material. You need to determine what type of sail is right for you, loose footed vs.standard foot, fully battened or conventional or maybe a combination of both, etc, etc. The combinations go on and on, make sure you are comparing apples to apples when you shop for a sail. As for Air Force sails, they were our number 2 choice behind Super Sails of Ft. Laurderdale. The ONLY reason for us using Super Sails was that they drove across the state to measure my boat, Air Force Sails simply gave me very detailed instructions on how to measure the boat. Had it not been for the measuring issue I would have gone with Air Force.
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