Ah, ya gotta love them plastic sails!
I'm also getting a new main - just good ol' dacron, from North Sails here in Vancouver. I filled out a SIX-PAGE form with all the numbers, and I hope it's going to work. A few differences from the old one:
- Loose foot. We discussed this, and like the head-board I don't see any downside to it.
- 2 reef points instead of 3. I've never even used the second reef - when the wind picks up past 25 or so I just go jib-only. And anyway, I have a storm trysail...
- Higher clew: when I have the old main sheeted in tight, the boom scrapes across the dodger. I'm thinking it was fine when it was new, but now it's stretched out and too low. I suspect the new main will have the clew where the old one was when it was new.
- Full battens. Better for sail shape, less flogging, and easier to drop onto the boom.
- Proper shape. I'm no expert, but I can SEE the bag in the main: the "power curve" comes about halfway down the sail rather than 2/3 of the way towards the luff. I'm guessing that close-hauled, that main is contributing pretty much nothing but heel. I know that my speed increases from 1-2 to 5-6 when I raise the jib!
Anyway, nice-looking garbage-bag sail, Jack!
druid