I was quite anxious when I ordered a laminate full batten mainsail with extra roach (hence the flat top) for my 2002 Hunter 270. My main worry was having difficulty raising them due to the full battens & extra roach. Martin at Somerset Sails told me there would be no problem and he was right !!! Easier to raise & trim than my Doyle main with partial battens ..... the tell tales always stream without any difficulty . I was worried about the durability of the laminate & was treating them with kid gloves at the start of the season, but the mainsail is strong & has eaten up some tremendous gusts !!! The laminate material has a dacron core.
I went for added roach as I was moving from a 170% Genoa to a 110% and wanted to "recover" some of the square footage I was losing, especially for downwind sailing. I was concerned about having all of the extra roach up top in high winds, but it has not been a problem .... the flat top helps twist it off as needed.
The flat top has also added a "cool" factor that has drawn a lot of positive comments including those from the race committee boat group my wife is usually on during our race nights !!! Before I bought the added roach mainsail I had reviewed a Hunterowners discussion on such where a respondee had stated that sailors bought flat top mains mainly to "look cool" ..... and the prospective flat top mainsail buyer had responded that "he did really want to look cool". I have to admit I am sufficiently shallow and vain that the flat top was a motivating factor in the buying decision !!!
I added a 2 line jiffy reefing system that works well with the single reef points in the mainsail.
This is the second set of sails I have bought from Martin (bought a Dacron set for the previous boat about 7 years ago). A member of our club who is a respected racer on various boats (dingies, keel etc) helped me install the sails and said that he had paid as much for his laminate Genoa (on a boat smaller than mine) as I had paid for the laminate Mainsail and the laminate Genoa combo .... and he felt they were of comparable quality. I might have to replace this laminate Main & Genoa combo sooner than a Dacron set, but I will not have to worry about the stretching problems I previously had. And with Martin's prices it was not a big gamble to go laminate.
I went for added roach as I was moving from a 170% Genoa to a 110% and wanted to "recover" some of the square footage I was losing, especially for downwind sailing. I was concerned about having all of the extra roach up top in high winds, but it has not been a problem .... the flat top helps twist it off as needed.
The flat top has also added a "cool" factor that has drawn a lot of positive comments including those from the race committee boat group my wife is usually on during our race nights !!! Before I bought the added roach mainsail I had reviewed a Hunterowners discussion on such where a respondee had stated that sailors bought flat top mains mainly to "look cool" ..... and the prospective flat top mainsail buyer had responded that "he did really want to look cool". I have to admit I am sufficiently shallow and vain that the flat top was a motivating factor in the buying decision !!!
I added a 2 line jiffy reefing system that works well with the single reef points in the mainsail.
This is the second set of sails I have bought from Martin (bought a Dacron set for the previous boat about 7 years ago). A member of our club who is a respected racer on various boats (dingies, keel etc) helped me install the sails and said that he had paid as much for his laminate Genoa (on a boat smaller than mine) as I had paid for the laminate Mainsail and the laminate Genoa combo .... and he felt they were of comparable quality. I might have to replace this laminate Main & Genoa combo sooner than a Dacron set, but I will not have to worry about the stretching problems I previously had. And with Martin's prices it was not a big gamble to go laminate.
