New Sails for Vision 32

[Mike Webster]

I have owned my 1989 Vision 32 since it was a year old in 1990. The sails are getting a little tired, and I'm thinking of replacing them. I'm looking for advice from other Vision owners who have been there.I've never been too excited about the cut of the production sails. I've done a lot of racing in my past, and while I know this isn't a race boat, I still know how a sail if supposed to look, and a well set sail is just faster, points better, and handles all ranges of wind speeds better. I would like to occasionally race, but mainly would like to have sails that are dependable and fast for fun days on the water.My main gripe with the productions sails is really with the jib. The jib tracks seem to be too far forward. With the cars all the way back, the lead still straps the leach of the sail when pointing. I have heard that someone on the west coast bought high end tape drive UK sails, with a 129% gennie. I also have looked at sails in this website from Doyle. They offer 135% and 150% gennies for the Vision. I might like to have a larger gennie, but I would like to hear some of the pros and cons of the larger headsail on the Vision, as well as how the new tracks are mounted for proper sheet leads.Any advice would be welcome.

 

[Charles Richardson]

Sails for a Vision 32

Mike: We just purchased a 1989 Vision 32, with a fairly new main that was designed by a Neal Pryde rep in Dana Point. I think it's a wonderful sail, and on our first sea trial, the designer went out with us, and gave us tips on how to get the best performance out of it. You might drop him an email, since he's familiar with the unique needs/challenges of the Vision 32s: Patrick Telfor <rivalsail@pacbell.net>There are other folks in this group with much more experience than I, who can give you better feedback from that point-of-view, but Patrick would certainly be a a good source of information from the sailmaker's perspective.

 

[Rodger Beard]

UK Tape Drive Sails

Hey Mike, it's me again, the guy who sent you the private mail to learn more about your manual halyard winch and why your main goes up easy when my 3 ounce main go up so hard. It turns out that I'm also the V32 owner on the West Coast with the UK Tape Drive Gold sails that you were asking about.Yes, I did go with a 129% genoa, basically for two reasons: 1] My UK sailmaker, Rick McCredie, (800) 909-7245 (direct), felt that with the tracks stationed as far forward as they are on the Vision that this was large as I could really go without more hardware, and 2] much more important, that Rick felt quite strongly that the 129% would be sufficient on the Vision to allow me to point with the best of them. It turned out Rick was quite right! That 129 has worked out just great. In medium to heavy air I sail much better than my 165 PHRF handicap. It's literally a night-to-day difference in performance. And geez, can this boat point!FWIW, my old 9 1/2 dacron sails still have a lot of life left in them and now I consider my old "blade" my #2 jib. I put it up in bad weather (after all, it's almost a storm jib anyway) and when I'm racing downwind like in the upcoming Newport-Ensenada Race. There I'll instead be flying a gennaker all the way anyway (I hope) and I'll get 9 seconds/mile credit for sailing with dacron. For downwind races (typical on the West Coast) I use either my all purpose 3/4 oz ASYO when I'm on a reach, or a new 1/2 oz "Code Zero" I've ordered when I'm running and/or in light air typical at night off the coast. (A Code Zero is basically an ASYO cut for running deep and designed to perform well in light air.) An aside, this new sail will be attached to the mast 5' higher up, at 38' rather than 33'.As to your comment about baggy sails, no question, there's nothing like a new set of sails made specifically for your boat's individual measurements to make you feel like you just bought a new boat. I was amazed. I promise, you'll be amazed too.Hope this helps,Rodger Beards/v Attitude Adjustment