I'm curious:
This is a poll for cruisers, daysailsors, and occassional racers. Racers treat their sails differently,
And... if you have a picture of your mainsail taken looking up from the boom to the top, I'd be happy to analyse the shape. Please follow the instructions at
How to Photograph Sail Shape for how to take pictures.
You have to be sailing close hauled in 10-15 knots of breeze, with the camera looking straight up from mid boom to the head for the analysis to be valid.
It will be very interesting to compare the shape of the sail to the number of days used, by fabric type.
Here's what a new mainsail looks like:
This is a poll for cruisers, daysailsors, and occassional racers. Racers treat their sails differently,
- How many "days" did you you sail this past year, Dec 2018 to Dec 2019? Please estimate
- 4-5 hours hours= half day
- 8 - 9 hours = 1 full day ( 8 hrs)
- 12 hours = 1.5 full days
- Offshore/24 hours = 3 full days
- Please estimate the number of "days" sailing this year:
- I am arbitrarily defining "8 hours of use" = one day of use
- Example total "days" this year = (Half days/2) + (full days * 1) + (12 hour days * 1.5) + (24hr days * 3)
- How long have you owned these sails and what are they made of?
- cross cut dacron,
- triradial dacron,
- cruising laminate,
- racing laminate
- Estimate how many days you sailed with these sails to date.
- Did you sail more or less or the same amount as the past few years?
- What % of your sailing time is non-racing vs W/L buoy racing?
- What's your latitude (because UV ages sails!)
And... if you have a picture of your mainsail taken looking up from the boom to the top, I'd be happy to analyse the shape. Please follow the instructions at
How to Photograph Sail Shape for how to take pictures.
You have to be sailing close hauled in 10-15 knots of breeze, with the camera looking straight up from mid boom to the head for the analysis to be valid.
It will be very interesting to compare the shape of the sail to the number of days used, by fabric type.
Here's what a new mainsail looks like:
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