Sails

[Paul Wash]

I'm sure there is endless thought and opinion on racing sails but I thought I'd pose this question...

First a little background...

We own a Hunter 216 (2004) that has been "tricked out" (as my wife says) for racing excluding the sail inventory. The sails are Dacron. The jib is new (Ullman Sails) as of last year and the main is OEM (North Sails). The jib is integrated into the headstay on a furling (216 "feature"). The main was inspected and in "excellent" condition this Spring. The spinnaker is Doyle and 2 years old. We race on the Chesapeake part of the 4P offshore fleet and pretty much everyone else has "fancy" sails.

And here is the question...

Considering the 216 was manufactured as a simple, cheap daysailor that has been coerced into a racing boat, could we truly expect to gain a huge increase in performance and advantage simply upgrading our sails to higher end materials? Why and why not?

Thanks!

 

[Clark]

I'd ask what is meant by "excellent" as far as mainsail condition. One can have a sail that the threads are still great and the fabric still good but in 6+ years have lost some of their shape. In your case, that would be even more critical since the power comes from the main. If all the other 'go-fast' items are up to snuff (bottom, halyards, weight, sail controls and knowledge how to use them), a high quality racing dacron in a triradial could very well improve performance without spending a bunch on some exotic construction. You could then use your OEM for casual sailing and only pull the tri out for competition.

 

[Clark]

Paul, I'd add that I read some of your other posts about performance. We race a Capri 22 and when it gets choppy, we struggle because we're light. The bow hits a wave - even a small one - and I can feel us slow down a bit. Larger boats are less bothered and power thru w/o losing much time. Hope this helps.

 

[Paul Wash]

Thanks Clark. Yeah, I hear ya on the age and propensity to lose shape.

We go fast when the conditions are right - unfortunately thats so few and far between and never when we race. Its either blowing like mad or dead. I would assume that in lighter breezes a high quality lighter main would definitely help us.

The Chesapeake is notorious for being hot and windless during the summer which is why there are so few races this time of year. However, our Spring series was mostly pucker up weather and the chop killed us. Very hard to sail a 216 well in those conditions.

I'm definitely at a X-Roads - I've upgraded everything that I could and she's in great shape. Do I sink another bunch of money on a new main or suck it up b/c it aint going to do jack. Do I just keep my money for a new, "real" boat that can race. Or do I just get over it and enjoy racing instead of stressing about this. LOL.

Thanks for the comments!

 

[Clark]

Paul, it is a tough call. For the heavier days, added crew helps and try to make up time on downwind runs. When the big boys can reach their hull speed there is no room for error.
I've done all I'm going to w/ ours. I added a new blade (we normally fly a 150) for heavier days and bought a new "normal" mainsail that I'll only use for races and an asymm for whenever - maybe. The main may not be the best but it is a 6.3 oz and if the shape is good it'll compete and it won't be blown out after a couple of years. I've only flown the asymm once as practice.
This is our first year with the Capri - vertical learning curve - and our Spring was either a handFULL or very light. We got a 1st, a 2nd and a 4th on light days (the 4th was some true boneheaded mistakes) and a 6th and a last on 2 heavy days. Our series starts back up in September so we'll see.

Best of Luck.