What size genoa do you use (especially for racing)?

What sail material do you use?

Can you recommend a sailmaker? I've heard good things about Saunders in Lymington and also Loong Sails in China.

Thanks for any suggestions (and apologies if any of these questions seem dumb).

Richard

Hyde. British sail maker with their own sail loft in Philippines. Will send someone to your boat to take measurements. Will discuss details like mast pre bend etc. before manufacture. Will send you sample sliders for head ( I had trouble with one type tilting & jamming ) Will check bolt rope size for jib luff,  Will offer range of batten sliders & reef options etc. Will make sure reef points are in correct place to suit slots in existing lazy bag unless you want different reef positions. All these points are important

I have had them on my Squib( have to have Hyde for a Sqib if racing) & had 2 mains & a jib etc on current boat. Currently have Fibrcon cloth mainsail. Other main is Marblehead dacron racing but I wanted to go racing, so changed after 6 years but the marblehead is still perfectly OK. Original hanse supplied East sail lasted 5 years & was recut in that time but pretty poor---Affected boat handling badly.

Several years ago I had a new main and genoa from Crusader sails in Poole where I sail from. They are based here so they measured the boat themselves and made the new suit and came out for a trial sail one Tuesday night race to check all was good. Personally I would always go for a local sailmaker, its a lot easier to get things fixed when their reputation at the local clubs is on the line.

I had mine made from Hydranet, which is a bit more expensive than standard polyester and bit heavier, but after more than 10 years of racing and cruising they have not given me any problems, and still maintain their shape and the main can still be made *very* flat when the wind pipes up. Fully battened also means that when sailing solo I can dump the main in the gusts and not have the sail flap madly around. They have also lasted a lot longer than some of my fellow club members who went for laminates to look cool.

I settled on the same genoa 117% and main set up as Huw had purchased maybe a year or two earlier using cruising laminate.

I very rarely used the self tacking track with the old original east sail as I preferred the extra off wind performance with a 125% genoa which was a black laminate that finally succumbed to UV. 

It is possible to reef the Saunders genoa down and use it as a self tacker but I prefer to keep full genoa and reef the main.

The main is loose footed fully battened with 3 reefs. I find I can hold full sail in up to 18 knots. First reef goes takes you up to 25 knots. Third reef untested so far! 

Performance is way better and ability to control sail shape with fully battened rig is a major plus.

I only had to provide Peter with two measurements and the sails fitted like a glove.

Peter will listen to your requirements and  I think will offer you both a very good price and a high quality sail. I beat him up a bit as he basically had the cad design and template paid for by Huw! 

Steve.

Cant agree more with this Steve :)

(the spec of our boats is now so similar that we can give matching answers!)

Yes Peter has a design for the Hanse 301 which I think is based on extensive measurements of my boat which were made by Andy Freemantle ( https://themarinegroup.co.uk/marine-services/rigging/" rel="nofollow - https://themarinegroup.co.uk/marine-services/rigging/ ), although he had made sails for the 291/292/301 series before (a couple of the solent-based racing fleet). We've had ours (dimension polyant cruise lam, sized as Steve says above) now for about 8 years and they are still in perfect condition (as to be fair they haven't done mega miles). They go back every year to Sanders for wash and service and the service remains excellent. I can't recommend Sanders highly enough and wouldn't myself look elsewhere.

I also don't use the self tacker other than as a handy fitting to tie the dinghy down to. In strong winds it can be okay to put a scrap of headsail on the self tacker but the genoa isnt really built for it. Peter can of course build a sail for the system if thats what you want, but I think the boat is far better without it.

I'd recommend taking the tidesmarine sail track if you are getting a new fully battened main (much of this is probably in the email I sent last summer though!)

The other lofts mentioned will I am sure also do a good job for you if you want an alternative.

Cheers

Huw

Richard

AlanL wrote: I'm told by other skippers that Kemp Sails at Gosport are also good.

Would not touch Kemp with a barge pole. I bought a complete set, 2 jibs, main & spinnaker for my last Stella. The genoa & main were awful. I returned the genoa for rectification (The leech flapped really badly & well into the sail, not just the trailing edge) & when I complained how long I was waiting, they said they had other orders to deal with first. When I pointed out that  my order had been placed long ago & as it had not beeen supplied satisfactorily, it should be at the front of the queue, I was met with  abuse

I gave up with the mainsail.The part below the spreaders was extremely flat & there was a great bag above that point. No amount of trimming could sort it.

Their service was diabolical, which considering how bad the sails were in the first place, is not good.

I currently have the Elvstrom EPEX sails but our boat is relatively new.    

Staying away from 3DL or EPEX molded type sails (the latest tech),  if you wanted a traditionally cut and sewn sail, I'd strongly recommend hydranet.    

I built a genoa, staysail and main for our prior boat and they were outstanding.  In fact the current owner still has them  on the boat 14 years after they were built.    The full battened main prevented flogging and it looked new 10 years later. Hydranet is the ONLY woven cloth you can use for radial cut sails.   As its woven,  there is no laminate cloth to get black spots (the dreaded measles) between the layers and any dirt or stains can usually be scrubbed out with a brush. 

Hydranet is more expensive than cross-cut dacron sails, but far less expensive than molded cruising sails like the EPEX from ELVSTROM.