[quote=MN3][quote]How do you guys determine when your sails are tiring or shot? Is it just assessment of their performance? Or is there stuff you can see just looking at them?[/quote]
Lots of factors:
for me, i can tell if my leach is flapping
if my draft has moved forward and it's harder to flatten my sail
if i can't point as high as a new sail does (this newness is very short lived)
ALso, materials age / change differently:
dacron sails can live for "ever" if they are cared for and don't have chafe or rips but will continue to stretch forever and become less efficient/optimal ... etc with use and wind
more modern laminate sails often stretch (very little) and lose their race value pretty quickly but can be used for recreational sailing for a long time. the material will just fail at some point but can be patched and used (again very non optimal for racing) but can last for a long time - proper cleaning and storage will greatly extend their life
It's a bit hard to explain how to tell when your sails are blown without being very technical but basically what happens is the draft of the sail becomes deeper and moves forward (if i understood and remember correctly) and this has negative effects on the controllability of the draft
not a problem at moderate winds but a real issue in strong to crazy-strong winds
IF you ever purchase a new set, and they are made correctly to your boat .. it's like a great tune up and very noticeable.
we used to purchase used professional sails from Robbie Daniel (olympic level sailor/coach) at a heavy discount and modify them if needed to fit our mystere's. the sails were either experimental or races a few times and no longer new enough to be competitive - miss those days[/quote]
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