{"id":61049,"date":"2025-09-04T14:46:05","date_gmt":"2025-09-04T18:46:05","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.cruisingworld.com\/?p=61049"},"modified":"2025-09-17T10:23:12","modified_gmt":"2025-09-17T14:23:12","slug":"upgrade-your-sails-for-new-adventures","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.cruisingworld.com\/how-to\/upgrade-your-sails-for-new-adventures\/","title":{"rendered":"Revitalize Sailing: Upgrade Your Sails for New Adventures"},"content":{"rendered":"\n        <section class=\"hydra-container\">\n\n\t\t\t                <div class=\"hydra-canvas\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<img fetchpriority=\"high\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"800\" height=\"600\" src=\"https:\/\/www.cruisingworld.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/kaholo-2-1024x768.jpg\" class=\"hydra-image disable-lazyload\" alt=\"Sailboat on Puget Sound\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1400px) 100vw, 1400px\" fetchpriority=\"high\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.cruisingworld.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/kaholo-2-1024x768.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/www.cruisingworld.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/kaholo-2-300x225.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.cruisingworld.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/kaholo-2-768x576.jpg 768w, https:\/\/www.cruisingworld.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/kaholo-2-1536x1152.jpg 1536w, https:\/\/www.cruisingworld.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/kaholo-2.jpg 2000w\" \/>                <\/div>\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\n            <figcaption class=\"caption margin_top_xs full border_1 hydra-figcaption\">\n                <span class=\"hydra-image-caption\"><i>K\u0101holo<\/i> stretches its legs on Puget Sound, powered by a new set of offshore-ready sails.<\/span>\n                <span class=\"article_image_credit italic margin_right_xs\">Tor Johnson<\/span>\n\n\t\t\t\t            <\/figcaption>\n        <\/section>\n\t\t\n\n\n<p>If sails are the engines of the sailboat, my engines were sputtering. After 13 years of use,&nbsp;including crossings of the Atlantic and Caribbean, my original Dacron factory sails had seen&nbsp;their day. Restitching and replacing the UV covers had helped, but the sun had eventually&nbsp;gotten to the cloth, and the wind had made them sag. Our in-mast furling mainsail presented&nbsp; particular problems. Bagged out in the wrong places, it bunched up when&nbsp;furling.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<iframe id=\"gkstfcayky\" src=\"https:\/\/cruisingworld.dragonforms.com\/gkstfcayky\" scrolling=\"no\" style=\"width:100%;height:165px;border:none;overflow:hidden;\"><\/iframe>\n\n\n\n<p>I tried all the tricks, like varying the boom height and the pressure on the outhaul while furling,&nbsp;but unless I furled it with some wind in the sail, it jammed in the mast and became so difficult&nbsp;to unfurl that I swore like a bosun.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>From my berth in La Conner, Washington, I sailed out Deception Pass, stopped at Bowman Bay to watch a spectacular sunset and even better sunrise, and then cruised down to Admiralty Inlet to see the&nbsp;crew at Port Townsend Sails. Globe-spanning sail trainer John&nbsp;Neal claims he\u2019s gotten as much as 100,000 miles from a single mainsail that Port Townsend Sails built for him,&nbsp;and it\u2019s fair to say that these women know their work. They pointed out some dry and&nbsp;brittle areas of sun damage on my sails. They patched them up as best they could for the&nbsp;season, but they gently recommended replacing them before any offshore passages.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>I began to shop around for new sails. To say that the art of sail construction has changed over&nbsp;the years is an understatement. I learned that the cheapest sails are predictably built in the Far East, with consulting and sales done by American dealers such as&nbsp;Precision Sails. They tended to steer customers toward Dacron as a material, for its&nbsp;robust strength and lower cost. They do build sails with&nbsp;low-stretch composite cloths, but at twice the price, they sell less of them. I looked at some of the sails they\u2019d made, and they seemed strong and perfectly serviceable\u2014a go-to solution for budget cruisers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The bigger lofts\u2014such as North, Doyle and Quantum\u2014have their own manufacturing facilities to create&nbsp;composite, higher-end sails for racing and high-performance cruising. Sails&nbsp;are now designed on a computer, like most things, and the days of laying out \u00adeverything on a table are \u00adpretty much a thing of the past. Composite sails are made on huge purpose-built tables, where load-bearing fibers are laid out along the load paths of the sail, radiating out from the corners.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Depending on the purpose of the&nbsp;sail, the composition will be different. For example, racing sails, where rigidity and light weight&nbsp;are key, will be made largely with carbon fiber, whereas cruising sails might have a higher component of high-strength durable fibers such as Technora, which is similar to Kevlar. So a sail could be composed of an infinite variety of materials, with a higher density of those&nbsp;materials for bigger loads, less stretch and longer life. A UV- and abrasion-\u00adresistant scrim is usually added to protect the&nbsp;surface, and the sail is laminated under high heat and&nbsp;pressure.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n        <section class=\"hydra-container\">\n\n\t\t\t                <div class=\"hydra-canvas\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<img decoding=\"async\" width=\"800\" height=\"600\" src=\"https:\/\/www.cruisingworld.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/sails-2-1024x768.jpg\" class=\"hydra-image\" alt=\"Composite of sails getting built and tested\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1400px) 100vw, 1400px\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.cruisingworld.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/sails-2-1024x768.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/www.cruisingworld.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/sails-2-300x225.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.cruisingworld.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/sails-2-768x576.jpg 768w, https:\/\/www.cruisingworld.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/sails-2-1536x1152.jpg 1536w, https:\/\/www.cruisingworld.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/sails-2.jpg 2000w\" \/>                <\/div>\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\n            <figcaption class=\"caption margin_top_xs full border_1 hydra-figcaption\">\n                <span class=\"hydra-image-caption\">Working with Doyle Sails\u2019 David Armitage, the author experienced the full process firsthand\u2014from computer-\u00admodeled sail designs and offshore-ready materials to a meticulous on-site fitting and real-world trials in the breezy boat-testing waters of Puget Sound.<\/span>\n                <span class=\"article_image_credit italic margin_right_xs\">Tor Johnson<\/span>\n\n\t\t\t\t            <\/figcaption>\n        <\/section>\n\t\t\n\n\n<p>With such a huge variety of materials and unlimited options for combining them, I found myself in an information overload. Then, out of the blue, I got a call from a guy named David&nbsp;Armitage, who was interested in buying a sistership to my boat, <em>K\u0101holo<\/em>, a Jeanneau Sun&nbsp;Odyssey 509. He wanted to know how the boat had held up to the open ocean. Having&nbsp;sailed <em>K\u0101holo<\/em> across from Portugal to Panama, as well as offshore in the Pacific Northwest, I&nbsp;was able to fill him in on a few common issues, although the boat has proved itself quite&nbsp;reliable.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>As luck would have it, he also happened to be a sail designer at Doyle Sails. A New Zealander who came&nbsp;to the United States with the successful Kiwi bid for the America\u2019s Cup in San Diego, Armitage is still a keen&nbsp;racer. Like many Kiwis, he also happens to be a passionate cruising&nbsp;\u00adsailor. He lives aboard his fairly tricked-out Beneteau 473. And he&nbsp;had already done some preliminary sail designs for the Jeanneau 509.&nbsp;&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n        <section class=\"hydra-container\">\n\n\t\t\t                <div class=\"hydra-canvas\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<img decoding=\"async\" width=\"800\" height=\"600\" src=\"https:\/\/www.cruisingworld.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/H0A0027-1024x768.jpg\" class=\"hydra-image\" alt=\"Man looking up at a sailboat sail\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1400px) 100vw, 1400px\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.cruisingworld.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/H0A0027-1024x768.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/www.cruisingworld.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/H0A0027-300x225.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.cruisingworld.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/H0A0027-768x576.jpg 768w, https:\/\/www.cruisingworld.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/H0A0027-1536x1152.jpg 1536w, https:\/\/www.cruisingworld.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/H0A0027.jpg 2000w\" \/>                <\/div>\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\n            <figcaption class=\"caption margin_top_xs full border_1 hydra-figcaption\">\n                <span class=\"hydra-image-caption\">The result was improved performance, greater confidence, and a smoother furl every time.<\/span>\n                <span class=\"article_image_credit italic margin_right_xs\">Tor Johnson<\/span>\n\n\t\t\t\t            <\/figcaption>\n        <\/section>\n\t\t\n\n\n<p>We talked about the challenges and how to overcome them.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>In-mast furling mains like mine present real challenges. They refuse to furl and set once the sail stretches out, and they have&nbsp;a less-than-optimal aerodynamic shape with a negative roach and cupped leeches. Unsurprisingly, many cruisers say they\u2019d never go offshore with one.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>As for myself, after numerous ocean crossings as a delivery captain using every sort of&nbsp;furling system, I\u2019ve actually come to appreciate the furling main. Sail shape might not be ideal, but at 2&nbsp;a.m., when I am the only one on deck and I suddenly need to reduce sail, I like the safety and&nbsp;convenience of a main that I can reef alone, easily and quickly, to the exact area I want,&nbsp;from the safety of the cockpit, even off the wind. Shaking out the reef is even easier\u2014when it works.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Armitage suggested a laminate specifically designed for offshore cruising, using high-strength&nbsp;Technora threads with some carbon to help reduce stretch. Vertical&nbsp;battens would support the leech, giving the sail better shape. Although early efforts&nbsp;to add battens caused jamming in narrow mast openings, Armitage explained that low-profile batten pockets can now be laminated into the construction of a low-stretch and less-bulky sail&nbsp;material. With less friction, the sails roll more easily into narrow mast openings. The battens&nbsp;also allow the leech to twist off for better sail shape, and support a slightly positive rather than&nbsp;a negative roach along the trailing edge of the sail.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Doyle is not alone in this. Other \u00admajor&nbsp;sailmakers, like North, which produces the vast majority of sails worldwide, are now adding&nbsp;battens to furling mains. Technology has improved and, like the furling jib, furling mains are now common, with many quality boatbuilders even supplying them as standard equipment.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Armitage also recommended vertical battens for a new 105 percent furling jib.&nbsp;He sent over some computer-generated sail designs, showing the shape of the sails from&nbsp;several angles and the load paths along which fibers would be laid out. I \u00addecided to move forward with a new main and jib.&nbsp;&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>His designs then went to their manufacturing facility in New Zealand, where the sails were laminated.&nbsp;Finally, they were sent to their loft in Rhode Island, where the panels were joined and the detail work was done on areas such as the head, tack and clew.&nbsp;&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n        <section class=\"hydra-container\">\n\n\t\t\t                <div class=\"hydra-canvas\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<img decoding=\"async\" width=\"800\" height=\"600\" src=\"https:\/\/www.cruisingworld.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/sails-4-1024x768.jpg\" class=\"hydra-image\" alt=\"Composite of sail getting made using CAD renderings and the final product\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1400px) 100vw, 1400px\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.cruisingworld.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/sails-4-1024x768.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/www.cruisingworld.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/sails-4-300x225.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.cruisingworld.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/sails-4-768x576.jpg 768w, https:\/\/www.cruisingworld.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/sails-4-1536x1152.jpg 1536w, https:\/\/www.cruisingworld.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/sails-4.jpg 2000w\" \/>                <\/div>\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\n            <figcaption class=\"caption margin_top_xs full border_1 hydra-figcaption\">\n                <span class=\"hydra-image-caption\">With a sailor\u2019s eye and a designer\u2019s precision, Armitage makes final adjustments dockside, turning CAD renderings into a finely tuned cruising rig.<\/span>\n                <span class=\"article_image_credit italic margin_right_xs\">Tor Johnson<\/span>\n\n\t\t\t\t            <\/figcaption>\n        <\/section>\n\t\t\n\n\n<p>Armitage seemed to have taken a personal interest in my project. Despite a busy racing schedule,&nbsp;he flew out from Rhode Island to Washington to fit my sails. I quickly saw that&nbsp;I\u2019d added a real \u201csailor\u2019s sailor\u201d to my crew.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>He grew up outside Auckland, \u00adsailing&nbsp;Optimists as a kid up an estuary where they could sail only at high tide. Eventually, after the&nbsp;Kiwis won the America\u2019s Cup in San Diego, he stayed in the United States, designing sails\u2014that is, when he isn\u2019t off racing competitive Grand Prix series aboard full-on racing yachts like&nbsp;TP52s.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>I was curious about another of his roles: building sails and trimming aboard mega-\u00adyachts, where service-oriented Doyle has a substantial market share. As a trimmer, Armitage says, it is extremely&nbsp;stressful sailing, with massive carbon rigs and 2-inch-thick jib sheets loaded to tons of&nbsp;pressure. Walking around the deck with a remote control around his neck like a crane operator, he&nbsp;is constantly aware of what could happen if one of those sheets were to get loose during a tack&nbsp;and hit someone.&nbsp;&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>My sails looked slick when hoisted, but because of the higher tack point on an aftermarket&nbsp;Harken jib furler I\u2019d added, we found that the sheeting angle wasn\u2019t quite right. This was, of course, no challenge for Armitage\u2014just a simple adjustment compared with maintaining sail&nbsp;inventories for major racing campaigns. He had the sail recut and right back up in the air.&nbsp;&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>We took <em>K\u0101holo<\/em> out for trials in breezy conditions in Puget Sound. Watching a gust roil the water to windward, my first thought was to depower, and \u00admaybe even&nbsp;reef the main. After years of offshore&nbsp;sailing on the boat, I\u2019ve become familiar with how it handles. But despite a slightly increased sail area, the boat stayed on its feet, sailing&nbsp;through with less heel than I\u2019d anticipated.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>I could feel a big change in <em>K\u0101holo<\/em>. The boat pointed higher and sailed faster, given the conditions, than it ever had. At the end of the day, both sails furled away, the main sliding into&nbsp;the mast with some \u00adresistance\u2014but no swearing.&nbsp;&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>If sails are indeed the engines of a sailboat, I\u2019d just repowered with some surprisingly smooth&nbsp;and efficient motors.&nbsp;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>A cruiser shares lessons from replacing worn Dacron with modern sails and explains how new technology can improve cruising.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":11,"featured_media":61062,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":true,"BS_author_type":"BS_author_is_guest","BS_guest_author_name":"Tor Johnson","BS_guest_author_url":"","hydra_display_date":"","hydra_display_updated":false,"arc_story_id":"","arc_website_url":"","arc_subtype":"","arc_exclude_from_feeds":false,"sponsored":false,"sponsored_label":"Sponsored Content","sponsored_display_label":false,"post_right_rail":true,"post_right_rail_ad_1":true,"post_right_rail_ad_2":true,"post_right_rail_ad_3":false,"post_right_rail_ad_4":false,"post_right_rail_recirc":true,"fixed_anchor_ad":true,"post_top_ad":true,"post_off_ramp":true,"post_taboola":false,"labels":true,"apple_news_api_created_at":"","apple_news_api_id":"","apple_news_api_modified_at":"","apple_news_api_revision":"","apple_news_api_share_url":"","apple_news_cover_media_provider":"image","apple_news_coverimage":0,"apple_news_coverimage_caption":"","apple_news_cover_video_id":0,"apple_news_cover_video_url":"","apple_news_cover_embedwebvideo_url":"","apple_news_is_hidden":"","apple_news_is_paid":"","apple_news_is_preview":"","apple_news_is_sponsored":"","apple_news_maturity_rating":"","apple_news_metadata":"\"\"","apple_news_pullquote":"","apple_news_pullquote_position":"","apple_news_slug":"","apple_news_sections":[],"apple_news_suppress_video_url":false,"apple_news_use_image_component":false,"footnotes":"","ad_settings_ads_on_this_page":true,"ad_settings_automatic_ad_injection_into_the_content":true,"ad_targeting":"","alternate_title_newsletter":"","alternate_content_newsletter":"","sponsored_image":false,"sponsored_url":"","social_share":true},"categories":[164],"tags":[1225,183,2125,395],"class_list":["post-61049","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-how-to","tag-hands-on-sailor","tag-how-to","tag-print-september-2025","tag-sails-rigging"],"acf":[],"apple_news_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.cruisingworld.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/61049","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.cruisingworld.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.cruisingworld.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cruisingworld.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/11"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cruisingworld.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=61049"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.cruisingworld.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/61049\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cruisingworld.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/61062"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.cruisingworld.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=61049"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cruisingworld.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=61049"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cruisingworld.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=61049"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}