I respond to Trevor's suggestion and the interest in the new 15 rig. I believe it would be true to say that we all have an interest, not least the sail makers, who will be stocking up with anticipation, with the short life of mylar.
There is a very interesting article in the F15 section of the Hayling website at http://www.hisc.co.uk/locker/fifteen The content of the article is the research by Martin Stainsby (who in the past has had the enriching experience of crewing for me in a GP14) regarding the new sails. I make the assumption from the content and layout, that as well as being a competent 15 sailor, Martin may be into "project management"...!
My conclusions are that we still have some way to go with this initiative. It appears to have no definitive dimensions yet for the new sails, including the number of battens required. Also we seem to be blindly moving forward with the concept of a new mainsail shape, to the extent that this new mainsail shape is being evaluated in some parts of the world with the existing genoa. Have we tried the new genoa/jib in conjunction with the existing mainsail?
It is my guess that a move to a new rig next July is in the balance and if Mylar is mandatory for the new main design, this will fracture the class and render all the hard work on classic and silver fleets to the bin. In the event that the new sail plan is approved and there is freedom of choice between dacron and mylar sails, then it would probably be a couple of seasons before the sail makers settle on their preferred cuts and designs.
Back to Trevor's suggestion, I should think a sailmaker will be pleased to strike a keen deal for 4-6 suits of Mylar sails. On a personal note I would only buy dacron because I like to obtain a minimum of 3 years use out of a suit of sails - our current suit are actually 5 years old - added to which I enjoy having an input into the design of sails I use.
Best Regards
Hume - non Dom -
FF3559
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