New sails

[antunes65]

Dear friends, I live in Brazil and I would like to ask which are the sails you use in America, particularly about North sails company. At the North sails site in USA they sell mainsails with 3.8 oz and jibs with 4.5 oz. They sell also in your country a set of soft cloth main and jib cheaper than the prevous one. But there is an option here to buy supercruise dacron 5.4 oz mainsails and 4 oz jibs. Do you use any one of these? How do you find them regarding performance. Thank you for your answers as you surely have more experience on this sails and company.

[GreenLake]

This might fit better in the "sails" section of this forum, so I've moved it there.

You might tell us a bit more about the kind of sailing you do: are you racing or cruising, is your sailing area in Brazil given to high winds or moderate?

The heavier sails may last a bit longer esp. in areas with stronger winds, while conversely the lighter ones might set better in light winds.

The other factor would be the cut. I have not idea whether the cuts of these various sails are equivalent. The brand you mention would be one of the more expensive ones, overall, so many of us here are buying sails from smaller firms. What constitutes the preferred sail for the racing part of the DS community seems also to change a bit over time.

Let's see whether we can get some people to contribute their experience here, who have bought sails from places that ship your way.

[DigitalMechanic]

When I hear "North", I immediately think "racing". I don't race my boat, and do not use their sails, but I have a friend that works for North Sails. He is a pro one design racer etc. If you PM me with your info (email, phone), I will pass your info to him (or vice versa) if you have a serious inquiry about the North Sails for the Daysailer. I believe this time of year they do a %15 discount (off season because of our winter in the northern hemisphere). Not sure how their promos work this time of year in the southern hemisphere, but maybe worth talking to if you are interested in that sail maker.

He would definitely be able to tell you the difference between the different sail options they have.

[antunes65]

Dear Digitalmechanic,

Thank you for your kind answer. I have posted here to know about you guys experience in these sails as you have a bigger fleet than we do. And probably could give me some information. I do not intend to buy sails in States as the importation taxes are prohibitive in Brazil. Yes, the sails are for race and I do not have also the rules of the class in USA. If you or someone do have the exact dimensions of the sails permited I would very much appreciate. My name is Antonio Antunes and my email is antunes.orl@gmail.com. Thank you in advance for your interest and help.

[DigitalMechanic]

Dear Digitalmechanic,

Thank you for your kind answer. I have posted here to know about you guys experience in these sails as you have a bigger fleet than we do. And probably could give me some information. I do not intend to buy sails in States as the importation taxes are prohibitive in Brazil. Yes, the sails are for race and I do not have also the rules of the class in USA. If you or someone do have the exact dimensions of the sails permited I would very much appreciate. My name is Antonio Antunes and my email is antunes.orl@gmail.com. Thank you in advance for your interest and help.

I think the handbook is here. There are some diagrams that show the sail dimensions. http://forum.daysailer.org/dsa_handbook_spec.php

Bylaws are here as well, which again include sail specifications/dimensions. https://www.daysailer.org/Constititution-&-Bylaws

I personally have zero experience with North Sails, in fact I bought the cheap In "Intensity Sails" and have been happy with them for what I do. My requirements were only to have a crisp sail http://www.intensitysails.com/gesaforda.html

My guess is that the difference between North and some of the other reputable sail makers (Neil Pryde, Jotz, etc) is some perceivable minimal extra technical advantage to give a racer that slight edge. Craftsmanship is probably good on any of the reputable sails and would expect they have similar longevity. The craftsmanship on the cheaper "Intensity Sails" is definitely lower, but they are cheap and easy on the pocket book to replace. I personally am not a good enough sailor to "out sail" my boat, so that is why I used the cheaper sails (at least for now).

Anyways, I am probably not much help on the information part, maybe one of the racing folks will chime in with their experiences. Again, if you want to talk to someone from North that you can do some Q&A with, I imagine there is a rep in your area. I can pass your info along to my friend if you like and see if he can help find the person who services your area... Or maybe can help you himself

[Solarwinds]

Hello Antunes,
I can't help you with your questions about sails beyond what other members of this forum have already replied, but
I am curious as to where you sail in Brasil? Are any of the Brazilian Youtube videos yours?

[antunes65]

Hello Solarwinds,

I sail in a city called Recife in Brazil northeast by the sea. We belong to Cabanga Iate Clube. Perhaps some of the videos you saw in youtube are from a nearby city, Joao Pessoa. Perhaps I will post some video there sometime. The climate here is warm around 25-30 C, wind about 10-15 knots and we do not have a real winter, its just lots of rain, so we can sail almost whenever we want.

[antunes65]

Hello Digital Mechanic, your last post helped me a lot. It was exactly what I was looking for. Don’t bother your friend who works at North Sails. I can manage to find someone here.
Thank you very much

[DigitalMechanic]

Now worries. Best of luck to you! Hope you find the right sails for your boat. Let us know what you end up doing

[DigitalMechanic]

So what is your experience ...????

Is this directed to me in regards to the "Intensity" brand sails? Or are you asking Antonio what he ended up doing?

[GreenLake]

This is a thread from 2016. Unfortunately, we often see that new accounts that post 1-line generic follow-ups to "dead" posts are in fact spammers. Therefore, I checked @lissa's IP address and found it registered in a country from which we get spammed frequently (and in which we do not have any known DaySailer owners). I'm sorry, but that's enough circumstantial evidence for me to delete this registration.