Sail - July 2018

JULY 2018

Sail-care Basics

Taking care of your canvas doesn’t just save you money,

it’s central to good seamanship By Brian Hancock

K

nowing how to take care of your sails

and how to repair them while at sea is

an important part of overall seaman-

ship. h e last thing any sailor needs is

to get caught on a lee shore with damaged sails.

h is applies to both racers and cruisers.

These days there is a fine line between

the kind of engineering used for racing and

cruising sails, as many cruisers are now

opting for high-tech membrane sails, as op-

posed to conventional crosscut Dacron or a

laminate. But while a membrane sail in-

cludes plenty of high-tech engineering in its

construction, it is no more difficult to repair

than Dacron.

Before we look at how to i x these dif erent

kinds of sails, though, we’re going to take a look

at some of the factors that fatigue sails in the

hope that we can prevent having to do any un-

necessary repair. Whether it’s blowing dogs of

chains, or you’re chasing cat’s paws in a drit er,

there are plenty of ways to ensure you get the

most out of your sails over time. We’ll then take

on the subject of sail repair at sea next month

in Part Two of this series.

Flogging: Flogging is the quickest way to

damage a set of sails, especially membrane

sails made from high-tech i bers like Car-

bon and Twaron. Neither of these i bers do

well when they are repeatedly bent, which is

exactly what happens when a sail is allowed to

l og. Over time the delicate i bers will slowly

fatigue. h is applies to all i bers, but especially

to these more exotic ones.

Flogging can come in many dif erent forms:

including simply letting your mainsail l ap in

the breeze as you motor back to the mooring.

h erefore, either drop the main whenever you

are motoring or sheet it on tight to prevent it

from l apping. Similarly, while it’s important

that you head into the wind when hoisting a

headsail, there is no need to create additional

apparent wind by motoring at a higher speed

than necessary. Just maintain enough way

on to keep the bow pointed into the wind,

and you’ll go a long way to sparing your sail.

It’s the attention to small details that pay big

dividends over time.

Another, more subtle, way of causing a sail

to l og is not trimming properly. If the lead

postion on the headsail, for example, is too far

at , the leech will twist of and l ap. You should

make sure, then, that the leech line is properly

tightened and use the trim line on the clew (if

the sail has one) to it in where it should be.

UV Degradation: Right up there with l ogging

in terms of sail fatigue is that same ingredient

that makes sailing so much fun, the sun. It has

been known for a long time that ultraviolet

(UV) light has a slow and deleterious ef ect on

all fabrics, but some are more sensitive than

others. Take Vectran, for example—it is a great

i ber for making sails, both for racing and

PHOTOS BY

PETER NEILSEN

(LEFT); COURTESY OF

UGO FONOLLA/VOR

(ABOVE)

ON DECK SAIL CARE

The crew of the Volvo

Ocean 65 Mapfre takes

care of a bit o chafe

while underway

It’s readily apparent how

the spreader can chafe the

sail in this photo: note the

reinforcing patch