New sail cost.

[Jaycb]

Just a follow-up from the earlier thread re the cost of new sails.
When I picked up my repaired sail the other day the sailmaker who did the repairs told me that he could make me a brand new (obviously out of class) Dart 15 sail for £350-380. This would not include battens, but the sail would in effect be an exact copy of my original.
I can't afford it anyway, but my point here is, if a worker in the UK can make a sail for under £400 and still make a profit, why are the far-east made "legal" ones over £580???
Someone has to speak up about this.

[Andrew Hannah]

Hi Jaycb,

What you say about the price of sails can be said about the price of anything. Why pay more, if you can pay less?

However, price is not the only consideration. Another sailor may be willing to pay not less, but more, if he perceives the quality is better. He might go to North Sails of Germany, as an example.

Meanwhile, yet another sailor, may discover a breakthrough in sail cloth. This happened with Terylene, Dacron, Mylar etc. If so, he may be willing to pay say £2000 for a sail.

And all because someone wanted to change the rules about suppliers.

[Steve Lyndon]

I don't agree. You can specify type of material, stitching, dimensions etc. without specifying supplier. Then any sailmaker can try to make the sail within those restrictions and compete for trade on the open market.

[Andrew Hannah]

In a way Steve, I can see your point. But it's not as straightforward as getting a quote to tarmac the driveway.

In the case of the Sprint 15 class, we choose to preserve the one-design nature of racing. This is because we want to race on equal terms. We do this by specifying the sailmaker/supplier. The same applies to all our unique parts.

I used to crew in Dragons where each year owners would buy a new set of sails. They invariably bought the same as the class leaders. One year it was Elvstrom sails, the next would be Norths, then German Norths and so on. Cost was not the issue. Quality was.

All the Dragon sails were meticulously measured to ensure they conformed to class rules. But it was an arms race. If we had such a system in the Sprint class, I would look for the exit.

[Jaycb]

I can understand the arms race argument, though if the standards are rigidly applied this could be minimised. But if the class association is going to rigidly enforce a single source policy I feel it is obliged to ensure that source is not overly expensive.