Looking at new sails

[sxsilver]

I sail a Cal 28-2. The last owner replaced the sails in 2008 and according to him I have a 140% Rolly Tasker R/F Genoa and a 2 full/2 half Batten Rolly Tasker Main.

Last weekend I tore my main doing some stupid sailing in the hurricane....fun but stupid. So I'm getting my main patched up but I wanted to look at other sails.

My question is will it make that much of a difference? I don't race much but next year I would like to get into it and a lot of the racing sailboats here (Baltimore) have the fancy carbon sails.

I was looking at UK sails website since I went to them to get my sail patched and the X-Drive seems to be the go between for cruising and racing. Then it goes down to silver vs carbon. I have a roller furler for my jib and read that you dont want to put carbon sails on that?

Any advice is much appreciated!

Thanks.

[Kenomac]

Yes, new sails make a BIG difference. Ours are tri radial DYS with Sailcoat made in the UK by Dolphin Sails.

[DDabs]

Huge difference. Carbon sails are going to be extremely expensive compared to more traditional material and will be overkill on a boat that isn't rigged for racing.

[silversailor]

I sail a Hanse 370, a cruiser with a turn of speed which I also race. I just completed a 3 mo study of new sails for my cruiser/racer, including UK X-Drive, carbon and silver. If you're interested in my experience send me a PM with your email address.

[mrohr]

Carbon fiber sails on a roller- fuller ? I'd check on that one.

[Suijin]

The first thing you need to do to answer your question is to look into the Cal 28 class rules, if you're going to sail in a class (or if you're going to sail in PHRF and adhere to the specified rating for your boat). I'm pretty sure that class rules for the Cal 28 specify dacron and so that makes that decision easy.

Generally speaking if you want to be competitive you'll want to ditch the furler and put on a foil. You'll also want at least two jibs...a big genoa and a #2 or 3 for heavier air. Using a furler to shorten sail during a race is equivalent to running a marathon in hiking boots given how it destroys the shape of the sail. You'll lose your ability to point pretty much entirely, which is the difference between competing and coming in dead last.

In short, check the class rules which should lay out sail dimensions, inventory, materials, rigging, etc.

There's a huge spectrum to racing on the Chesapeake. I've crewed on an old J35 with 10 yo sails, and a Farr 400 which goes through +$25k of sails a year. You might want to just race your boat as is the first season and learn it, focusing on the process and crew work, and save upgrades for later when you're in a much better position to judge what's important and worth investment.

And no, you generally don't want to put composite sails on a furler, although there are some that can handle it.