Sails from China

[rognvald]

The consumer's necessity for the absolutely cheapest price has led the way to the demise of small businessmen worldwide. Support your local sailmaker. Good luck and safe sailing.

[Velella99]

I acknowledge your sentiments rognvald. You are right of course. We were in a situation where we had to replace a furling jib, staysail, main and mizzen. Our intention was always to get locally manufactured sails, however I began to investigate the cost of Asian made sails, of course taking the risk that my measurements would translate into a correct sail size. What sealed it for me was another large local sailmaker, renowned by name,was by their own admission, buying their sails in from China and effectively just providing a measurement and service.
I was flabbergasted with the difference in price so I bought a staysail first to assess the quality which turned out to be excellent. I was impressed with the manufacture and the quality of the hand work particularly around bolt ropes, cringles etc so we ordered the entire suite plus our boom bags + hour spray barriers for the rails. I'm pleased to say there was no errors and they were made to my measurements which fortunately were spot on. All communication was by email so we had a record of our exchanges and the delivery was smack on time with the Duty issues handled by the carrier. I know we saved a lot of money. The vendor was Lee Sails in Hong Kongand I would recommend them . I have heard that if they make an error with the measurements they will just replace the entire sail no questions asked. In particular I asked for a cross cut jib rather than a diagonal cut and I'm really impressed with the shape.

Sent from my SM-G920I using Cruisers Sailing Forum mobile app

[rognvald]

Originally Posted by Velella99

I acknowledge your sentiments rognvald. You are right of course. We were in a situation where we had to replace a furling jib, staysail, main and mizzen. Our intention was always to get locally manufactured sails, however I began to investigate the cost of Asian made sails, of course taking the risk that my measurements would translate into a correct sail size. What sealed it for me was another large local sailmaker, renowned by name,was by their own admission, buying their sails in from China and effectively just providing a measurement and service.
I was flabbergasted with the difference in price so I bought a staysail first to assess the quality which turned out to be excellent. I was impressed with the manufacture and the quality of the hand work particularly around bolt ropes, cringles etc so we ordered the entire suite plus our boom bags + hour spray barriers for the rails. I'm pleased to say there was no errors and they were made to my measurements which fortunately were spot on. All communication was by email so we had a record of our exchanges and the delivery was smack on time with the Duty issues handled by the carrier. I know we saved a lot of money. The vendor was Lee Sails in Hong Kongand I would recommend them . I have heard that if they make an error with the measurements they will just replace the entire sail no questions asked. In particular I asked for a cross cut jib rather than a diagonal cut and I'm really impressed with the shape.

Sent from my SM-G920I using Cruisers Sailing Forum mobile app

Hi, V--
Great feedback on your purchase! As I said previously, for many people price is the determining factor in a purchase and many are willing to gamble on quality. It appears that you got a good price and good quality for your money and that's positive. However, I have worked with local sailmakers for the last 30 years and found that I never paid more for my sails or repairs when comparing apples to apples, so to speak, for the quality of materials and workmanship. And, even when we cruised full-time for ten years we always sought a local sailmaker that we spoke to personally and discussed our wants and needs. Perhaps it's a generational or a personality characteristic but I always seek an interpersonal, one on one human connection whenever possible in all my purchases. There is no doubt that the nature of business has changed forever with the advent of computer shopping and dealing with vendors who do not have to maintain a traditional brick and mortar business with all its attendant costs, employees, and responsibilities. Your shopping represents the present and the future of business and those who prefer to buy like me are going the way of the horse and wagon. Best of luck on your new sails and the honest feedback on your purchase. Good luck and safe sailing, R.