Uk jib issues with undersized clew rings

[Mystic Rhythms]

I now have owned three UK sails and have sailed about 60K miles with them.

Originally my issues was with UV damage to the threads on the webbing straps and had all three corners of my first genoa rip out at various times. This was fixed on my latest sail from them by putting sunbrella over all the webbing straps. This is a great idea!

Unfortunately they also cut a minor corner by putting in a way too small clew ring. When my clew ripped out after only 1.5 years they first told me I was sailing in too high of winds. It was 25 knots on a 44 foot cruising cat! When I finally found a former sail loft owner here in the philippines he informed me that my jib sheets chafed through the webbing straps. This makes total sense with the ring being undersized and he even said that is a ring for a boat under 30 feet. When I told the UK guy that sold me the jib (also the guy that came out each time to measure for my new sails) he said just use smaller jib sheets! I use the size I do because of loads and they also fit my anderson 52 winches!

After multiple emails to the seller (UK san francisco) and multiple attempts to contact with no success (UK corporate also known as UK New York) I have had zero success in getting them to stand behind their product.

I have sent tons of photos, sent them the details of another cruiser that had the same problem with their UK jib, even emailed direct to Adam Loory at UK headquarters with no response. To follow the posting rules their loft email is
newyork@uksailmakers.com

Not to rant and rave on this site I just want folks about to set off cruising on any sail to watch out for undersized clew rings and beware that it might be chafing your webbing straps that hold your ring in place. I might have noticed this happening, but that lovely sun cover addition that covered the straps also covered any visible chafing.

Have fun cruising and hopefully your sails won't let you down.

Richard
Travelogue of the Catana catamaran Mystic Rhythms