Sail selection on new 34’ boat

[Letterkenny]

I’m looking at ordering a boat with the top candidates being the Hanse 348 and Jeanneau 349. For a while, I believe I will only have 1 downwind sail. For this size of a boat and for lighter Southern California winds, what would you get? I’m leaning towards a furling asymmetric spinnaker as the boats will have a 110% Genoa for up wind. However, one of the boat dealers in estimated this at $6-7k for one whereas I could get a factory code zero for $4.8k. Which of these sails would be better and if anyone has pricing experience, that would be great. The ballpark was $3k for the curler and $3.5-4K for the sail and I am seeing profurler setups for 35’ boats at half of this or 44’ $1k less.

[Peeew]

I suggest not buying the factory sail and instead work with a local sailmaker. This way your sail design, materials, and rig setup can be designed to best match your sailing needs. If the factory code zero is similar in quality to the factory main and jib it probably won’t keep you happy very long.

[Snore]

^^^^ What he said!

Factory sails are rarely as good as those from a quality loft.



PS-buy Jeanneau

[Letterkenny]

So the furling asymmetric seems to be 165% and the code zero furling is 155-160%. Is the furling asymmetric still the best bet? Looks like it will be a Jeanneau 349 with the performance square top main and 110% Genoa.

[Dockhead]

Originally Posted by Peeew

I suggest not buying the factory sail and instead work with a local sailmaker. This way your sail design, materials, and rig setup can be designed to best match your sailing needs. If the factory code zero is similar in quality to the factory main and jib it probably won’t keep you happy very long.

This


Find a good sailmaker, and bond with him. A good sailmaker is a sailor's best friend.