What Sail To Use

[lazeyjack]

i must go down to the sea again
to the lonely sea and sky
with a tall ship beneath me
and a star to steer her by

[PsiPhi]

I like the tent material idea, I'll drop in to St. Vinnies, etc., and see what I can find.
I saw a design (a Jim Michelak newletter I think) that showed putting a couple of darts into a (lug) sail to give it shape.
Is that an effective method? Would it work on a Sprit sail? they seem to be pretty much the same shape.

[Bergalia]

PsiPhi - when sewing shape into the sail try to imagine that you are looking from the top of the mast down the spread of the sail - and further imagine an aerofoil shape (cross section of a bird wing) - and stitch tighter at the mast edge to give it that 'tapered bow' shape. But I'm pretty sure there are some professional sailmakers on the forum who'll give advice - even though you're 'trespassing' in on their territory.
Alternatively just sew a 'flat' sheet and allow useage to shape it naturally. Mind you, this was easier with canvas - but nylon still has a certain amount of 'give'. Good luck. And happy sailing.

[lewisboats]

Take a look at the PolySail site: http://hometown.aol.com/polysail/HTML/index.htm . Under "simple instructions" there is enough info to put together a decent sail.

I got one of thier kits and it was very complete...for about 1/4 of the cost of a professionally made sail. This allows you to try different sails and shapes until you find the one you like then you can have a good one made up.

Steve