New Sail! (well, new to me.)

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The old jib on cuajota was tired. It seems like every time I went sailing a new hole would pop up in the sail. I was on my third roll of sail repair tape and I would joke to myself but eventually it would stop because the whole leech of the sail would just be tape. I looked on Minney’s website and saw a sail that was just about a perfectvfitbfor my boat! I was skeptical because my boat is an odd size and only 118 boats were made between 1974 and 1980. What wethe chances of this working out? This was also the day for their annual parking lot sale so I was getting an extra 15% off. They pulled out the sail and it was in great shape, but it was cut down from a bigger sail.

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We grabbed breakfast, thought about it, and had KJ come down to take a look at it. It was infinitely better than my old sail but they were asking about 1/3 the price of a new sail…that would be a perfect fit for Cuajota….KJ and I agreed it wasn’t a bad deal. I had 5 days to put it on the boat and test it out. If I didn’t like it I’d get a full refund. So I put the sail on the boat and went for a test sail in the harbor. I wanted to give I a try before I left the harbor with it.

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I didn’t do much adjusting, just wanted to see how it felt….WOW!!! It was blowing maybe 8-10 knots in the harbor and the boat picked up and took off! I was doing 6.5 knots all the way up the channel. The boat was so controlled and responsive. I absolutely loved it! I went out of the channels and again it was nice. Soooo nice! Headed north and I was pushing 5.9 upwind into some pretty good current. Turned around and absolutely flew downwind! Was it just my mind? I wanted another opinion again. I asked KJ to go for a sail. He had Cuajota for 8 years and is very familiar with how she sails. We also have sailed her a number of times and recently so the next day we went out. This time thee was a Coast Guard small craft warning. We grabbed some foul gear and headed into the ocean. Again, the new sail was wonderful. With so much wind (about 15-20 knots) the boat danced in the chop. It was like she was frolicking out there. It pointed super high into the wind, way higher that the older sail. In that wind and the rough seas the boat was solid with the new headsail. It inspired confidence where the old sail I was afraid of it ripping to shreds in higher winds. We did a few tacks and a few jibes and again had a pretty positive view of the sail. KJ thought it was a great sail. It had brand new UV covers sewn on and the sail material was in perfect shape. No nicks, scratches or repairs. Still I wasn’t 100% convinced. I wanted to go to the North Sails loft and get their opinion. The sail has a North patch on it sp they should know this kind of sail. They said it was a great sail and they we so great they put telltales on it for me and gave me some reeling guides and measured it for me. This sail is a tad bit smaller than the jib that was on there before. I had a 135% jib before and this one measured out to be a 125%. It actually fits the boat a tad bit better. Doesn’t hit the spreaders or get hung up on the mast when tacking. All in all it seems like a great sail in excellent shape for 1/3 the price of a new one. It fits the boat perfectly and has great performance. My only question…am I going to miss that 10%?

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