While straight Dacron is easier to flake & reef than the hot new North 3Di membrane sails, it tends to stretch and wrinkle after only a few years of heavy usage.
Lots of Nonsuch sailors don’t seem to notice the baggy wrinkles or realize how much they degrade the performance of the airfoil. On a sailplane, even such a small thing as squashed bugs on the leading edge of the wing will noticeably affect performance!
Here are just a few examples of Nonsuch sails well past their prime and due for replacement:
I just yanked on my new main sail it’s Dacron but is also tri radial cut small panels facing for max stress and shape .we plan to test out this weekend so I will let you know. My main that’s on my boat is still in good shape made by hood but very heavy and well built but it doesn’t work well in light winds. I will keep for winter sailing and offshore.its 707sq so lots of shape and one full batten. Will post photo next week. Jim moores N33-41# Arawak
I’m getting a triradial from Somerset Sails built in NY using 10oz Marblehead Dacron from Challenge after 10 years of using a NS 30 Stratis/Carbon 20 Doyle sail that kept it’s shape, but I wasn’t very happy about anything else about it
Light air is NOT our problem with daily blows from 20 to 40+ kts in SF Bay.
How heavy is your Dacron? My NS 354 is the same size as your NS 33 btw…
You must hang your head in abject and total shame …
I LOVE my Dacron 7 oz. Marblehead cruising sail from Mack Sails. What’s more, when I bought it, I could actually afford it. (That kinda helps … no??) And, unlike the Norlam laminated sail that it replaced (which was a good sail and was all bagged out and bloody old), it doesn’t suffer from mildew IN the laminated layers. That kind of mildew is impossible to get out. Man, did that sail look awful.
I will enjoy this “new” sail for years and I’m glad I went with good old Dacron.
Michel, my old sail was 10oz but heavy reinforced and a great sail, I have put it in my barn for keeping. My new sail has only one reef point at 36% our winds right now and 10 to 20 mph and I want to be able to sail by my self the old one is twice the weight so hard to fold and the new one should be a game changer a little more area and truly a beautiful shape. Talking her out this weekend for the first time too. So will let you know. Jim Moores Arawak n33-41#
I am sure there have been times when a picture of our sail could have made Barry’s hall of shame but, while wee do take some pains to apply proper halyard, choker, TL and sheet tension even when we are just moseying aimlessly about our home waters, I find it somewhat antithetical to the Nonsuch way to obsess over such matters. Anyone who buys a Nonsuch with the primary intention of going fast and winning races has erred grievously. After using a 25 year ofd Ross sail for the last 10 or 12 years we bent on the original Hood sail this season and it still sets very nicely when tweaked appropriately. Fair winds and following seas all.
Glad that I found this thread. Now I can explain to my wife, with some authority, that the wrinkles are not proof that I am old. They are evidence that I am made out of Dacron.
Real Nonsuch racers use sails made from polyester (Dacron). Rule 6 of the INA class rules specify that only woven polyester may be used. It may be time for the rules to be amended. They specifically prohibit Mylar, Spectra and Kevlar but are silent on any other high tech materials that may exist or be developed.
