New North Sails
After sailing for a year with the original heavy 10 oz. mainsail and 9 oz. jib that came with Cinnamon when we shipped her up from the San Fransisco Bay area last summer we finally decided that it was time to get some new lighter weight sails.
Since I was very happy with my previous experience buying sails for my Catalina Capri 25 sailboat I called Kerry Poe at North Sails Oregon. He informed me that North Sails was running a sail recycling program where if you turn in an old set of sails you get 25% off new sails. When we bought Cinnamon she came with a spare main and jib that were so old and worn that I considered them worthless as sails and they were now just taking up space in my garage at home. Kerry said that was fine, so with the discount we could get North’s premium NorDac 6.8 oz sails for the less then the price of some of the competitors lower grade Dacron “cruising” sails. Kerry came and spent a couple hours with me measuring the boat. He said it would probably be 5 weeks until delivery. To my surprise three weeks later he called and said our new sails were in.
Wow, what a difference! Where we were reefing the old blown out mainsail in anything much over 10 knots, with the new sails we haven’t reefed yet and have felt comfortable in the 10 to 15 knot range. We can point higher with less heel when sailing hard on the wind. With the lighter weight sails it is much easier to to see when the luff of the sail starts to break. Down wind the loose footed main and lighter head sail, in light winds, are much better.
Since the old mainsail cover was looking worn and soiled we also thought it would be a good time to replace it too. Kerry and his wife Amy also run North Winds Canvas along with the sail loft, doing custom canvas. When the new sail came and we got it on Kerry came back and measured for the cover with the new sail on the boom to make sure it was exactly right. They gave us a great price on the cover and the quality of the work really shows. Once again we are very happy with the service and the sailcover looks great.
Sunsets at Hayden Bay with the new mainsail covered.