We’d sincerely hoped that the ratty old blown out hideous main sail that came with the boat would last us another season.
It is ugly, but I have learned to live with that. This is not easy for someone whose last boat was a racer with sexy gold and black sails that look like airplane wings. Those sails were a pleasure to trim, and a beauty to behold. Sharp in trim sails were not only a point of pride for a racer, but a key element to…not sucking on the race course. Our last vessel was a well dressed lady, a sleek vamp in a shimmering black sheath of a dress. Evenstar, alas, has been the Cinderella of the high seas – a classic beauty, dressed all in rags. But I could live with ugly, so long as it stayed in one piece and got us from point A to point B in modest fashion. We have had other more pressing concerns for the boats systems to allocate our Boat Bucks on.
With this sail, it goes beyond having a shape that can be charitably compared to a “Hippo’s Ass”, or a sail which is gray and floppy. No, this unfortunate rag has gone beyond that – from untrimmable to down right unusable. Once again, we have almost ripped the clew right off the sail. The leech of the sail is so soft and floppy that it gets bunched up in the mast when we try to furl it in. I have boxer shorts that have better shape and stiffness. It is a matter of short time until it becomes inextricably bound in the mast furler and I have to take a knife to it, or we rip it in two trying to trim it.
Now, for the interminable wait. Christmas in June (or July…I hope not). My lady is getting the first part of her ball gown, a new Hyadranet Cross Cut main sail from the fine folks at Quantum sails.
