What Sail Is This?

[Pete7]

Originally Posted by sailstoo

This is hilarious!!! ROFLMAO

Lol, my thoughts too, along with the thought it's a pantomime or Punch and Judy sketch.

Tilly, you are going to have to open this sail up and photograph it to solve the mystery.

Pete

[boatman1]

Whatever it was originally intended to be, I'd hate to be the poor foredeck guy who has to get it down in a pinch, were it rigged as a spinnaker and the breeze pipes up.

[Boatguy30]

So you guys got this?

[JPA Cate]

Tilly, you are going to have to open this sail up and photograph it to solve the mystery.

* Pete 7

Maybe it is time to turn loose of pre-conceived notions, and run an experiment. Many posters have suggested you need to get a good look at this sail in its entirety.

We have used large screwdrivers driven into the soil at a public park to stretch the sail, so you can measure it. You need a large tape measure, you want one that is at least as tall as your mast.

If you can get a picture of it all stretched out for the forum to see, that would be great.

Ann, cruising full time, for over 30 yrs.

[Stilllooking]

Has anyone thought that this may have been something cobbled together to catch water, make shade?

[Sailmonkey]

Originally Posted by Stilllooking

Has anyone thought that this may have been something cobbled together to catch water, make shade?

Yep.[emoji106]

[ObracJ]

Originally Posted by Pete7

Lol, my thoughts too, along with the thought it's a pantomime or Punch and Judy sketch.

Tilly, you are going to have to open this sail up and photograph it to solve the mystery.

Pete

Tilly, like Pete said, you'll have to stretch her out and "see" just how big she is and her symmetry.

However, from my sailmaking experience, she's clearly a main. In your first pictures, you can clearly see the reefs, these sort of reefs are "mostly", if not "exclusive" to the mains. Yes Jibs and Genies have them, however not with punch holes, or reef eyes. That is because, as you know, Mains support a lot of stress when sailing, and those eyes are generally the "only" way to bring that sucker down, especially during bad weather.

Second, if you look at the third image, out of the first four, you can clearly see the leech and the backend of the clamcleat. They are used in all sails, for the most part, and yet, in this picture, IMO, is a clear indicator that we are dealing with a Main, rather then a Jib, Genie or Spanket, god forbid

Third, your second image, has the head with a slug and metal plate heads. When you make a sail, this is always a "norm" in the making of a Main, mostly because there is immense pressure on the head, this area is reinforce with several layers of Dacron, or other materials, depending on the Grammage of the material used, and it's mostly used to protect and keep in place, while helping keep the angle of the Halyard just right. Not "all" mains have them, but, normally, it's part of the status quo.

Finally, Tilly, your last image, of the first four. Tack and Clew, if you look closely, there is a broken piece of Sling on the one of the eyes. This could be because the the clew had a sling to keep the foot/leef "in place" per say, so the clew wouldn't go about flapping like it's the 4th of July while sailing, especially if the sheet was a bit loose.

I hope this helps, however, if you can get that pic up we might just uncover the mystery. , One more thing, I would heavily recommend you either restitch the whole sail, or at least the reefs, tack, clew and head, simply don't use this as your go to sail. It looks burnt, the stitching seems to be coming off on the leech and corners, if you catch bad weather, strong winds, or maybe over tense the lines, you might end up with a nasty surprise. Just a thought.

edit: P.S. you mentioned this sail was "for your boat", it wouldn't be the first time yachts are sailing with "wrong" sized sails.

[StuM]

8 posts by the OP in his first 3 1/2 hours and nothing more for four days.

I doubt we will hear from him again - I think he got the responses he wanted from this thread.

[Jim Cate]

I think he got the responses he wanted from this thread.

Or perhaps, Stu, some that he really didn't want!

Jim

[gjordan]

Reminds me of Scoobert. Grant.

[savoir]

We have all been punked.