Conference unifix::sailing

    The 1.5 oz. nylon should be easily handled by a regular sewing machine. 
    You could fly it as a gennaker but you will not be able to get the
    angles absolutely correct as if you used a pole.  BTW 1.5 oz. is fairly
    heavy for a light air chute.  .6 or .75 might be a better choice. 
    There are several books available on canvaswork and sail making that go
    into some detail on the tricks used to finish the sails off correctly. 
    I have one I would lend, if interested send me mail.  
    
    Brian

	I don't know anything about sewing your own sails. I can see the appeal 
of beiang able to though, especially come repair time. But it's the 
wieght of that cloth, especially for light air, that drives my comment. I 
don't think I've ever flown a chute of greater than 0.75 oz. and there have 
been times when the 0.6 oz. couldn't hold it's shackles up. That was a big 
chute, well bigger than my S2, smaller than the one we won races with, then 
switching to a lighter sheet (in this case it was actually heavy kite sting) 
the chute could fly. I've had light air on my S2 where the 0.75oz. chute 
couldn't hold it self up. But, in moderate light air none of these were ever 
a problem. I'd say when the wind got below 3 or 4 knots it gets to be 
difficult. I would think with 1.5oz. cloth you'd move your hard to fly range 
up to 5 or 6, just guessing. But your high end apparent wind speed would be 
way up there. It just sounds like really heavy cloth to me. 

	Geoff

    From the info Sailrite provides, the 1.5 oz cloth is rated for much
    larger boats and pretty heavy wind. I do not want a fragile sail that
    will be endangered if the wind picks up to 10-15 kts, but I am conerned
    about overkill.
    
    The quote instructs me to call the sailmaker who prepared it, to 
    discuss details. One of the things I want to discuss with him is cloth
    weight. I wonder how much harder to sew a really light weight cloth
    will be.
    
    Bill
    

    The cloth weight going down should make it easier to sew.  The thread
    will not be as strong (thick), the material will not be as as stiff
    etc.  As you stated in the original, the material gets taped first
    anyway so it should be a matter of just sewing within the lines :-). 
    The 1.5 oz we race with is smaller, cut real flat and we use it when
    the winds gets over 20.  Up to that point we use a .6 or .75 depending
    upon which boat it is.  
    
    Brian   

	We've carried the 0.6 in winds approaching 30 on more than one occasion
and the only thing I've ever seen break was a cam cleat on a twing block. But 
the exploding twing convinced us to take the chute down before it blew up. It 
appears that the biggest threat to the spinnaker in winds below small craft 
advisories is tacking it down. Ooopps, we ripped it on the way up once too (that
was a heavy day!).

	I agree, 1.5 oz. sounds high. If you have this thing up in winds over
15kts, I hope there's plenty of crew to hold her down!! I think you'll already
be swapped back to your jib by then.
	So what about life? Will a 1.5 oz. last longer? How much? I'd betcha
that 10 years should be expected if you give it a rinse now and then, and keep
it bagged and out of the sun, whether it's .6, .75 or 1.5.

	How about a Meges Com-Pac? Jam a flagpole in her bow, buy a 10,000 sq.ft.
reacher, maybe some traps.... yeeee haaaaaaa

	Scott

    I spoke with the sailmaker who sent me the quote. The reason for the
    1.5 oz ripstop nylon was price. It is $9.00/yd while the .75 oz is
    $ 11.50/yd. I think I will go with the .75 oz. The lighter cloth will be
    worth the extra $52.50 in light air performance.
    
    He agreed that the .75 oz would be strong enough to hold past the point
    where the occupants of the boat were getting scared, would give better
    performance and the only downside was cost.
    
    I wonder why lighter ripstop nylon costs 27% more than the same
    material which is twice as heavy.
    
    Bill
    

    Probably for the same reason the 180threads per inch percale outcosts
    muslin (90 threads per inch) by two to one.
    
    BTW, It will be the light air where you want that kite. Anything above
    15kn the payoff for the precision of control vs the extra speed
    benefit shrinks rapidly.
    
    I can single had a soverel 33 in 25kn AW while going along at 13+kn
    boatspeed. (offwind of course). But a crew of 10 is needed to fly the
    chute in that stuff. We get 1-3 more kn of boat speed but have blown up
    a few spinnakers with some REALLY nasty crashes. Can you spell death
    roll?
    
    Since last year was a real "blower", not one chute ever got set. 
    

Re: .1

>    1. Anyone out there with any experience sewing with 1.5 oz nylon?

I have lots of experience sewing nylon.  Since you will be using tape to
hold the seams while sewing, you should not encounter "seam creep" (bottom 
feeds faster than top due to feed dogs below) which can easily occur with 
machines that do not have a walking foot or walking needle.

1.5 oz ripstop is quite easy to handle, but the lighter fabrics are actually
more difficult.  They are also a lot harder to manufacture, hence the higher
cost for lighter fabrics.  The calendering process for modern lightweight 
ripstops took years to perfect.  The thing to watch out for is puckering of 
the seams.  To prevent excess shrinkage, you need to:

1) Keep a lot of tension on the fabric as it passes by the needle.  That is 
   to say, you must hold the fabric with both hands, firmly pinching the 
   fabric with thumb and forefinger.  If your Consew has a knee operated foot 
   lifter, it may actually be the better choice of machines.  Most heavy duty 
   machines can be setup to do light work (the converse is more difficult).

2) Operate the machine with as little sewing tension as possible.  I would 
   recommend backing off the bottom tension and adjusting the top to suit.  
   Keep checking the loop to make sure it is buried as much as possible in 
   the fabric.  With such light material (especially anything under 1.0 oz, 
   it is critical to keep a close eye on the tension.  Each time you change 
   the number of pieces of fabric under the needle, you should check tension.

The best approach would be to get some offcuts and practise before tackling 
the real thing.  Ask the supplier to throw some extra pieces in with your
kit.  This will enable you and your wife to select the appropriate machine,
get it setup correctly, and master the techniques needed to handle the 
slippery nylon.

Regards,
Keith

PS.  Make sure you use UV shielded thread.  The sailmaker should advise on
     correct weight and strength.

    Thanks for the sewing pointers.
    
    Re the thread, Sailrite supplies everything, including the thread.
    They caution about using everyday thread as they claim what they
    sell is the best, with minimum fraying and other heat/friction
    damage and problems.
    
    Bill
    

re .0:

If by cruising spinnaker, you mean an asymmetrical sail in which the 
tack is always the tack and the clew always the clew and no pole is used 
.......

Well, we had one of these on our first boat. I was not happy with it. 
Without a pole, you couldn't sail more than about 135 deg off the wind 
without it collapsing. On our current boat we've found that our genoa or 
even working jib with a spinnaker pole/whisker pole is better than the 
poleless asymmetric sail on our previous boat. I'd opt for a used 
spinnaker and a whisker pole.

Alan

    Yes, I am talking about a sail that is tacked at the tack and is
    somewhat asymmetrical. It will be a radial head cut, withthe bottom
    panel cut upward somewhat at the tack.
    
    The sailmaker at Sailrite who gave me the quote and whom I called
    last Friday says it is intended to fly without a pole and should
    set well from a beam reach (or slightly ahead) to nearly downwind.
    
    What makes a cruising spinnaker set worse that a large jib? Its it
    inherent in the loose leach?
    
    I'm already considering a real whisker pole to replace the jury rig
    that I found useful racing last year when wing-n-wing, but don't want
    either the expense or hassle of a spinnaker pole. Also, I rarely
    have more than a crew of one other person.
    
    This whole discussion may be moot after I do my capital gains
    calculations tonight. I may owe uncle a lot more than the price of
    a sail.
    
    Alan, when you say "more than about 135 deg off the wind, do you
    mean that you couldn't sail higher than that? (more implies a larger
    number of degrees off the wind to me).
    
    Thanks,
    
    Bill
    
    

	I'm not Allan, but I read his note to mean it didn't fly well further 
off the wind, approaching a dead run. Too far off the wind the chute would be 
shadowed by the main if the tack were only set amidship on the bow. To get a
useful downwind sail you need to project the sail out from behind the main. 
But, Maybe you are thinking about winging out this sail, for which I expect 
you'd need a long pole. 
	I'm not sure why a whisker pole is percieved as easier to handle 
than a spinnaker pole. I understand that a pole is costly, but I haven't really
compared the cost of a spinnaker pole to that of a whisker pole. I, having spent 
a few years running the pole and pointy end of the boat I raced on, don't 
understand why a whisker pole would be easier?  But I can see that a spinnaker 
pole, plus the installation of a topping lift and foreguy would be a costly 
endeavor.


	Hey, I've got a boat for sale, it has a spinnaker and all the running 
gear! Want to buy my boat?? ;^)

re .13:

Bill, what I meant is that the sail didn't work well when sailing with
the relative wind between about 135 and 180 degrees. That is, it wasn't
a downwind sail. Rather, it could be used between a close reach and a
broad reach, with, of course, caution when close reaching. A strong gust
could exceed the upper wind speed limit (something like 5 knots on a
close reach, as I vaguely recall, but this was some 15 years ago). 

Downwind, it was not that difficult to wrap the sail around the 
headstay, just like a real spinnaker, and we did it a couple of times. 
Ugh. Every so often I think about getting a spinnaker. For my cruising, 
I'd think about a star-cut or tri-radial smaller than a normal racing 
sail. For now, wing and wing serves. 

Alan

    re .-1 
    
    > Too far off the wind the chute would be
    > shadowed by the main if the tack were only set amidship on the bow.
    
    With my main and 125% jib on the same side, I get quite close to
    dead downwind before the main blankets the jib. Should it be any worse
    with this sail, which is almost 2X the size of the jib and maybe 3x the
    size of the main.
    
    What would happen if I left the main sheeted in more or less tightly
    going downwind, id the chute were in the same side?
    
     Yes, I lose the drive of the main, but the cruising
    spinnaker is so much larger, so what. Of course, the dead downwind
    picture would be wing-n-wing anyway unless the wind was gusting and
    changing direction a lot. If I can get 160 degrees off the wind
    (w/in 20 degrees of downwind), I'd be happy.
    
    To me, a whisker pole is light pole that is used at the clew of
    a sail that is tacked down at the tack. There is no pole lift or guy.
    It clips onto a ring (fixed or on track) on the mast. I also plan to
    fly this chute from my masthead jib halyard, in lieu of a jib.
    
    I would not use it for racing; with my 296 PHRF handicap, I'll stay
    in the cruising class. Besides, the big boys wouldn't want me holding
    up the finish of their class.
    
    Thanks for all the good input.
    
    
    Bill
    
    

    re. .75 oz. cloth.  
    
    It's stronger than it looks.  My 11 year old .75 chute which I bought
    used still has reasonable shape despite numerous knockdowns and keel
    haulings.
    
    .10 is right about the light tension needed to sew this cloth.  Too
    much tension and the seams pucker.  Also, an industrial type sewing
    machine does make the job easier, mostly because of the large working
    area provided by the table on which they are usually mounted.
    
    Alan is right about the need for a pole of some sort to set the sail. 
    The order of precedence for enhancing dowwind performance would be to
    
    1.  Have a compliant crew member stand by the shrouds and hold out tthe
    clew of the jib.	
    
    2.  Get a pole, any pole.  Boathooks and broomsticks work but not
    as well as the real thing.  But they will save wear and tear on the
    crew.
    
    3.  Put up a bigger jib.  If it's held up by the pole, the weight's
    irrelevant.  If the wind is sufficiently aft, the sail's operating in
    stall mode so the shape is almost irrelevant.
    
    4.  Get an offwind sail and all the necessary appurtenances.
    
    
    For a 19.5 footer, all the necessary appurtenances are a pad eye,
    whisker pole, a few eye straps, and some bungy cord to position the
    pole.  It could come to $100 if shopping in the high rent district.
    
     - gene

    re .17
    
       Gee Gene, I have a crew member hold a 3 part extension boathook with
    an afterguy consisting of a piece of line to the lifeline to take the
    constant pull. I have to make sure the said crewmember always has a cold
    one in his other hand, but $100 pays for a lotta beer ( and the guy would of
    sucked it down in the cockpit anyways  ;>)  ).  Isn't that why the
    cabin top is flat (so as to keep a cold one from rolling away and 
    giving the perfect seat for  crewmember to hold a boathook?)
    
        We do this with our 150%. If we have gone down any smaller of a
    headsail, there is plenty of wind to get where we are headed with just
    a jib and main. ;>)  
    
    
        One of the issues one should look at is the polars for the boat.
    Some of these new monohulls ( the new J boats and M24 come to mind) can
    really fly just off of down wind. Usually the bottom is skiff like to 
    accomplish this. By gybing downwind, you make up the distance in speed.
    This is how catamarans also use kites. 
    
        Heck, I used to run a kite singlehanding on my cat. Nothing better than
    blowing the doors off a 45 footer by constantly gybing like a waterbug
    in front of them. Just don't screw up. But this was really meant for
    rac'n. As Alan says, what is the use ? This will determine what the best
    best sail design is.

    The use is cruising, mostly on the lake, but coastal too. 
    I want to increase light air performance. Most of the time, I don't
    have a particular destination, I'm just out to sail. At these times,
    I can chase the wind.
    
    At times, I'll be coastal sailing and want to get somewhere, but I
    won't be racing with this sail. When I am daysailing (but not racing)
    on the lake, wind direction often determines where I go. - Wherever
    the wind is "best"
    
    I have been using an extendable boathook with a monster "clothespin"
    at the far end (Davis boathook) as a whisker pole.
     I may put an eye on the mast and
    a pole fitting on the pole, but for now, I may just lash the pole
    to the mast with 1/8 " shock cord, till I figure out where I really
    want the padeye or if I need eye on a track. This is a pretty skinny
    mast, so most track and eyes have too little curvature.
    
    Re: using the Consew (monster machine), it is only straight stitch,
    so I plan to use her New Home, which is a good rugged (all metal)
    modern zig-zag. Based on my wife's years as a former Home Ec
    teacher, she wouldn't have one of those very common plastic geared
    machines made by S****r or others in the house. She approves of the
    older machines made by many that are all metal, but not the plastic
    (nylon) geared ones. I expect that I can sew the seams in any order,
    and will work with smaller subunits  to the extent possible and connect
    them together at the end. Build the radial head by sewing a couple of
    panels at a time, etc. The final assembly will be toughest, but my 
    wife has worked with some pretty large drapery panels that are much,
    much heavier cloth.
    
    Bill
    

    Re last few
    
    We don't want to mess about with poles, extra rigging etc., and our
    sailmaker says he can make an asymmetrical spinnaker that will set well
    to almost downwind (say within 20 degrees, which makes little
    difference when cruising). Obviously, we will not bother with the main
    when using the spinnaker because it may tend to blanket the chute.
    
    But is our sailmaker smoking, or can it be done?

    > sailmaker says he can make an asymmetrical spinnaker that will set
    > well to almost downwind ...
    
    That's essentially what (one of) the sailmaker(s) I spoke with at Sailrite
    said. I have had people with experience using a cruising spinnaker
    tell me they were disappointed with theirs. I guess I don't understand
    the inherent problem. Seems to me that if an asymmetrical cruising
    spinnaker is designed and constructed right, it should be a reasonable
    cross brtween a large genoa and a traditional chute. He said I would
    get good performance from wind abeam (or slightly forward, depending
    on how we agree to have him design the sail), to close to direct
    downwind.
    
    Since this sail would have almost 2x the area of my largest jib
    (which is like a 130%), I expect a mainsail would be superfluous.
    If I were sailing nearly or straight downwind, I would think that
    trimming the main in tight would keep it out of the way. On a reach
    that wouldn't work, with lots of sideways force, but what about
    downwind? Of course, dropping the main on a 20' boat is not a big 
    deal.
    
    Bill
    

	I think, and this is just opinion with only a little experience 
comparing apples to cantalope, that it is very difficult to get something 
that works  well in two different situations. I also think that even 
cruisers look for more performance until things get hard to handle. 
Racing with a spinnaker that was said to be cut to reach and run, we found 
marginal performance well off the wind, but pretty good performance with the
wind off the beam and streatching the foot always. The sail that did great 
things to up our standings was much bigger, arrived coincidentally with a 
new full size main, and the crew work improved. But my experience there
didn't speak highly of the inbetween sail, though I had great fun flying 
it and trying to get more power out of it and trying hard to win races. 
	On my boat, with a symetrical spinnaker, it got used single handed in 
ultra light winds and up to about 10 or 12 knots with just Robyn and I. Any 
wind that was approaching a beam reach could be sailed with a genny but 
speed would drop. I always use a pole and added twings to my S2 when it 
didn't have them (I like the full control package, lots of strings).
	I've never flown an asymetric chute, but want one for our new boat. 
I imagine we'd fly the the asymetric in a range between 20 degrees forward and 
30 degrees behind the beam. I don't know this for sure, it's just a picture 
I have in my mind. We already have the symetric sail. 
	Apparently what has become the winning sail in the racing class is a
"Screecher". THis is a sail that is cut flatter and points higher than a chute, 
but is about the size of a 180 genoa and flown off the bow pole. Our new boat
needs pointing ability because it is very fast and the apparent wind goes 
forward quickly. This is certianly not the sail for a 19', heavy boat. But 
it sort of accents the difficulty in cross over sails. 
	I would say a major bennefit in enhancing any headsail's performance 
down wind is to get the tack off of the stem and project it to windward. 
Do that and I'll bet you can increase your off wind performance by 20 to 
30 degrees.
	By now I've probably lost track of answering the question, but I 
hope it's some useful food for thought 

Geoff

Re: .10

>1) Keep a lot of tension on the fabric as it passes by the needle.  That is 
>   to say, you must hold the fabric with both hands, firmly pinching the 
>   fabric with thumb and forefinger.  If your Consew has a knee operated foot 

Re-thought this statement, and wanted to make a correction ... I used to
make parachutes which are a bit different from sails.

When sewing on the bias (ie. when not stitching parallel to either the
warp or weft), too much tension will stretch the fabric and will result in a
finished seam that is longer than the unstitched seam.  Even if you trim the
finished pieces back to size, the distortion of the fabric will be grossly
evident.

FWIW,
Keith

As many of you know, I have a 30' Choey Lee B30 ketch.  This is obviously NOT a
flyer.

One of the things buried in the bag of goodies from Dick Ashenden, is a 
spinaker.  He has not used it since he put the roller reefer on the forestay
many many moons ago.  Thus the jib halyard is permanently raised.

I have a spinaker and a wood pole.  I am thinking of rigging the boat so that
I could fly the spinaker should I wish.  I have never done this, but the ride
is supposed to be wonderful.

The question boils down to, what rigging do I need to add?

	I am planning on adding another block and halyard where the jib block is 
	located.  In my minds eye, this block should be outside (forward) of the
	jib block.

	I plan on leading the halyard down next to the jib halyard.  I have
	an extra cleat at the base of the mast.  I assume that I do not need
	a winch to raise the spinaker.

	Should I  add a smaller block to raise a spinaker sock.  I assume I need
	a messanger to pull the thing down.

	Do I need another block for holding the pole up?  At one time in the 
	distant past, someone started to mount a block at about 5/8 for an
	inner forestay.  Probably next year, I will add this running forestay
	for a storm jib (which I hope to never use).

Following this;

	Amy and I will typically be sailing together or perhaps with an
	inexperienced extra crew.  Advice on how to raise, lower, and trim the
	sucker.  Assume one person doing all of this.

	
I will be at Taylor street next week.  Hopefully get out to the boat during
that time.  If anyone is interested (Gene? ) try reaching me at CFSCTC::CLAFLIN
starting Monday.  My phone in Mass does not have a machine on it, but try
508-635-0460 evenings.

Alan, since this drifted off of the original topic, please feel free to move it.

Doug Claflin
dtn 592-4787

    Regardiing the previous comments on sailing down wind with an
    asymetrical spinnaker. I have one and use it to sail down wind by
    either poling it out or pulling down my main. 
    
    With the main down it ain't pretty but it works.
    
    Regarding its value, a big jib is probably as good, but once on the
    chesapeake I set it up when my light 150 would not pull. The
    asymetrical Worked very well, and as the wind built up from the SW to
    a soft breeze we were able to move right up the bay.
    
    Bottom line if I had to do it again, or if my wifes' purse strings
    really lossen, I would buy a full spinnaker. You can get as much
    trouble with an asymetrical as a full one. With the new turtles it is
    very easy to snuff the sail.
    
    My humble opinion.
    
                             Bill

re :-2

The basic rigging you need for a 'ordinary' spinnaker is...

A halyard for the sail itself. The block at the top of the mast should be above
the forestay, and able to swivel through 180� horizontaly

If you are using a sock, you shouldn't need a winch, and the sock should be
attached to the same halyard. As you said, you will need a line to pull the
sock back down again.

The pole should have an uphaul, and a downhaul. If you have an inner forestay,
the positioning of these is a little tricky and then it rather depends on how
( or even if ! ) you plan to handle the pole when you gybe.

If you plan to use dip-pole ( i.e. leave the pole on the mast and swing the
outer end through the foretriangle ) then the inner forestay needs to be 
removeable. If you plan to use end-for-end ( i.e. unclip one end from the mast
attach to the new guy, and then unclip the other end from the old guy and attach
it to the mast ) then the uphaul and downhaul should be both inside ( best ) or
both outside ( awkward, but it works ) the inner forestay.

On each of the clews of the sail you need 1 sheet, lead back to the main
winches, or to make gybing easier, have 2, lead back to separte winches.

Sorry if this has now got too complicated !

Chris

    I received a blurb in the mail yesterday form John Hopkins that was an 
    ad for Doyle Sails asymmetrical poleless spinnaker. The significant
    thing was the graph of performance comparing boatspeed using a
    genoa, regular spinnaker, cruising spinnaker and their new APC
    design. This was for 12k wind over a wind position of every 10 
    degrees from somethink like 60 deg to around 150 degrees.
    
    Of course, the Doyle sail was best, but what I found most interesting
    was how the boatspeed continually declined with the genoa with 
    increasing angles off the wind. I was pleastantly surprised that
    the cruising spinnaker tracked the Dolye sail but boat speed was about
    a knot lower with the cruising spinnaker as lower wind angles.
    The difference narrowed to less than 1/3 knot at angles greater
    than a beam reach. Of course, the speeds for the confentional spinnaker
    were better than the cruising spinnaker for all points excepta near
    reach, where the spinnaker with a pole became unuseable.
    
    If anyone is really interested, I could publish a chart of boatspeeds
    vs wind angle for the 4 sails that were compared.
    
    This graph is encouraging me to proceed, if I still have any money
    left after I settle up with the IRS over profits on DEC stock.

    After determining Friday night that I'm not being completely cleaned
    out by the IRS on April 15, I sent my order into Sailrite on Saturday
    a.m. Hopefully I'll have the kit within 2 weeks. With a little luck
    (both in the boat prep area and in sailmaking) I'll have this crusing
    chute ready for the end of April Launch.
    
    Had a good chat with some other DEC sailors at the boatyard yesterday.
    I have gotten some rather positive feedback on what to expect from 
    this sail. 
    
    I'll keep y'all posted on the construction and performance of this
    baby.
    
    Bill
     

    The crusing spinnaker kit arrived from Sailrite last nite. All the
    pieces were there (cept for the 2" green binding tape, which they
    listed as backordered) and the instruction book looks detailed and
    complete. All the pieces of nylon (cept the corner patches) are precut
    and premarked for taping together with 2-sided tape befoe sewing.
    
    Unfortunately, we're off to Long Island to visit friends for the
    weekend, so it will be a week or two before I have much to report.
    
    Delivery was right on the 1.5 - 2 weeks that they quoted.
    
    Bill
    

    The spinnaker kit has been completed! Actually, it went quite well.

    The one item that was backordered arrived 2 days after the kit arrived.

    I began construction on Tuesday night, worked about 2 hours Tue -
    Thurs, about 6 hours on Sat and a couple hours yesterday. A total of
    about 14 hours. Sailrite would have charged $200 for assembling the
    kit, so I made $14 per hour. When we were done, I asked my wife if she
    would have assembled the kit for $200 and she said "sure". 
    
    Neither of
    us found the assembly too tough although you do need an extra pair of
    hands at times, and always when taping. One extra step that we added
    was to mark the quarter points on each seam so that we could gauge
    alignment before we had taped the whole seam. Turned out that each
    of the yellow panels (this was alternating red and yellow radial head
    cruising spinnaker) was a bit longer than the red. If I had recognized
    this a bit sooner, it would have been lass hassle taping the seams.
    
    I did 99% of the sewing myself but my wife (a former
    home-ec teacher and current proprietor of a furniture re-upholstery and
    drapery business) helped as an extra pair of hands a few times and 
    diagnosed (and corrected) any sewing machine problems.
    
    I had very little sewing experience prior to this. I'm quite happy with
    the way the sail came out, although some of the stitching (especially
    the bindings on the edges) is a little crooked.
    
    The precision part was the basting of the seams with double sided mylar
    tape, which locked in the shape. The basting tape didn't give the
    machine any real problems, although there was some goo buildup on the
    upper part of the needle. I went thru 3 needles because adhesive from
    the tape had clogged the hole in the needle making threading too hard. 

    Her machine (an electronic "New Home" non-commercial zig-zag with lots
    of fancy stitches) handled everything well including the corners which
    included 2 layers of .75 oz nylon, 4 3 layers of 4 oz dacron and 2
    layers of nylon tape (attaching the D-rings to the corners). Most of
    the sail (including all of the seams) was done with a "3-step zig-zag"
    although a regular zig-zag or straight stitch could have been used.
    
    The entire job was less tedious than I expected. The only tough
    handwork was sewing the leather patch on the clew , especially through
    the many layers described above.
    
    I wouldn't hesitate to make another sail. I'm wiser now about the seam
    taping and my stitching would be a little neater, now that my learning
    experience is complete. I wouldn't hesitate to deal w/ Sailrite again, 
    either.
    
    Bill
    
    

    oops the "4 3 layers" of dacron should have been 3 layers...

    I got to fly my homemade (Sailrite Kit) spinnaker yesterday a.m.
    for a short while for the first time, in very light and very variable
    winds. Although the wind  was varying all over the place and we had to
    keep chasing in circles to keep the sail full, I was very pleased
    with the results. With a very short tack pendant (less than a foot),
    she flew well from a near reach to a full run (wing and wing).
    
    The wind varied from 0-5 knots; She flew well from about 2 knots
    (just as you cound feel the wind on the back of your neck or the side
    of your face was enought to fill her.
    
    If the weather is good, this has the potential to be a great sailing
    season for me!
    
    Bill