All about sailboat-sails

My name is John Payne, and I am a yacht owner and marine engineer while I started my professional career as a ships engineer in the merchant marine, I started my sailing career building and racing small sailing dingies before graduating to larger yachts. I am also the author of the best selling Marine Electrical and Electronics Bible and the updated and revised 3rd Edition is out now.

Since I first published my first yachting related book 13 years ago, I have over the years built, owned, cruised and lived aboard several sailing yachts and have experienced most of the sail problems, so I do understand what the problems are and how to fix them

The Secrets to Keeping Your Sails in Good Condition

Sails are the engine and power house of any sailing yacht. In many cases they are baldy cared and looked after. Sails now come in a wide variety of designs, materials and construction techniques.

Things You Need to Know About Looking After Your Sails

The secret to looking after sailboat-sails is making frequent inspections of your sails. You should always carefully survey your sails rigging and look for potential failure areas Of most importance in getting the best performance from sails is understanding how they are designed, how they are properly used in combination with each other, and also the proper use of various sail controls to achieve best shape. This means correct setting outhauls, cunninghams, boom vangs, sheets and halyards.

Things You Need to Know About Using Your Sailboat-Sails

There are several important things you need to know and understand about sail-boat sails.

1. Hoisting and setting your mainsail, including ue of in boom and in-mast furling systems

2. Hoisting and setting your genoa, as well as all about furling gear

3. Hoisting and setting your spinnaker or gennaker

3. Trimming your sails for optimum performance and boat speed

4. Reefing of genoa and mainsails

5. Using sails in various sailing scenarios

6. Sail care and maintenance