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Teal breezes downwind under her new mainsail
I&#;ve always known the importance of having good sails. As a low-budget boat punk, I prioritize making sure I can get where I&#;m going with the help of the wind, as opposed to under power. It isn&#;t necessarily my goal to be engineless, or basically engineless. It just happens that way, as I never seem to have enough money to put much in the way of resources into an engine when there are other, more pressing matters necessary to make the boat seaworthy.
Like sails.
My current boat, Teal, is a Tripp 29 with an electric inboard that has a max range of nine miles traveling at 3 knots in a dead calm. Before that, I had a 2.5hp outboard on a boat displacing nearly 10,000lb. At times my only form of auxiliary propulsion has been a sculling oar. My first boat had an old Johnson 9.9 that died soon after I bought it. One thing these boats did all have, though, were good sails.
Well, good enough.
My Bristol 24, the one with the short-lived Johnson outboard, came with a main that had been granted the gift of longevity after being stored indoors for many years. I added a second reef point, proper slab reefing and away we went.
Yet more new-to-me canvas came when I was taking a recently acquired Pearson Ariel 26 from Lake Champlain to the Florida Keys and the main started ripping every time I hoisted it. Clearly, something needed to be done. Being a production boat, I was able to hop onto an owner&#;s forum to ask if anyone had a used sail in better condition than mine. I was shipped a sail that had years of life left in it&#;a huge improvement over its predecessor, which had only minutes.
My next boat, Sohund, a Great Dane 28, came with a main that had been replaced a decade earlier, but was still barely used because the owner had died not long after it was delivered. With such nice canvas, Sohund and I had great fun going on sleigh rides over big seas in Pamlico Sound, the Chesapeake Bay and on the open Atlantic.
Unfortunately, when I bought Teal, I once again found myself in a situation where there was much to be desired in the sail department, the boat&#;s main, in particular.
That&#;s where Precision Sails came in.
Based in British Columbia, Precision specializes in making new sails for used boats at a reasonable price. The only caveat is you have to take all your own measurements. This can be a bit intimidating for the uninitiated. But it also eliminates the need to pay a sailmaker to do the job for you. Don&#;t let your local loft scare you into thinking you can&#;t take these kinds of measurements yourself. So easy, I say, even a boat punk can do it!
As an added benefit, watching Precisions&#; online tracker after I placed my order was like watching the Domino&#;s Pizza delivery tracker as a drunk college student&#;only better, as my new sail will undoubtedly take me farther than my liberal arts degree ever will.
Precision&#;s CEO, Darryl Hodgson, founded the company in after years of sailing and racing. A recent business school grad, he found himself blowing out far too many sails he could barely afford to replace aboard the Capo 26 he was racing at the time out of his home port of Sidney, British Columbia. He also found himself becoming increasingly frustrated with the lack of customer service given to the owners of older, pre-owned boats by all too many sailmakers.
He aimed to remedy that.
&#;The difference between our product and a lot of the other sails on the market is the detail,&#; Hodgson says. &#;We have more fine details, more layers of patching, more layers of tape, heavier-duty batten pockets and stitches. More labor and time goes into the sails, with an elevated level of customer service.&#;
Like many entrepreneurs, Hodgson started out by locking himself in his basement and building a business that would streamline the process of do-it-yourself customer measurements. With no formal training in sail design, he spent countless hours honing the process, developing the standards that serve as the foundation of the Precision business model to this day.
Over the years, the company has grown to where it now has both a staff of 25 in British Columbia and a dedicated loft in Shenzhen, China, servicing thousands of boats a year. It also includes a number of in-house departments overseeing everything from sales to design, production, shipping and logistics. These days, the company can build any type of sail you can think of, with any detail, logo or design aesthetic imaginable, from any kind of material available.
Hodgson recalls Precision&#;s first really notable and exciting job as a young company&#;a huge headsail with a 25ft-wide logo for an 85ft Youth with a Mission ship in the Caribbean. Today, the company prides itself on its ability to build sails for sailors from all walks of life, whether it&#;s sails for Wednesday-night beer can racing or an ocean crossing.
The company also remains committed to providing its clients with the best customer service possible throughout the design process. If you ever find yourself waking up in the middle of the night wondering if you gave them the right measurements for your mast gate and how that might interfere with the track and sliders you ordered, fear not. Your sail designer is a call away.
&#;&#;Just pick up the &#; is something we say around the office a lot,&#; Hodgson explains. &#; first, second. If there&#;s an issue, call us to take away all that stress.&#;
Aboard Teal, the first order of business was getting a quote for the sail from a member of the sales team. Ultimately, I elected to go with a mainsail with three reef points and four partial battens made from Precision 500 Series Cross Cut Dacron. I also opted for a Tides Marine track and accompanying sliders. After that came the aforementioned measuring process.
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Of course, you want to be as precise as possible, but do you need to quadruple check every measurement down to the 32nd of an inch and take 12 hours doing it as I did? Probably not, especially true since, in a true stroke of genius, Precision has a number of procedures in place to help compensate for any errors you might make. When sending in your measurements, for example, you include photos of exactly how you took them, with the photos showing where the tape measure actually fell on what you were measuring. Expect to have to figure out the basics, like the luff, leech and foot length of your old sail. Also be ready to calculate things like maximum hoist length, and reef and tack setbacks. All of this is made easy with the help of Precision&#;s measurement forms and a neatly organized playlist of how-to videos.
Beyond that while Precision&#;s sail design software includes the ability to count pixels from the measurement photos it receives, the ultimate secret to getting an exact fit for every sail is the company&#;s aforementioned commitment to keeping in touch with its clients. If something looks off, expect a call from someone at Precision to double-check.
There&#;s also a video conference call that goes into the creation of each sail. You can go as deep into the design arcana of your new sail as you want or take a complete hands-off approach. It&#;s up to you. To start out, a Precision sail designer will build your rig, adding in a 2D outline of the foot round, roach and luff curve. After that, a 3D image is generated, which is then tweaked to match your specific needs.
&#;Sailing and sailmaking is a spectrum,&#; says sail designer Jeremy Roszmann, who has been with the company since the beginning. &#;People like to have these black-and-white definitions of a sail, like a Code 0 or A-sail, but as soon as you shift one thing it becomes personalized. That&#;s the fun part.&#;
The final step includes selecting things like batten length, reef-eyelet locations, sliders, draft stripes, correct support patching for high-load areas, insignia printing, etc. Once that&#;s done your sail is ready to go into production. The entire process, from start to finish, takes about six weeks. The fit of the sail is guaranteed.
Bending on the new sail aboard Teal
When my new main arrived and I started to bend it on, it made those same noises I&#;d heard in the past sailing aboard other people&#;s expensive raceboats. It&#;s a sound I&#;ve also occasionally heard aboard other passing yachts, but not a sound I&#;d ever thought I&#;d hear&#;or be able to afford to hear&#;aboard a vessel of my own. The sound of a brand-new sail!
Sure enough, my new mainsail and track not only fit perfectly, they work like a dream. Reefing downwind is a breeze. Upwind, it feels like my boat is ice skating. A reach feels like a point of sail to build dreams on. There may be a thousand other projects to get my boat seaworthy, but with this one complete, it feels like I&#;m truly on course.
Now for that old jib&#;
Ed Note: for more on Precision Sails, including more on the measuring, design and ordering process, visit precisionsailloft.com.
Photos by Chris Dempsey
October/November
Rupert Holmes looks at how to choose a suitable autopilot system for cruising yachts
There&#;s a bewildering array of options available for autopilot systems, which can make selecting the best for your yacht a daunting task.
Some manufacturers offer such a plethora of products covering everything from outboard-powered fishing boats to large motor yachts it can be difficult to pick out those that are ideal for sailing yachts of moderate size.
Equally, you may be able to retain some elements of your existing system, such as the drive unit and control pads, which will reduce the cost of upgrading your autopilot.
Many systems are sold as packages, which can add to the confusion.
However, these make more sense once you figure out the key items &#; especially the compass, 9-axis sensor or course computer &#; most boats will benefit from updating.
Integration with other on board electronics is an important factor if you want the autopilot to steer to a constant wind angle, or to display compass course on the instruments.
While many items from different brands will talk to each other, it makes sense to limit the variety as far as possible to avoid any problems.
However, there&#;s usually no need for drive units to be the same brand as the remainder of the system.
These are generally fairly simple 12/24V motors that respond in the same way to the output from the course computer, without other complex electronics that need a data feed with specific protocols.
It&#;s always worth checking with suppliers, or directly with a manufacturer&#;s technical helplines, to be sure that the products you plan to buy will work together as expected.
Before going shopping, make an audit of the elements of your existing autopilot system &#; and what will benefit from replacement.
In many cases an autopilot system can be updated significantly without replacing the drive unit, control keypads or display units, which can make upgrading more affordable.
In most cases drive units are specified for a maximum laden displacement.
For many yachts this can easily be in excess of 20% above the boat builder&#;s quoted figure for light displacement.
Many companies bundle the parts that are most likely to be needed to upgrade an existing system into packages, often at reduced prices compared to the individual components.
Garmin, for instance, calls these &#;Corepacks&#; and, unlike other manufacturers, this is the prime way in which key components other than control units and drives are sold.
The GHP Reactor Mechanical Retrofit Corepack (£1,460) includes a 9-axis sensor, course computer, and the higher-spec GHC20 control display.
It&#;s therefore a cost-effective option offering for anyone looking to update an existing system.
For more information, please visit MOTEC.
Raymarine&#;s EV-200 Sail Pack (£2,115) consists of an EV-1 Sensor Core, ACU-200 pilot computer, p70/70s control head, plus a cabling kit.
These are a key in getting good pilot performance and in maximising reliability.
Yet in many ways the physical means of moving the rudder has changed little in the past decade or two.
Whether driven directly by an electric motor, or via hydraulics, these are non-intelligent items that simply respond to the changing 12V (or 24V) outputs from the course computer.
The two key choices are between hydraulic and electric-mechanical units and between a linear or rotary drive.
Linear drives are used to connect directly to the quadrant and are the most common type, especially on relatively recent boats.
Rotary drives can drive a gear wheel where the steering system incorporates a chain drive.
Electric units are more efficient on power consumption, easier to install and cheaper than hydraulic options.
However, the latter can be more powerful, so are typically found on larger yachts.
Garmin offers a number of Linear Drives, including the Class A Mechanical Linear Drive (£1,600) for yachts up to 12,900kg loaded displacement.
The company&#;s Class B units include a compact model rated for 22 tons, while the standard size model will cope with 35.8 tons loaded displacement.
Similarly Raymarine&#;s mechanical linear drives (£1,800-2,065) are offered in three sizes for boats with displacement of up to 11,000kg, 15,000kg and 20,000kg laden displacement.
Above this a hydraulic drive will be needed.
These naturally fall into two different categories &#; all-in-one units that include a basic course computer, fluxgate compass, control pad and, in some cases, a one-line display.
Some can also interface with other on-board electronics.
Raymarine&#;s ST (£525) and ST (£630) are basic all-in-one models for boats up to 3,000kg and 4,500kg respectively.
They are now dated units that include only a basic fluxgate compass and limited connectivity via Raymarine&#;s original SeaTalk, or NMEA for GPS and apparent wind data.
If you&#;re able to spend more there are much better options available.
Raymarine&#;s EV-100 Tiller Pilot is a motor-only unit for boats up to 6,000kg that can be paired to an ACU-100 course computer and EV-1 9-axis sensor.
It&#;s therefore capable of steering a much better course than the ST/ models, though won&#;t match the performance of a belowdeck system as it&#;s impossible to fit a rudder angle sensor.
In addition, unlike B&G&#;s SD10 drive there&#;s no automatic clutch, so switching between automatic steering and standby modes may not be a smooth operation in challenging conditions.
The EV-100 tiller pilot is priced at £1,365, packaged with an ACU-100 course computer, EV-1 sensor and cabling kit, though a control unit is still required.
While the Navico group&#;s products for sailing have been sold under the B&G brand for almost a decade, this isn&#;t true of its all-in-one tiller pilots, which are legacy products that still carry Simrad branding.
The TP10 (£470) is a basic standalone model for smaller boats, while the TP22 (£610) and TP32 (£760) models can operate in either standalone mode, or networked with wind instruments and/or separate compasses via NMEA or .
They are suitable for boats up to 34ft and 37ft respectively.
The B&G SD10 drive (£1,059) is a neat alternative to a conventional tiller pilot that uses a Bowden cable (as used for steering most RIBs) to connect a below-decks motor to the tiller.
It has two further big advantages over conventional tiller pilots.
Firstly there&#;s a clutch, so the pilot is always connected to the tiller and doesn&#;t need to be removed when returning to manual steering mode.
Secondly, it incorporates a rudder angle sensor, so offers tiller steered yachts that don&#;t have a quadrant all the advantages of a below decks system.
Continues below&#;
These have an on-deck motor much as for tiller pilots, making them a cost effective option with relatively easy installation.
However, unlike a below deck system, the motor unit is exposed to the elements and there&#;s a limit to the size and weight of a yacht that can realistically use a wheel pilot.
In addition, they generally can&#;t use a rudder angle sensor, so course keeping is compromised.
Raymarine is the only company that now offers a wheel pilot, the EV-100 Wheel Pilot (£665).
It produces 30Nm of thrust and is suitable for boats with a laden displacement of up to 7,500kg.
Both SeaTalkNG and NMEA data protocols are supported.
It&#;s designed to be used with an ACU-100 course computer and EV-1 Sensor.
This area has seen huge development and significant improvements to course keeping.
All current systems will interface with the 9-axis sensors that measure rate of yaw, pitch and heel, as well as having a built in gyro compass.
They can therefore respond to gusts and waves even before the boat has changed course.
Raymarine produces several different course computers (Autopilot Control Units, or ACU) to suit different types of boat and drive unit.
Although not all are suited to sailing yachts.
Designed to simplify use where possible, much of the set up process is automated, and there are no user-adjustable settings beyond three easy to select modes.
The latest Lighthouse II software update includes stabilisation of wind speed and angle using data from the 9-axis sensor; which means even better course keeping.
The ACU-100 (£420) is for smaller sailing yachts using the EV-100 tiller or wheel pilot.
The ACU-200 (£845) is for any vessel with one of the company&#;s Type 1 drive units.
It can supply up to 7A of power to the drive unit and suits most boats up to 11,000kg laden displacement.
The more powerful ACU-400 (£1,905) can supply 30A to 12V or 24V systems; capable of steering very large yachts, including those with hydraulic drive units.
In both cases the units are capable of using both Raymarine&#;s SeaTalkNG data protocol and NMEA.
Outside its high-end H series B&G offers the NAC-2 (£950) and NAC-3 (£1,700).
The former provides output current of up to 8A for yachts of up to 35ft, whereas the latter is rated at 30A continuous, for larger yachts.
Garmin&#;s course computers are offered as part of its Core Packs.
The choice of system elements, including rudder angle sensors, compasses &#; or 9-axis sensors &#; and control keypads or displays is determined by the brand of your pilot computer.
Note that some drive units include a rudder angle sensor.
Sometimes supplied with the motor; check specs when comparing prices.
All the main manufacturers now use 9-axis sensors that measure heading, rate of turn, pitch, roll and yaw, giving far greater data inputs to the course computer than gyro compasses that were the best option less than 10 years ago.
Garmin only lists this sensor in its pilot packages, but Raymarine&#;s EV-1 Sensor is available separately for £740, while B&G&#;s Precision compass is £680.
These can add significantly to the cost of an autopilot system.
But if you ever sail short handed, then a controller at the helm and one at the companionway, allowing the boat to be conned from the shelter of the spray hood, are a minimum for any offshore yacht.
This also offers a layer of redundancy should a unit fail.
In many cases a multifunction display (MFD) can be used to control a pilot of the same brand, though can be a lot more convoluted than using a keypad.
Remote controls are great for anyone on watch alone, but can be an expensive upgrade, especially if you need to also buy a base station to communicate with the remote.
A Triton2 display (£530) is needed as well, but can also be used to display other data.
Once you&#;ve outlined what you think is the best upgrade route don&#;t be shy about asking for help to confirm you&#;ve identified the best options.
Many manufacturers have both online and helplines:
Rupert Holmes is a freelance yachting journalist with more than 85,000 miles&#; experience in a wide variety of craft, including cruising and racing yachts, and significant shorthanded sailing.
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