Spinnaker Condition Question

[AlbertJ]

I have an older nylon triradial spinnaker and the fabric is very soft – although not ripped or patched. Since I am planning to participate in a number of port to port single and double handed races next season, I started considering buying a new spinnaker.
But before I spend some major $$$ I was wondering if anyone can advise me on what is the best way to check the condition of the sail? Does the condition of the fabric really affect the performance of the downwind sail? Is there anything I do (cleaning, recutting, etc) to increase the life to this old sail and is it worth it?
Thanks,
Albert

[Freesail99]

Send it to sailcare. They will clean & repair it. They will also let you know if it is worth doing so. Great people to deal with.

[AlbertJ]

I think SailCare only deals with Dacron sails... I will give them a call.

Thanks,
Albert

[sailboy21]

I had my main done by sailcare. after all was said and doe I was $500 away from a brand new sail. Which would have been the better choice? They are nice folks to deal with.
As for checking the condition of an older sail, you can do the old needle test. Stick it in and pull sideways, if the sail rips, its no good. Now you just ripped your sail, but thats what sail tape is for. Use it for practice until it shreds, but not for racing.

[sailingdog]

A less destructive test is to put the sail's cloth over your mouth and exhale hard. If your breath passes through the cloth...the sail's done... If the cloth resists your breath passing through it, it needs to be checked further... If the cloth melts, you need some serious breath mints.

[sailor1343]

and if your breath melts sails then we could definitely use you to keep those melges off our tail! if the sail is letting much air through, then it is probably about to go. if you question the sails ability to hold up during a race you may want to look into a new sail and use the one you have now for practice, leisure sailing, or if the weather starts turning so nasty that you don't want to take a chance ripping the new sail. but probably the best way to "test" the sail is to sail it like you stole it! if it holds up, you've got yourself a pretty good sail. if not, then back to the drawing board it is.

[Gary M]

Nylon spinakers are incredible tough even old ones. The untlimate test is what has already been stated, just put the materail over your mouth and breathe in. If you get air is then whenever you use it the air is of course passing through.
However in my experience it may not be all that slow. I have a very old chute and a new one and as has already been suggested I use it for practice etc and if it is blowing hard. I have used in in some pretty competative races and it actualy worked pretty well even in light air where it should be at it's worst.
So I think if you can I would buy a new one, they are so much prettier but you can get use out of the old one until that fatefull day that it lets go.

Gary

[crwber]

if you are thinking about it then it is probably time to get some new kites.....we used old kites before replacing them in mid 07 and they were just awesome, definite improvement. kept the old ones for the really windy days when i dont care if they shred and for training. ended up with a airex light vmg and a medium running kite. this seems to have worked well for us in average wind conditions of up to 20kts

[jmormile]

I've raced in very competitive one-design races and found that the spinnaker condition is the least of my worries. I have an ancient .5 ounce spinnaker that we use almost all the time in summer conditons, the biggest problem is that it is getting increasingly more difficult to trim, other than that it is still very serviceable. It is over 10 years old and still hanging in there. Draw your owwn conclusions.

[Faster]

Really "soft" feeling spinnakers can last a long time, as indicated above. In my experience, though, should you ever get such a spinnaker saturated (heavy rain or a bad takedown) it can rip easily when you try to retrieve it by "grabbing cloth".