I'm in the process of purchasing new sails for my Tartan 37. I ended up at Doyle because of the price; the main factor in selecting a sailmaker is the local loft and its ability to service the sails. North, Quantum, et al. are all fine organizations.
I race in club races with 3 or 4 regattas; all on Lake Michigan. Bottom line: For the Main I am going with their premium dacron - 6.53 oz. The main on the Tartan is not the primary "pulling" sail, thus this should work fine. It will be tri-radial, full batten with 2 reef points. It will be loose footed. I could have gone with LPT Pentex for the main, but was advised that it would cost more without the corresponding race benefits.
The genoa will be LPT Pentex/S glass - 155%. Where I race on Lake Michigan, we encounter mostly light winds - 15 and under. Thus this should work fine for me. Although Pentex and Dacron are durable, when Pentex reaches the end of it life the material is shot. Dacron, on the other hand, when it reaches the end of its useful racing life, the material is still usable for cruising and can be recut to give it another few years of effective racing. I do use roller furling. On Lake Michigan, PHRF handicaps are based upon a 155% genoa, whether you use it or not; if you prefer a smaller genoa, they assume you chose to penalize yourself. Other things I have learned in the process of settling on sails: (1) If you have roller furling and a 155% genoa, and you don't want to invest in more than one sail, the most you can reduce the 155% by rolling it up is 135%, and still have a somewhat effective genoa; otherwise, the cutting edge of the luff becomes too large; (2) thus, I am having my old genoa cut down to 125-130% for heavier winds; (3) The sailmakers all agreed that leaving the genoa rolled on the furler causes less wear than removing it after each race - the wear and tear in removing and rolling it until the next race tends to be hard on the sail unless done with great care; (4) It is much preferrable to have the sail maker measure your boat - this allows them to design sails to identify potential chafing spots, etc.
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