When R/V Dawn came out of the water in Virgin Gorda for hurricane season, we knew the refit list would be long. One item mattered more than the rest: the mainsail.
Dawn is a 39-foot sailing research vessel, and her sails are her engine. Every sample we collect for our PFAS and microplastics work depends on getting to the right place safely. In June my sons Henry and Jack and I sailed her from St. Martin to Virgin Gorda across the Anegada Passage. That passage reminded me that offshore, a tired sail is a risk that grows with every mile.
Why Far East Sailmakers
I wanted a sailmaker that would treat Dawn as a specific boat with a specific job rather than a catalog entry. Far East builds every sail as a custom design. Their philosophy is that a sail should be designed for you and your type of sailing first, and that fits a research vessel whose sailing looks nothing like a weekend coastal cruise. We chose Far East because we need a durable sail that could be ready in just a few weeks and fit within our research budget.
Their process also appeals to me as an engineer. Each sail is drawn in CAD, and you review a datasheet and approve the drawings before anything is cut. You can ask for changes at that stage, while they cost nothing. After a career in materials and manufacturing, I trust a process that puts the design review ahead of the production run.
Choosing the sail materials
For Dawn we chose an 8.88 oz Challenge FastNet in a cross-cut construction. Cross-cut is the classic layout, with panels running across the sail, and FastNet is one of the Challenge cloths Far East offers for it. We chose this material and style because of durability in tropical sun, ease of repair, budget, and the kind of sailing Dawn does. A working research boat asks a lot of a mainsail. It has to be reefed early, handled by a small crew, and trusted for weeks at sea, and cloth weight and construction were chosen with that in mind. Measuring at the yard
Having Dawn ashore made the measuring easier. Clayton and his team at Virgin Gorda Yacht Harbour measured the old sails and the boat itself and sent the data to Far East. A sail is only as good as its measurements, so we were glad to have local hands who know the boat and the yard. What comes next
The new mainsail is due in about four weeks. When it arrives we will bend it on, sail it hard, and report back here. It will join the rest of Dawn’s refit as we prepare for the next round of Caribbean sampling after hurricane season.
Sails and sampling protocols have something in common: both work best when someone has thought carefully about the conditions they will face. We are looking forward to seeing this one fill for the first time.
