April 1, 2010. April Fool's day. We had a spot of bother while traveling SE along the El Salvador coast toward the Gulf of Fonseca, attempting to raise the mail sail. User error. Details are unimportant. However, if any of you dear readers are ever performing some task on a boat and you encounter an unusual level of resistance in the equipment; or if, say, the gear you are using makes a funny noise; do everyone else aboard your boat a huge favor and stop what you're doing to look around for anything that's fouled or inadvertently made-off, OK?
Anyway.
Got a rip in the main sail. Dead-center. Just above the first reefing point. Size: 16" long x 8" high. Including the reefing patch.
Motored to El Salvador's Isla Meanguera in Gulf of Fonseca, to anchor in the calm waters of Meanguera del Golfo on Isla Meanguera's SW side. Nice spot for on-board sail repairs. Bonus: the breeze blew regularly there on what were otherwise very hot, hazy days of a typical Central American April.
We successfully repaired the main sail but I will declare right now to all of cyberspace that we could never have known even where to start with such a repair, had we both not taken a weekend sail repair seminar with Carol Hasse and the
Hasse had described how to repair torn sails using what she calls a "TV screen" method. I'm summarizing horribly here, but basically you measure the rip and cut a rectangle of sail repair fabric that extends about 2" beyond the rip on all sides. You then set the rectangle of repair fabric over the rip and draw the perimeter of the rectangle onto the sail. Also draw strike marks on the patch and the sail so that you can realign the the two when it comes time to sew the patch onto the sail. We went further than that, and marked the spot for each stitch on both patch and sail so that the zig-zag hand sewing we planned would come out uniformly spaced.
Once you've drawn the patch's perimeter and made your strike marks, remove the patch and draw a second, smaller rectangle inside of the patch's perimeter you've just drawn. Make each side of the inner rectangle about 1-1/2" inside the perimeter of the patch's rectangle. These two rectangles is what gives the appearance of a TV screen. While we were at it, we added the spots where each stitch would be made, just as we'd done on the outer rectangle of the patch.
Now comes the part that was hardest for me: cutting the rip out of the sail itself. Cutting a rectangle into what was once a perfectly fine main sail, gives one pause. But for best results it must be done and so it was.
GB did most of the stitching. Having made the stitching points with pencil gave him an easier time of ensuring that all zig-zag hand stitching was a consistent half-inch long. He first sewed the outer perimeter of the patch, then sewed the inner rectangle to the sail. However, by far the greatest amount of time that was spent on this project was spent on study, planning and prep.
Results were optimal. I'd been concerned that the only sail-repair fabric we'd had aboard was Dacron – good replacement material for the outer Dacron edges of our main sail, but possibly incompatible with the HydraNet fabric (Dacron cross-stitched with Spectra) that comprises the body of our main sail. Nevertheless, the main sail is fully functional again – at least for the 15 knots we were able to test it in, close hauled…
Anyway, Carol, thanks to you our main sail is fixed. You're a real pal. I've always recommended your seminars to anyone who can get to Port Townsend, and I still do – but I also feel it's important for both halves of a cruising couple to attend – in our experience it has helped immensely if both people on the boat have the same level of information and understanding when they undertake a sail repair project. Especially a surprise one.
P.S. Here's one sample of how sails can be made – and repaired – in Central America. Folks, don't try this at home. Unless you're sure to remain close to shore, in a very small vessel. Preferably dugout.
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