MacGregorSailors.com

Finally able to swing the cost of new sails after sailing for 5 years with rags.
Our main finally blew out totally at the end of last season and is unusable.
Went with a sail maker highly recommend around here but after nearly 8 weeks
I have no idea if anything is happening. I emailed for an approximate timeline
several weeks ago and the reply was pretty much - sorry we are really busy.

I'm a fairly patient person and I know things take time but
Having never bought a sail before I just don't know if this is normal.

The short sailing season quickly slips away and I am couch bound.

eBay for quick sails or hit places on the web such as used sail broker.
Buy something cheap for this season and get out on the water.
Ix

I hear you Cat, and have felt your pain. I have ordered quite afew, made for my boat items, and with the exception of one item, all have taken much longer than quoted/promised by the vendor. I usually give them a week after when I was told I should receive my item before I call and check on the order. I do this not to be pushy, but to make sure my order in the schedule, after ordering a sail once, way in advance of the season, and quietly waiting for it to show up. As the season was afew weeks away, I called the vendor, and to my surprise they "lost" my order (had my money though) and said they would do their best to fit me into the schedule. Then I finally get the sail, and its wrong!!
I tried ordering the winter before the boating season, thinking that should be enough time, but that is what everyone else was thinking too! Best to order during summer, and you will have for the next year The salesperson you talk to will tell usually tell you what you want to hear , so you order and pay, and then you just have to wait. Its like a restaurant overbooking on a fri night to make sure all the tables are taken all night.

If you really want to motivate the sail maker to get your job done just use their name here on the website - once their name is on here anyone on the web will be brought to this post when they type that name in Google. It tends to make vendors a lot more willing to meet their commitments when they know their potential customers are also following their progress.

Heck, I've got quite a few older sails (and propellers, ec.) but everything is for an X.

Give Judy B a yell. She may have one that a client failed to take delivery of - I got one that way two years ago.

Ixneigh wrote:eBay for quick sails or hit places on the web such as used sail broker.
Buy something cheap for this season and get out on the water.
Ix

These guys http://www.precisionsailloft.com/ seem pretty organized - gave them the order (jib with UV strip) on the 6th of June and apparently just finished, as estimated, on the 16th.

Thanks to for the replies guys.

Somehow I feel better just venting a little here.

Investing in another temporary sail just isn't in the cards - all boat bucks are tied up with the new sails I'm waiting on.
I am also in process of installing seriously upgraded deck and rigging hardware to handle the new sails in a meaningful way.
The OEM gear on an old Venture is just not adequate for anything more than fair weather day sailing in my opinion.
Even the old docking and anchor cleats for example I have found to be barely useful so they had to go.

We did our initial rig measurement for the new sails last January in -10F snowy weather - no fun - but wanted to get an early jump on a sail order.
Then I dropped the damn mast on the pulpit during the first thaw bending the crap out of it and had to source a new mast and do the dance that goes with an event such as that. Much adventure.

I'm not quite to the name dropping point yet and I hope that when I do it will be a glad happy shout out with much applause - not a disgruntled sneer.

to dlandersson:

this forum needs a banging your head Smilies....

What size are you looking for? I've got a Hunter 22 (new when I bought it) that I'm not using - it was actually slightly bigger than the X main sail - but I got my best speeds with it.

topcat0399 wrote:Thanks to for the replies guys.

Somehow I feel better just venting a little here.

Investing in another temporary sail just isn't in the cards - all boat bucks are tied up with the new sails I'm waiting on.
I am also in process of installing seriously upgraded deck and rigging hardware to handle the new sails in a meaningful way.
The OEM gear on an old Venture is just not adequate for anything more than fair weather day sailing in my opinion.
Even the old docking and anchor cleats for example I have found to be barely useful so they had to go.

We did our initial rig measurement for the new sails last January in -10F snowy weather - no fun - but wanted to get an early jump on a sail order.
Then I dropped the damn mast on the pulpit during the first thaw bending the crap out of it and had to source a new mast and do the dance that goes with an event such as that. Much adventure.

I'm not quite to the name dropping point yet and I hope that when I do it will be a glad happy shout out with much applause - not a disgruntled sneer.

to dlandersson:

this forum needs a banging your head Smilies....

Luff 24' 6"
Foot 10' 6"