Hi,
I was searching for a good deal on a 7.5m+ free ride sail (NP Hellcat, V6 or similar) and came across of a website selling 2008 and 2009 prototype sails (pricing is about 25-40% of MSRP).
Does anybody have any opinion on using prototype sails such as
1. reliability and longevity - is it made to the same standard and use the same materials as a production version?
2. any other concerns, like is it worth buying at discount, what will be the downside?
Thanks!
They're also not always well finished. I had a look in a bin of sails in Tarifa and some of them hadn't been finished on the edges - it was straight monofilm... They also had loads of stitching holes where they had re-arranged the panel layout. I ended up buying a second hand north instead.
Of course the ones you're looking at could be completely different!
Depends on the brand.
I can only speak for North, but they make the protos in the same loft in Sri Lanka as the production sails. They generally make five of each size with slight variations and then test them against each other in Maui, make changes and figure out what works best and why.
The variations could be in materials, or anything else really, but one thing they definitely don't do (deliberately) is make them in any way inferior in quality, as quality is one of the main things they are testing them for!
If they are cheap, go for it, though 25-40% off doesn't sound like a lot given that they are used sails.
So if they make 5 to test, 1 is best, the other 4 are inferior and they still sell them off. Or are they only selling the "winning" set of prototypes.
I have one of Gaastra's prototype race sails.
It had hardly been used when I bought it 15 years ago and I still use it as my lightwind sail. I still love it.
The luff sleeve never was finished properly - the boom cutout edges and the mast opening were never bound and the zips were never put in for the camber inducers but those edges are still only slightly frayed.
The foil itself was finished as any other sail.
The frayed edges on the luff sleeve look a bit second rate but it sails beautifully.
So if the price is right, I'd definitely consider a prototype sail.
I tried a prototype and it was rubbish, think the sail maker was trying something completely new and it just didn't work, so be careful, would be best if you can demo it first.
Sounds like you bought the right type of prototype sail Chris, the one that sails as good or better than the current model with slight material variations. I can't imagine any of the big sailmakers would risk selling any prototype if it was not as good as or better than full production build quality and performance. I think boards would be a different kettle of fish though.
