Re: [Amel] Lee Sails for Sharki 104


Dave_Benjamin
 

The sailmakers you mention have their sails built in China but they use
another loft, one that I am quite familiar with. In fact Nigel Calder
wrote an in depth article about the loft for a British periodical. I'd
be happy to send a copy to anyone interested. The article even names those sailmakers.

Teijin is not well regarded by most sailmakers. Lee Sails Northeast advertises on their website that they use Challenge and Bainbridge.It's a far cry from the higher end cloth from Dimension Polyant, Bainbridge, Challenge, and Contender. It is cheap though.  I've used Teijin cloth on occasion for some small boat projects like a set of sails for a 13 foot daysailer that is  used by children for daysailing on a lake. There are several lofts using Teijin produced cloth for small boat and Hobie Cat sails. It allows them to keep the costs way down. For instance there is a supplier here in the US that sells Laser sails for about $170 USD that uses Teijin. Another loft sells Hobie Cat sails starting as low as $400 or so. It is an appropriate cloth when cost is the primary consideration.

The amount you paid for your sails is less than the cost of cloth and shipping finished sails from Asia to Europe or North America. If Teijin put out a good quality cloth that was comparable with the manufacturers I mentioned, reptuable sailmakers would be using it in quantity.

Caution is in order for anyone ordering direct from Lee Sails in China. They require payment by wire transfer or bank check. You should never buy anything like a sail unless you can use a credit card as there is no recourse in the event of problems. You can contest a charge made with a credit card successfully. I had a dock neighbor who tried to save some money and ordered a sail from a loft quite some distance away. The sail was a disaster and when the sailmaker failed to address the issue he was able to contest the chrage and get his money refunded.

--- On Sun, 5/17/09, etske <amel.sharki.charmedii@...> wrote:

From: etske <amel.sharki.charmedii@...>
Subject: Re: [Amel] Lee Sails for Sharki 104
To: amelyachtowners@...
Date: Sunday, May 17, 2009, 1:57 PM

















Dear Dave,



Your misinterpretating my words (maybe because of the quality of my english). I did not say the are flat without shape I said they are flat without loosing their shape.



But even when you misunderstood your comments are wrong.



First, the sails are made from 1st quality dracron It comes from Tejin wich is Du pont (the founder of dracron)(since they use 250000 sq metres per annum I don't think there's enough B quality ;-))



Second, I tried to explain that I found it very good they understood I wanted a different kind of sail GI GII in character. The GI is great for average cruising but for (dutch average 4 a 5 SW) sportive sailing the GII is flatter and better upwind.



Before I ordered I did some research and in Holland they are pretty well known (the produce for Quantum, Elvstrom and UK sails to name a few. The runner up of the IJspegelcup (biggest winter matches in Holland) had 3 year old Leesails. When I spoke with him he told me this was the first time he could use sails more than a season.

Without getting into a discussion about this company (I don't own them) ;-)). In files I put an article about Lee Sails.



And in Pictures you cen see us sailing with the new sails...




























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