In our book, Cost Conscious Cruiser, we talk about the nylon mainsail our friend Dean Wixom used to keep his NorSea 27 moving when winds dropped below 7 knots, especially in sloppy seas. In the January/February issue of Good Old Boat magazine, there is an article by Ed Zacko about how he used this sail on his NorSea 27 during voyages that have taken him four times across the Atlantic then through Panama and across the Pacific. www.enezacko.com. Their nylon mainsail is made of 1.5 ripstop nylon and has been used for literally hundreds of hours. Best thing about it is, when there are sloppy seas, even in winds to 15 knots or so, they can drop their Dacron mainsail and use this one instead. No more slatting noises to drive you crazy, no more wear and tear on sail slides. It probably prolongs the life of their mainsail by 50% and keeps them moving so they don’t feel like turning the engine on. This means a substantial cost savings as the relatively simple nylon sail is quite inexpensive to build.
This is a sail we want to add to our inventory some day. Because both of us find it difficult to sleep when ever the mainsail starts to slat.