It was delaminated and figuratively hanging in there by a thread. You could see the sunlight through the stitching, and poke your hand between layers. The draft was blown out better than a 1980s hairstyle.

When we bought the boat, we knew the sail was old, approaching 20 years. Well past its normal lifespan. The local sailmaker in Newport said he thought it had one season left in it or 3000 ocean miles.

Well, we got two years out of it and over 7000 hard & fast miles. Not bad. But, old ratty sails are slow, inefficient, and can become a safety issue if they tear, refuse to furl or end up in the water. 

When Should We Replace Our Sails?

Let god take it down is fun to say, and works while fully crewed racing, but when sailing your tiny-home doublehanded offshore in a big ocean, that is a far too risky proposition.

We are on a very limited budget, even more so, like many, after a year lost to the pandemic. We thought very hard and did a lot of research before committing to such a major purchase. For us, replacing our primary headsail was a big deal.

I will save you our thoughts, as we could probably write a book about sail plans, crossovers, polars, etc. We finally decided to leave things well enough alone and go for an exact match replacement, kind of. 

Being avid racers we know sails very well and are quite picky.

What Type of Sail Material is Best for Us?

There were only a few options that made sense. 

1. Dacron
2. Hydranet
3. High tech materials

Dacron was the cheapest option, but its shape-holding ability is the least. Sail shape is very important to us. We would likely have to replace a Dacron sail again before our trip is over. 

Hydranet is a very strong material, but it is also the heaviest option. Its shape-holding is much improved over dacron, but it does lose performance over time. It is resistant to stains and good for the tropics. It is also expensive, coming close to the cost of a high-tech sail.

High-tech sails, laminates, or membranes, are normally known as racing sails, but there are cruising and RTW-level high-tech sails. You see these on Vendée Globe and VOR boats. They are lighter and hold their shape best, but are also the most costly. They are easy to repair as they can be glued instead of sewn. 

We like to measure our enjoyment in smiles per mile though. We like to sail fast, and the fact is membrane-type sails hold their shape the best mile after mile. 

Where to Purchase Our New Sail?

After much consideration of all the pros and cons, we finally chose an Evolution Sails Expedition Membrane genoa. We purchased it from Evolution Sails Chicago Loft, run by Andy Camarda who we knew well from racing. We had seen the performance, shape, and quality of his sails on boats we have raced against. He is not only a racer, he has a passion for long distance sailing as well. We had a lot of trust in his knowledge, as well as the designers at Evolution in NZ. Andy worked hard to get us the best price possible and arrange for overseas delivery.

How are Membrane Cruising Sails Built?

These are built in New Zealand with precision laid load path carbon fibers. The cruising Expedition series has extra fibers for more durability, and these fibers are designed and laid custom for your boat type, sailing conditions, reefing configurations, etc. 

After the fibers are laid and the membrane is sealed tight, layers of taffeta are added on both sides. 

The sail has a 3 layer foam luff for improved aerodynamics and a WeatherMax sun cover to protect it when furled. One of the coolest parts of the membrane tech is the ability in production to insert spreader patches and chafe reinforcement inside the sail itself.

The lamination is surprisingly thin because of the new membrane methods, and the sail is loaded with carbon for strength! These aren’t like the old-school laminate sails of the 90s and 00s. Technology has improved greatly. 

Are We Happy With Our New Genoa?

The bottom line is our sail showed up, fit perfectly the first time, and looks beautiful. We can’t wait to get off the dock and see what type of gains we see. We have thousands of ocean miles coming soon to test and review our new sails performance.

The post Buying a New Sail – We Review the Purchase of Our New Cruising Genoa appeared first on Sailing Sweet Ruca.

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We race against Sahara dust storms to St. Thomas to install new solar panels, replace the windlass (it doesn’t go as planned), and do a thorough rig inspection before the planned offshore passage to Grenada for hurricane season.

#sailing #saillife #boatlife #travelvlog

The post [Ep. 26] Holes in our Boat! Fixing a 20 Year Old Boat While Cruising. appeared first on Sailing Sweet Ruca.

#sailing #sail #sailinglife #ocean #sailboat #saillife

Come sail away with us to the island of St. Croix where we travel away from our feelings and have a little vacation from life on the boat. Located in the US Virgin Islands, STX is the largest but least visited of the islands in the USVI.

This is a particularly satisfying video for us as we tackle some relationship issues brought about by tiny house living and the digital nomad lifestyle. Our sailboat is our tiny home, and a sail life is what we live as we create and share our video travel vlog. We are re-learning how to sail and be at sea together during the quarantine lockdown.

The post [Ep. 24] Does SAILING Solve Everything? appeared first on Sailing Sweet Ruca.

We want to note that despite the catchy title, we were very impressed by the way the BVI Customs and Immigration team handled the situation. This was at the very beginning of the pandemic when no one was sure what to do or what was going to happen. At the time this was filmed we were allowed to sail but not go ashore, this was what we were told by officials at the customs office. Since then that has changed greatly. We respect their decisions to keep their country safe.

The post [Ep. 22] Is it OVER? – Stopped by POLICE While Sailing in BVI appeared first on Sailing Sweet Ruca.

#sailing #sailinglife #spinnaker #travelvlog

In this episode, we finally make it to St. Thomas after a 700 mile offshore ocean passage from the Bahamas. We are glad to see land but after so much time in the deserted islands of the Bahamas, we are smacked in the face with the full force of big brand marketing in the USVI. We have lots to do while we are here, especially some much-needed plumbing work. Don’t ask, just watch and you will see.

We also need to make some repairs after the hard sailing passage. We still make time for fun though. Kate’s mom joins us for a few days, and our friends from Jamestown Boatyard in Rhode Island, Dave and Denise, make an appearance for some spirited sailing and fun in St. John.

The post [Ep. 20] Sailing FAST & Living Slow! – FUN with Spinnakers in the USVI appeared first on Sailing Sweet Ruca.

The post [Ep. 17] Hot, Wet, and Salty in the Bahamas appeared first on Sailing Sweet Ruca.

The post [Ep. 16] Can We Outrun a Storm? appeared first on Sailing Sweet Ruca.

We are sailing offshore from Cape Fear North Carolina, across the gulf stream, directly to the Bahamas. 0:32: Catch a Mahi Mahi Usually, we bring our fishing gear in at night, but this night, we forgot to. Fish On! We reel in a Mahi Mahi in the dark while going 9 knots under sail. Kate fries him up and we have a delicious fresh fish meal.

2:47 Offshore Sailing

We keep on trucking! We are almost to the Bahamas. We can feel things getting warmer, which is much needed. We needed shorts weather, rather than the nasty cold of the East Coast in November. Luckily we didn’t have to dodge any storms or hurricanes, but we did sail through some winds up to 35 knots on the way down, making for an exciting sailboat passage.

9:31 Arrive in Eleuthera

We made it to Eleuthera, the Bahamas after almost a year of hard boat work. It seems like everything is coming together. We navigate the shallow waters, dodging coral heads, on the way to Meeks Island (one of the Bahamas Pig Islands) in the crystal clear turquoise waters of the Bahamas.

10:53 Anchor Down

This is what we went sailing for. Dropping anchor in the Bahamas and cooking some steaks on the grill! Yes! Watch a beautiful sunset with us.

12:04 Good Morning

We wake up in the morning and Kate climbs the mast to get the lay of the land. What other girls would do a mast climb? Kate is a superwoman! The water is glass calm and beautiful clouds dot the horizon. We jump in and dive our Rocna 33kg anchor to see how it is set!

15:02 Paddle Boarding

It is time for some paddle boarding and to explore a beach at a deserted island in the Caribbean! Woo Hoo!!! We made it.

#sailingvlog #bahamas #gulfstream #sailing #atlantic #bahamas #caribbean #sail #sailinglife #sail #sea #boat #yacht #sailboat #yachting #travel #ocean #boatlife #sailor #yachtlife #boating #summer #boats #sailingboat #sailingyacht #adventure #yachts #vlogger #youtubesailing #vlog #rescuedog #sailingdog #boatdog #snorkeling #paddleboarding #desertedisland #jboats #saltydog #saltlife

The post [Ep 14] Gulf Stream Crossing p2 – Sailing Offshore to Bahamas: Land Ho! appeared first on Sailing Sweet Ruca.

0:00 Annapolis

We start out this youtube sailing video where the last one left off. We left the dock at Bert Jabins in Annapolis, Marlyand in the cold November rain! We had a deadline though, our goal was to be at anchor in the warm, clear blue waters of the Bahamas to celebrate Thanksgiving.

0:31 Chesapeake Bay

The Chesapeake Bay was a mess on the way out. We dodged fishing gear and huge cargo ships and freighters as we motored upwind to make our weather window. The next morning we were sailing, almost to the Chesapeake Bay Bridge-Tunnel, the outlet to the Atlantic Ocean. After months of being coupled up in a boatyard, we have finally headed to sea again. We raised our sails and reached down the coast, headed toward Cape Hatteras, North Carolina.

1:19 Cape Hatteras

Late that leaving, or should we say early the next morning, we rounded Cape Hatteras in the dark. We dealt with the choppy and confused seas driving at weird angles by the relentless current. We made it through, rounding America’s Great Cape at roughly 2:00 AM. The next morning, as if to celebrate our achievement, we were greeted by dolphins swimming off of our bow. Our first Bow Dolphins on Sweet Ruca!!!

4:20 Dolphins & Fishing for Mahi Mahi

After we crossed into the Gulf Stream the next morning the conditions subsided. And, at times even went to flat calm. We decided to do some fishing and nailed our first Mahi Mahi. Thankful to the gods of the sea for the fabulous dinner. Fish tacos for days!

7:34 Cape Fear, North Carolina

After our first offshore fishing experience, we saw the weather was shifting. To get ahead of it, and make some time in the calm, we decided to tack back to shore and head to Cape Fear, NC. A wonderful little town on the Intercoastal Waterway. We stayed the night and re-filled with diesel and icecream!

8:33 Gulf Stream in Big Breeze

We headed back out to do battle with the Gulf Stream once more. It was the only thing left between us and warm weather. The problem was, the wind was blowing from the direction we wanted to go. We saw big breeze up to 35 knots and Kate experienced a bout of seasickness as we had spray into the cockpit.

12:21 The Morning After

We made it through, but we weren’t to the Bahamas just yet. The trip would continue. We show you what the inside of the boat looks the morning after bashing into big seas offshore. Bluewater sailing at its best. Kate talks about her seasickness and Curtis is having fun discussing autopilot. He is really happy he is finally wearing shorts, a sign we are sailing closer to the Caribbean!

#sailingvlog #capehatteras #gulfstream #chesapeakebay #sailing #atlantic #bahamas #caribbean #sail #3rdreef #sailinglife #sail #sea #boat #yacht #sailboat #yachting #travel #ocean #boatlife #sailor #yachtlife #boating #summer #boats #sailingboat #sailingyacht #adventure #yachts #vlogger #youtubesailing #vlog #rescuedog #sailingdog #boatdog

The post [Ep. 13] Gulf Stream Crossing – Sailing Offshore to Bahamas in November appeared first on Sailing Sweet Ruca.