A New Lease on Life

These aren't windsocks - they're sail covers. Without secure attachments the covers used to blow off the jibs in windy weather and beat and wear until the material lost it's water resistance and holes were worn into the covers. Also - they were covering the sails!

It's not easy to be green in the marine industry; the demands on materials exposed to the elements are high. Marine canvas and sail material gets used pretty hard, and begins to lose structural integrity after a few years out in the open. This is where re-use comes in. Take sailboat racers, for example. To stay on top, racers have to have sails in top-notch condition. The material will lose it's shape over time, and make it harder to balance the boat well. The more you have to use the hull to counter-balance old, out-of-shape sails, the farther you have to heel and the farther off an ideal heel angle (and waterline length) you are. In other words, you don't go as fast and you lose the race. The last America's Cup race was pretty spectacular - particularly for the use of a fixed wing on the boats. The wing is just like it sounds - like putting an ultralight wing from a plane to achieve the same kind of lift and speed. Now just picture a plane with a soft wing that looks like it's got a beer-gut sagging in the middle. Not what you'd call useful.

So what do you do when your sails are sagging and you need to upgrade? Lots of folks keep their old sail as an emergency back-up. This is a good idea, especially if you've pulled your sail out on a big lawn and given the stitching and fabric integrity a thorough examination. If the sail has spent a good amount of time in the sun, parts of it may tear easily. This is not a safe sail to keep. If parts of the sail seem to be a bit stronger, and you Really don't want to get rid of the sail - do everyone a favor. Never - ever - sail with that sail again. But Do have the salvageable parts of the sail re-purposed into a gear bag or tote and you can keep that sentimental piece of your beloved boat with you.

I find old sail material and marine canvas that has exhausted it's youth serving us folks in a harsh marine environment - materials that can be salvaged provided the rest of it's life is a little less demanding. Believe it or not, as hard as you may treat your gear bag or stash duffel or how over-stuffed you fill those re-useable shopping bags - at least those bags get to live inside and rest when they're off duty. That is the perfect life for a blown-out sail or canvas that has been a little too beat up in the outdoors.

Pictured on the left is a gear bag I made using an old sail storage bag and scraps from technical sails (made with clear mylar instead of dacron, so the bag contents are a bit visible, and a bit obscured). To the right are 3 folding chairs that have found new life with left-over canvas. The old fabric seats on these chairs  ripped. The chairs are mostly used out doors, so the water-resistant marine canvas will double the life of the chairs.

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