Perfectly fitting the last article about circumnavigation, this story sheds light on the more “scruffy” side of sailing around the world. Whilst the luxury of attending a paid-for sailing adventure with all-inclusive full service is of course a mostly carefree undertaking, especially with a frequent technical service provided, sailing around the world single handed is a whole different level. Even if you are not underway as the fleet of Mini 580 boats is currently, the saying “repairing around the world” seems to apply very well for what´s can be the reality of circumnavigation.
I´ve again reached out to Christian Sauer who is attending the McIntyre Mini Globe Race. I am following him on facebook (as you should as well) and got to know about his frequent struggles with his sails. Something, I wanted to dive deeper into because that´s a topic rarely discussed, I think. Thanks to Starlink – which every time fascinates me more and more! – it was a no-brainer to talk to him in real time from Germany all the way around the globe to the “other side”. Amazing!
The around the world-sails setup for a Mini 580
Christian, along with the rest of the fleet, is currently passing north of Darwin/Australia into the Timor Sea. He is kind of beaten up already, having suffered from some serious infections and a pretty nasty ligament dislocation in his shoulder. “Repairing the boat is a constant and ongoing project”, he tells me: His ARGO had to receive a semi-intricate repair of the keel-fin after a collision with flotsam and a pretty interesting upgrade to the steering system with daggerboards installed at the transom. “Every Mini 580 skipper is in some way having the same trouble”, he tells me: “And so are sails: A constant cause for concern and repairs.”
Each Mini Globe 580 boat can be equipped with the same set-up of sails: One main and a jib (on hanks or furling). That´s of course the standard sails set plus one the storm jib. For the light wind sails-setup, the Mini 580 is solely equipped with downwind-sails: Gennakers. Each oat carries an A3 reaching kite, an A5 running kite and one A7. The sails are provided by Quantum Sails. “It is part of the Class 580 philosophy to keep things simple and affordable”, Christian tells me: “It fits the idea that every one should build his own boat with his own hands. It´s very nice that the sails setup is offered to a very, very attractive price. A really cool thing indeed!” Yet, there´s not just a sunny side …
Problems with Gennakers
Calling Christian was a welcome distraction from what has become almost daily routine for him: Gennaker repairs. The A5 gennaker, he says, is one of the most important sails on the boat. ARGO is mainly sailed on a downwind course, hence, the canvas is almost always up. “Often, when going dead downwind, I will also hoist the other gennaker to proceed in butterfly configuration.” Pretty soon in the race, Christian detected defects and damage in the sails: Much more that the usual wear and tear he´d had expected. “As a matter of fact, the foot of the gennaker is knocked the hardest.”
It started with some little fringes hanging down from the foot. “All gennakers are made from the same material. I have the feeling that it is too thin, too fragile in the face of the strain and stress these sails are subjected to.” First the canvas seemed to loose it´s membrane-like feel of the material, then Christian says, large parts of the outer layer detached and simple blew away from the sail. “I have the feeling that it becomes thinner and thinner by the time we proceed.” Loosing its color in the constant UV-bombardment is one thing, structural integrity is another. “All I can do is to patch up stuff and try to keep it going as best as I can.”
And so Christian´s “patching around the world”-session became a daily routine: Checking all the sails regularly for new damage, checking the older repairs and patches if these are still holding up. It won´t get boring this way. For the gennaker, he says, the leech and foot are the main areas of concern. But also the standard sails are suffering, especially the main sail: It´s the chafing of the batten-pockets which regularly causes trouble, making Christian patch up these areas generously.
Patching, stitching and sewing the sails
A the foot of the gennakers there is a foot-line for fine trimming the sail. It is connected to the sail to take on the loads with a hem. This piece of canvas is constantly subject to heavy chafing, hence it fails pretty soon. Luckily, Christian has stockpiled a lot of sail repair tools and spare parts, especially after the first big leg covering the Atlantik Ocean. Taking down the gennaker, hauling it into the small cockpit of ARGO, he sits down and patiently starts to work.
He takes off the remainder of the worn out or damaged sailcloth first. This takes some time as he has to make sure that in this none of the undamaged parts will be affected. When this is done, he resumes work by cutting out a patch from the spare sailcloth that fits the area he needs to repair. This is provisionally put to the damaged part of the sail. Nice pegs, by the way … Sometimes he also utilizes self-adhesive tape for closing a ripped part, this makes live a bit easier as it cannot fly away whilst sewing.
And then, it´s needles and threads, stitching time! “The individual cloth panels of the gennakers are glued together at first as well. Then sewed with a nice zigzag seam. For many parts of my light wind sails, the threads of the sewed parts are already gone. Chafed away, no seam at all. The glued parts are miraculously holding up still … but I guess it´s a matter of time until they fail.” One of the Mini 580 sailors had recently suffered from a blown A7 …
It started as early as in the Atlantic Ocean
Looking at the distance the little boats have sailed already one might think that a bulk of the nautical miles had already been covered. In the face of the constant stresses these sails are subjected to, the salt water, the frequent calms with lots of loosely hanging sails, chafing the rigging and of course the immense radiation load from the sun it shouldn´t be of any surprise that there is constant – and worsening – wear and tear. But Christian says that this isn´t a new thing, it started right away in the Atlantic Ocean, relatively early in the race.
“I noticed that my gennaker had been ripped open by the jib hanks.” He tells me that it was one of the calmer days with very little wind. There was a lot of slack in the gennaker. But once it filled up with wind again, it would blow over the forestay. “Very gently, no pressure, you know. This is why I did not care so much at first, no wind, no pressure, what could possibly happen?” Well, what happened was that the hanks apparently cut open the thin Nylon of the gennaker. “Again: These asymmetricals are the most important sails as they are up almost all of the time!” So something needed to be done …
Arriving at Antigua in the Caribbean, Christian took action and simply cut out the solid metal hanks. “I switched to soft shackled-hanks which are much, much better now.” But the damage was done. Luckily, acquiring help by professionals during the regular stopovers after each leg is not prohibited by the class rules and Christian was able to receive help and stock up his sail repair kits … foreboding even worse.
Acquiring sailmaker´s skills
“I am not a sailmaker nor did I train this kind of repairs”, he tells me. But he had to become his own onboard sailmaker´s specialist in a matter of days. His tools set is comprised of various patches, spare sail cloth, adhesive tape and of course sailmaker´s needles of different sizes and thicknesses. A couple of hundred meters of thread, different strengths as well. “So, let´s go!”, he says – stitching up yet another break in the sail.
One of the specialties of sailakers is the “glove”, called the sailmaker´s palm. Christian has one aboard. It is utilized to apply pressure to the back of a needle making it penetrate and go through the sails cloth. “That´s really tough work!”, Christian admits. Apart from the fact that the boat is constantly moving in the waves – and we shouldn´t forget the fact that the Mini 580 is truly mini, hence rocking hard even in relatively low wave – the workspace is very limited and not ergonomically perfect at all. No comparison to a sailmaker´s loft in any way …
“When patching up the standard sails, like the main, or having to sew a zigzag seam near the clews, it becomes almost unbearable”, Christian explains. There are so many layers of sail panels that it needs a lot of power to push through the needle. “Very tiresome …” It takes several hours to apply a thorough seam. Looking at the work he has done already on the sails, it´s a, let´s call it, “individual” style of sewing indeed. But Christian doesn´t care about nice looks, proper spacing or anything aesthetical at all: “My prime concern is that the damage is repaired and the sails can be hoisted again …”
Out of the approximately 28.000 nautical miles for the Mini Globe Race, some 14.000 nautical miles are already behind the fleet. 181 days into this regatta, four of the original 16 contenders have already abandoned the race and retired. Two sailors had to leave citing financial reasons, one left because of health issues and the fourth because of not reaching a rendezvous point in time within the limit. None had to give up because of technical reasons, specifically, because of the sails. But this could change …
„I doubt the sails will keep up around the world.”
Christian´s outlook is a bit somber when it comes to this issue: “I would judge that the sails, especially our gennakers, should be made from stronger materials. I doubt that they will last for the whole trip around the world. It´s too much damage already and too much constant wear and tear.” With patched up areas increasing, Christian and the rest of the fleet are facing pretty windy sailing area dead ahead, with the notorious Cape of Good Hope being one of them.
“I was lucky that Quantum had sent me my Gennakers with a slight miss-print. So I received a second one, this time with all prints made the right way.” He tells me that these Gennakers are sealed and one is only allowed to open one single spare sail during the race according to the rules. “I already sail this spare one, it´s the A5.” His outlook? Well, if the decision is to either drop out because of all sails becoming useless or breaking a seal and take a hefty penalty, its pretty clear what he will do.
So. What is there to learn from this story? I cannot and won´t judge the class rules of the Mini 580, but for me it shows very clearly that the choice for sails is one of the most neglected topic for people buying boats. I have witnessed this myself dozens and dozens of times, especially with first time buyers: They often don´t care about the quality and material their boats come with. OEM-sails, even if big brand´s names are stitched on, mostly do not have the same quality as sails which are designed and bought from a proper sailmaker´s loft: These guys will choose the right materials, the proper strength and quality of the cloth so that the sails will exactly do what your individual sailing program demands. As for Christian (and the rest of the fleet): Fair winds, guys! I hope and I am sure you will find a way to tackle the second half of your amazing trip.
More on the Mini 580 Class and Mini Globe-race:
Building your own Mini 580 sailboat from plywood
How is sailing a Mini 580 around the world?
My (cancelled) first Atlantic Loop-project