Start with building a Dacron jib. Dacron still builds nice fast sails and in some ways it is more user friendly on the water. It just doesn't have the shape holding abilities of laminates. You will definetly learn a lot from that. And it will not cost heaps.

Tape drive and string are 2 different products. With a string sail the fibres are laminated between the mylar films. Ace has some of the ones we built on his seawind. They turned out very nice. My workplace is one of the only lofts in the world that can do string sails completely in house. Every sail is unique to the customers boat and requirements.

I plan to put some on the f16 early next year. The cloth itself will be better than anything you can buy. The challenge lies in coming up with a design that is fast. Not so easy. I'm sure I can get close to start with. Designing something from scratch with no knowlege would be a very difficult challenge.

If I can work out how to put pictures on this place I'll put them on. It's quite interesting if that's what your in to.