Hi folks,
I think about buying new main for my P19. looks like mylar main is about ~ $1300 across a majority of sail makers so based on practical experience of people who did that what would be the most preferable sail loft to deal with? North Sails , Carvert , Schurr, Ullman e.t.c. My intention is club racing so it is interesting to know the practical aspects, get some better understanding in general , all pros and cons of particular sail. Probably something like a relative comparison chart of these companies from practical standpoint.
For example I've gotten I quite fast feedback from Carvert; by reading this forum it looks like Smyth and Schurr are practically the same sails ... my original sail is Smyth.
I am sure all of these names are well known in sailing community but still I am bit confused before making such a purchase
Thanks to all for the input

I would also try Sabre sails. The other thing could be getting a group discount with other P19 owners. I will be searching for a new main next summer, unless the price was to drop substantially...

email me on this. I researched a lot before I bought new P19MX sails that I'm not happy with, even after sending them back once. eljefe "at" cybertrails.com

I just PM'ed you with my expereince with a local sail maker who is close enough to you to help you also. I have also had good experience with Smyth/Schurr sails.

RacerX Sails, are the way to go!

If you are going to be racing, I would buy from someone with recent experience building winning sails in your class. Since the P19 is almost dead, that's hard. Sabre built some sails a few years back. Ullman can scale the cuurent Tornado main and the Glasers (Tornado sail designers) just openned their own shop.

If you have a good local shop, you will probably get a good sail. The design will be either what they built the last time or a couple years old if they have been watching other designers. If they stand behind their product you will probably be happy.

If I were buying, the order would be Ullman, Glaser, small local shop, and Sabre. If you are willing to deal really long distance Landenberger and Ashby build some really good sails too.

Do the P19 have spreaders/diamond-wires?

Just curious.. If they dont, scaling down a Tornado sail would probably not be successful due to different bending properties.

Yes, P19 has spreader and a single set of diamonds. Charlie Ogletree has been successful in building a Tornado-looking main for the boat; there's a guy in Florida that he did a full T sailplan for, including spinnaker. It's scary fast!

Charlie Ogletree and Jay Glaser designed and built my main and jib while Jay was at Ullman Sails. The Tornado jib needed no modification. They made a slight modification to the Tornado main template. The Cuben Fiber is extremely light and responds well to adjustments. The Tornado chute and snuffer was one of Robbie Daniel's. Chute was used lightly and was of recent development.

I am pleased with the sails and would highly recommend either Ullman or Glaser.

Dave

My original sails and my newer MX sails are from Ullman. Everytime I had any kind of question I could pick up the phone and get Jay Glaser on the other end. He has been a great person to deal with and is a wealth of information. I would check out his new sail company first.

thanks a lot for all your replies , just one more thing.
I am honestly talking do not understand the "open class" rules regarding obsolete cats like my P19 , H20 .e.t.c. Andrew mentioned about Tornado sail plan on prindle. is it acceptable from "official" standpoint? P19MX + spi , or another p19 with huge hooter? racing rules of our club state that any cat with a Portsmouth rating could participate ? so I guess this sort of modifications is not acceptable for cc racing.

Here is the link (http://www.ussailing.org/portsmouth/tables03/modifications03.htm) that tells how to adjust the portsmouth rating for multihulls with modifications from stock. If they use the Portsmouth handicap system, they can work with a modified boat.

We, eg the catsailing community through US Sailing Mulithull Portsmouth Committe define a boat class as a specific configuraton of sails, boat weight, crew etc for the convenience of us all. The PN committe follows the lead of the builder or the class association. These groups spec the boat out and on that basis results are collected assuming all of the boats are about the same and a fair rating calculated. The assumption is to have a level playing field and by specifying the critical speed components (sails weight etc) and putting a name to them, eg Nacra 5.8 or P19MX, we will have an easy time calculating relative finish positions fairly. So, you the sailor agree to not change anything that is a speed factor (sails boat weight, etc).. Of course you can replace tired sails with fresh new ones ... and WE ASSUME you are doing so regularly. (You can't complain that your 10 year old sails prevent you from sailing the boat to its number and you want a correction for that)

So, what happens when the configuration evolves because you decide a new square top main is a better sail for you then a new pinhead main? Rather then say... NO... go home we can't race against your modified one of a kind boat fairly. We (all of the racing sailors) agree to use a set of modification factors that correct your newly modfied P19. If a group of sailors agree to a set of modifications, spec them out and give it a name... then the PN committe collects data on that configuration and issues an approved rating. (best example is the Nacra 6.0 NA with NE spin)

One restriction is that in the regional championship regatta for the US Sailing championship you are restricted from using your one off modified design. So, for the Alter Qualifier in St Michals, MD which is your sailing region you would have to use either the P19 sail configuration... (pinhead main small jib) ... OR the MX configuration Squaretop main and large jib). For you club regattas... you can calculate a set of ratings that will be fair to you and to your competitors for whatever configuration you have.

Hope that helps
Mark