Once you have your measurements, please complete the following form to request a quote from us - click here

Need help in measuring your sails?
Your sailboat has a series of measurements on which all sail manufacture is based:

"J" the distance from the front of the mast to the spot where the forestay meets the deck.

"I" the distance from deck, not the cabin top, to the top of the forestay.

"P" the distance from the top of the boom to the main halyard sheave, or the black band if your boat has one. Best measured by hoisting a tape to the correct height and then reading the distance where the taut tape measure intersects the boom.

"E" is the distance from the rear of the mast to the clew outhaul fitting when fully extended, or the black band. Remember the leech of the sail is always the trailing edge, the luff the leading edge. The tack is where the sail is fixed (tacked) to the deck or boom. The head of the sail to the highest corner when hoisted, the clew is the loose corner on a headsail and is at the end of the boom farthest from the mast on a main sail. The foot is the lowest edge. Simple!

LP explained
A great deal of confusion exists as to the meaning of the percentage number of a Genoa or smaller headsail. For instance a sail may be described as a 150% Genoa. Your headsail size is defined by another dimension called the LP (luff perpendicular). Luff perpendicular is measured as the distance from the clew to the luff at an angle of 90 deg. to the luff. This distance divided by "J" * 100 is the percentage size. A Catalina 27 with a standard rig has a J measurement of 11.25 ft. A 150% genoa for this boat would have a LP measurement of 11.25 * 150/100 = 16.875 ft. A 100% sail would have an LP of 11.25 feet.

Measuring your boat
This is a fairly easy procedure, take your time and measure twice just to make sure. You'll need a long tape, a length of fine twine, paper and pencil.

Head Sails
Attach the tape to your jib halyard, also the end of the fine line. If the tape should break or come unattached you have the means of recovering your halyard. Otherwise it involves a trip up the mast! Hoist the tape to the top of the mast, actually this will be to the jib halyard sheave, measure the distance to the working deck not the cabin top. This is your I dimension. Take the end of the tape to the point where your forestay meets the deck this is the maximum luff length of your sail. Drop the tape down and measure the distance from the front of the base of the mast to where the forestay meets the deck, your J size.

If you have roller furling the luff measuring is a little different. Hoist the tape up to the top spindle of the reefing system, the easiest way to do this is to drop your existing head sail attach the tape to the shackle at the head of the sail and re-hoist. Measure down to where the corner, the tack, attaches to the drum of the furler, there is usually a gap of about 6" between the tack and the drum. This gap is for a wire pennant or pennant lashing. Measure down to the top of this pennant. The sail is attached to the furling extrusion with a small cord in the luff of the sail that slides up the groove. Measure the diameter of this cord. If you are having a UV protective edge on your sail we need to know which side, port or starboard to attach it, then you always roll your sail to leave the UV protection exposed.

If your sail is not on a roller furler is it hanked on or does your boat have a sail foil? We need to know the diameter of the luff tape (bolt rope).

Main Sails
Using your main halyard hoist the end of the tape until it stops, don't forget to also attach the fine twine to recover the halyard in case of a mishap. Support the boom to the position you want it to be while sailing. Measure the distance from the top to the point where the sail attaches to the boom, this is the luff maximum. Leaving the tape in the same top spot measure to where the sails clew will be attached, this is the leech size. Please note this is a straight line not the distance around the trailing edge of the sail. Lower the tape and measure the distance from the tack connection point to the longest point the clew can be, allow space for your outhaul if you have one. How far is it from the back of the mast to the pin or shackle that connects to the clew? How high above the boom?

One last thing, your main has to be attached to the mast, please tell us the system in place. Internal track slides fit in a rectangular slot in the mast, take a slide from your old sail and measure the width. If your mast has a circular groove it takes either a bolt rope, fitted in the sail, or slugs, barrel shaped slides, tell us which and the diameter. If your mast has an external track, just measure the width of the track.

Spinnakers
All we need are the I and J measurements and your choice of colours.