Proper Course, the blog of a Laser sailboat sailor whose nom de splash is Tillerman does occasionally invite other bloggers to write on a specified topic. He’s doing this now, with the topic being “Worst Sailing Innovation Ever”. I had been thinking it wasn’t a good topic for me, as “worst” doesn’t really come to mind when I think of windsurfing innovations. Yeah there have been some short lived and/or goofy developments (flappers, football fins) but nothing really bad.
Then it hit me. Monofilm. Monofilm sucks. A brand new monofilm sail can not be removed from its bag, rigged, sailed once, derigged, and put back in its bag without being visibly dinged. And that’s if you handle it perfectly. Of course you don't even have to touch the thing for it to degrade. There are monofilm sails sold with instructions that actually say “keep out of sunlight” which should be followed by “do not rig” and perhaps “do not buy”. Yeah I know monofilm sails are light and sail well, but they are an exercise in “accelerated decrepitude” (as Darryl Hannah’s character says in Bladerunner.)
Just gimme X-ply or Cuban fiber or grid or just about anything else.
(See all those stickers on my sail? I'm not sponsored by anyone…those are all patching rips and tears and creases and dings, holding my monofilm 7.0 together. )
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