Nylet Newsletter number 111. January 2012.
This December gone has not been too cold, certainly rather different from the previous one! I guess we all remember that winter, lets hope the next couple of months are kind to us and we can all get into our workshops without clearing the snow away from the path!
We are still very busy with sailmaking, cotton sails (of all types) and modern suits in racing scrim etc. A growing part of our business is in making 'replacement' kit sails, such as the Victoria, Fairwind (always popular), Seawind, Northwind, True Blue, Thunder Tiger America's Cup (Emirates) ETNZ, and various other Chinese kits. The original sails provided with the kits are often made in ripstop spinnaker cloth (not at all ideal), and often incorrectly made, such as a badly cut luff, or at worse with the warp running down the luff which is utterly hopeless.
We have good stocks of white Dacron sailcloth which has a slightly soft feel and is a light weight, at 2.99oz. It has changed little since we first used the British made version of that cloth, Terylene, in 1966. This sailcloth makes up well and produces good looking sails for the classic yacht, or simply for a general suit for most weathers. It has the capability to hold a wind catching shape, and is well suited for any size sail up to and including Ten Rater; it is however a little on the light side for A-class sails unless you intend to order a really light weather suit, so for stronger winds for that particular class we suggest that you have sails made in scrim. Laminated scrim is used by the racing fraternity for sails of any size, the weight starts at less than half that of Dacron and this light weight to strength ratio gives a superior performance. Remember that the described weight of scrim is a little misleading to anyone not actually holding a cut of the cloth in their hands, since it is the same 'strength' compared to Dacron sailcloth at twice the weight, so with scrim you get a more resiliant cloth ounce for ounce! We automatically apply the correct weight for the suit in question (scrim comes in different weight cloths). So if you are racing then seriously consider scrim, but for the cruising yacht, or classic yacht where a traditional appearance is important then Dacron looks more the part. Mylar film is available in 50 micron Mylar, a clear material which can be cheered up using coloured corner patches and trim. it is lighter still compared to scrim and is also as tough, but maybe prone to taking a crease, it depends upon how you care for your sails at the end of the day. Unfortunately the price of scrim material has seen a very substantial lift over and above the last invoice tendered in 2011 (in the region of 80% increase). Material has to be purchased when a run has been loomed and supplies become available (the minimum run is ten thousand metres).
We also make 'classic sewn' Dacron sails for the 50's and 60's yacht, with all detail sewn, in fact everything being sewn precisely as we did 45 years ago. We are always busy with work on cotton sails, of all types, in both natural finish cotton cloth and dyed a colour, and restoration work on older timber yachts keeps us ever busy.

So to recap, classic sails in the style of half a century ago, and racing sails in scrim and film in the very latest style of the 21st century! Some things at Nylet haven't changed for years though, we still offer the same fast and reliable world-wide mail order service (which commenced in 1966), and we are proud to mention that in 2012 the Parsons family can boast 170 years of service to our customers (despite no longer sewing full size sails the size of a barn door!).
Restoration work keeps my colleague very busy with maybe up to a dozen yachts, of various types, awaiting his expert attention (and most requiring cotton sails).

Work gathers pace on our new One Metre yacht, the "THETIS" (Greek goddess, "silver-footed Thetis" [Ancient Greek: Θέτις], known as the goddess of water). The final moulds are made and a pre-production yacht will be in building during the winter. This design will hopefully be in our listings and offered for sale (in much the same way as the THREE, i.e. as basic hull only, semi-kits, and full kits) in the Spring.

Frank Parsons.

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The Nylet sailmaking service, celebrating 80 years of sail manufacture over two generations.

1842 - 2012 ~ 5 generations ~ 170 years of manufacturing.