 1 My success with Hank's main started to get me feeling pretty good my sewing ability, so I decided to step it up, and ordered a "kit" from Sailrite for a 110% genoa. The Sailrite videos sure made it seem like this was something I could accomplish. I brought the kit into work and set up shop in our largest meeting room. I quickly realized that as big as the room was, it was still going to be WAY TOO SMALL. All I could do was to set up as diagonally as possible. |
 2 Even diagonal, the room was not nearly big enough, but I made the best of it. It was LOT of work, WAY more than I ever expected! I took me about 16 hours to sew "the white", which was about four times as long as I expected, and still only half the job. (The sacrificial Sunbrella took equally long, and even the leather patches took a few hours.) I did not realize how stiff a new sail could be when rolled up, and how slippery it was when it wasn't. I spent fully half the day either moving the sewing machine around or picking the sail up off the floor! But the Sailrite instructional videos made is seem so easy! A few weeks after it was together I went back and reviewed the videos. 99% of it was a close up on a person's hands as they sewed. But just once, just for a few seconds, the camera panned back, to show a sewing table about the size of an ice rink! |
 3 Here's the tack ring, about to be sewn in. |
 4 And here's this massive pile of incredibly stiff material that just does not want to stream nicely off one end of the table, through the machine and off the other end. You have to experience it to believe it. |
 5 But it DID eventually all come together. |
 6 Next to last step was to sew the Sunbrella on. That I did at home, in the living room, and that's where it become apparent just how big the sail is. Thank goodness it's only a 110%; I had thoughts of doing a spinnaker! |
 7 |
 8 I was left with a very very nice headsail that I like a whole lot. |
