New Rags

Old Rags

We love the end-user reviews. Here's one from our very own Sportboat. Comments, anyone? - Ed

After less than satisfying customer service from a local non franchise loft I made the decision to look for a new sailmaker who had a local loft, not just a "sales" office. I didn't dive in all at once. While sailing down to PV on Ocean Planet I got a close look at the Doyle Product. One of the sails that really stood out was the Doyle APR70 spinnaker. Basically a reaching kite that would make up for the lack of a genoa for my boat. I have had this sail for over six months and it has transformed the boat. When other genoa boats would sail right away from me in light air, now the opposite is the case. In a recent shorthanded race down to Half Moon Bay I did a horizon job on the fleet with the Doyle APR70 spinnaker. My boat speed was 6.5 knots while the true wind speed was less than 5 knots.

New Jib

So being happy with the APR70 spinnaker I decided to try a Doyle Pentex headsail. Previously I had Kevlar, but decided since the headsail is rolled very tight on the forestay that it was the wrong material as it was weakened considerably with each rolling. The Pentex seems to be holding up better and the cost savings was significant.

New Main

I sail the Antrim 27 with a reduced roach main in the spring and summer because the full sized roach main is just way too much for singlehanding. I wasn't unhappy with the look of my existing mainsail, but I wanted to give the Doyle D4 product a try because the idea of only load bearing yarns seems to make allot of sense. Certainly Doyle was not the first with it, but after seeing samples on a J90 and a few other boats it appeared to be a decent product. So when it came time to replace the singlehanding sails I opted for a set of Doyle D4 Carbon/Twaron blend. After one test sail in 5 - 15 knots I am pleased with the performance. I saw a .10 to .20 knot boat speed improvement. Amazing how much lighter they are than traditional kevlar paneled sails.

The local San Francisco Doyle loft has also been very supportive, something I honestly didn't see with the other guy who I bought no less than 7 sails from.