The last major maintenance before our sailing trip is new sails. We are forced to do this because our old EPEX laminate sails have completely delaminated after 8 years, leaving holes in them. Completely unusable. Toine does some research and it turns out that the lifespan of these sails is given as 8-10 years. But that they fall apart after that (instead of giving a lower performance) was unknown to us. If we had known that, we would have put on another kind of sail 8 years ago.

We ended up with Elvstrom HydraNet Radial sails. These are woven with dynema yarn so they keep their shape and are virtually indestructible. Should a hole appear, the material is available anywhere in the world to repair the sails. Ideal for our planned trip. They do look a little less beautiful than the EPEX sails, but durability is more important than looks😎. And in terms of performance, there is only limited loss when sailing high upwind. A course we prefer to sail a little less anyway 😊.