Morning bird bought sails from fareast sails also in hk and said they are good. Im getting them to do sails for my 22footer. 1500 us main, head and sail cover!

Good point. My quote was from about 6 months ago.

When I bought my current boat it had an almost new Chinese main. The sail seems cut well and holds a good shape. My only concern was the slides. They were marginally different to what were used to and at times used to jam when hoisting the main. Once I replaced them I couldn't fault the sail.

The exchange rate drop from $US1.05 to the Oz $ down to $US0.75 has changed the equation. I got my main in 2011, about 4 years back and paid about $1350 delivered.

That would now be $1800 or so. Still cheap for an S&S34 main. My best Oz quote at the time was $3200.

Hi all,

Guess I am a reader and not a writer so, rarely respond to most comments.

My take on the "overseas" sails to local is I will ALWAYS buy local, I can talk about what I want, not what someone thinks I want ..... it also supports the local industry which is struggling if you had not noticed and much much easier to have faults rectified if you have bought it local.

Guess when they are all gone some will be crying about "lost skillsets" and wondering why ..... in the end you are all helping kill the sailmaking industry here.

In the end, is the small saving worth the end of a local industry ..... maybe, maybe not but we all seem to be bitchin' about the car industry, the whitegoods industry which all went the same way for the same reason .... lack of support.

My thoughts for what they are worth

DkD
I thought the same until now
I put my trust in Horizon sailmakers from sandringham and on all those points you made i was bitterly dissapointed
The sails were poorly made not to what had been ordered sheeting angles incorrect , backstay caught on leech and do not conform to boomerang 20 class rules which i rely on to compete under a class based handicap system
frank hammond ignored my many attempts to have the problems rectified which left me no alternative but to seek a solution under the fair trading act in our state tribunal (VCAT) To which my claims were vindicated to such an extent that i was awarded consequential losses on top of the order of a total refund
Still Horizon sails has not made contact to settle the debt and i have registered the VCAT order with the Magistrates court VIC and it is now is an order of this states courts and awaiting enforcement
No doubt horizon directors hide behind a limited liability private company structure but what they do not realize is the tremendous damage they have done to themselves and the wider australian sailmaking industry
I will be making complaints to the various credit reporting agencies , ASIC , ACCC , the industry association they belong to and the wider sailing community all for the sake of doing the right thing and being a good Australian business
I might add that at the time i paid Over 33% more for the sails and what i received was less than 33% of the quality and experience.

A lot of sail makers follow this model, measure design and service here in local place of business. We do about 50/50 manufacture in house or offshore now with AUD, but in past have been nearly 80% assembled offshore to our design and specs. Most major lofts are very tied into this with all sails centrally manufactured, the smaller can be flexible on a case by case basis.
There is no deceit involved.