I've been looking at new sails lately and balking at the prices but then I thought, how much does it really come down to? Say a new sail is $1000, and given conditions and work requirements you get to use it every 4 to 6 weeks, say 9 times a year. You might also like a sail to last 4 or 5 years and at the end sell it for, lets say $300 if you're lucky. That works out to about $15 - $20 per session, which doesn't seem too bad, even easy to justify.

So then I thought lets look at the total cost of a session (bad move hey ). Board, $2000 = $30 - $40, Mast & Boom around $1000 (for half decent stuff and ease of calculation) $20 - $30 (assuming no resale) then all the other bits, harness, wettie, etc, at least another $500 = $15 - $20. So if you're only getting out once a month or so, which lets face it is the reality for a lot of us, it's costing us upwards of $80 per session. But to be honest, I don't really care. I'd easily pay $100 - $200 to have this much fun once a month (probably more) and if it happens more often then it only gets cheaper. So I guess I should just suck it up and buy that new sail hey?

squid dude, look at your avatar......priceless.

greenleader said...

squid dude, look at your avatar......priceless.

Haha, so true. But you know what ... I was still using that old 80's Combat Wave until the early 00's, haven't needed a 4.0 since then probably more from getting fat than lack of wind though haha. So that's 10 years from a $400 second hand sail (photo's from about '93). It's still rolled up at my folks place if anyone's a collector .. $200 .. hahaha. Still got a 3.5 of the first gen combats, only used about 20 times...

Bah, enough reminiscing. I think my point (to myself?) after all that working out is that even if you don't get out that much it's still cheaper than a night out on the piss and 9 times out of 10 more fun.

It's only your first sailing session that costs $4000, the next 5 years are free after that.

You dont need to pay $1000 for a sail. There are always sails reduced from last season, ex demo or even second hand options that are almost new.

Although theres nothing like peeling that paper off a brand spanking new sail no matter what the cost!!

New sails come covered in paper?

i asked a dealer friend once how much sails are with no company name involved and says the ave. size say a 6.5 would come wholesale at 185-210us$ plus shipping costs divided amongst all the sails he'd import...and he'd charge a 100%mark-up to cover..just wondering why it's so expensive in aussie land for these and boards..i guess we're just closer to thailand and china where all these are made

Wet Willy said...

Sounds reasonable; similar to Singapore prices.

I'll tell you why it's so expensive in Australia: "You lich Aussie, me give you special plice!!"

bout time manufacturing be brought to australia close to me and you

i would just refuse point blank to pay $1000 for a new sail.

even at half that price i struggle. so it may be time to change brands

Gestalt said...

i would just refuse point blank to pay $1000 for a new sail.

even at half that price i struggle. so it may be time to change brands

I Kind of Agree with you there.

evlPanda said...

Gestalt said...

i would just refuse point blank to pay $1000 for a new sail.

even at half that price i struggle. so it may be time to change brands

I Kind of Agree with you there.

jp747 said...

Wet Willy said...

Sounds reasonable; similar to Singapore prices.

sailor mate told me yesterday that when he went to singapore he saw in one of the shops a severne code red at 410us$ and retail is this true to what you have been seeing therehe had a an aerotech vmg 7.5 delivered landed in our island for 400us$ that sounds reasonable

I haven't checked a lot of prices lately, but I just bought an 8.5m Ezzy Freeride for about 800 Sing dollars, which is about 600 USD (not sure - check the exchange rate if you want; I'm too lazy). Off the top of my head, I think the big-size Prydes are around 900-1000, and the mid-size sails are around 700ish, Sing dollars.

timford said...

close out sales from online stores in the states are a winner, get a couple of sails for less than the price of a new one here and spread the shipping over a few items.
Or spank and mate and get them to collect it.
1-2 year old sails still brand new for $2-$300USD. BY 2 @ $300USD add shipping at $300 and 10% exchange you are just on $1K and under any duty laws for imported goods to AU. Happy times!!!!

not to be argumentatvie here timford, but 2 year old sails new in australia would only put you back about $1000 for 2 depending on size. and that is through the majority of retail outlets and you get full waranty etc and you can even demo the gear before you buy.

AUS4 said...

The WIND is free.

ONLY the wind is free.

vando said...

Gestalt said...

i would just refuse point blank to pay $1000 for a new sail.

even at half that price i struggle. so it may be time to change brands

Have to agree with Gestalt there"s no reason to spend $1000 on any sail.
There's plenty of good brands available under that even for a good Race sail.

I agree with Vando and Gestalt i cant see a great reason to spend that sort of money unless of course you got a heap of the stuff to begin with.
i recently bought and old gaastra neutron 7.6 (i am guessing 5 years old?) for under 300 hunge and got some great use out of it on tuesday i was pulling 30kn with it and holding it down in 20kn+ gusts i couldn't complain about it.
there is a sh#t load of hype surrounding each years new release on how much faster and controllable they are compared to the year before..if you where to believe all of this then it would be reasonable to assume in 10 years time learners will be doing 50 knots straight off the beach!
i am sure pro's can tell the difference from year to year but i am a long way off ever getting to that level of feel.
dont get me wrong i have purchased the odd new sail on occasion but generally over the years they have all been second hand or old stock.
hunt out the bargain make sure its in reasonable nick and you have got the matching mast and go for it

I contemplated for a bit too before I ordered a Neilpryde Hellcat 6.7 recently. It cost about 1000 sgd, which is about 800 aud, but because I wanted a full rig (mast, boom, extension all thrown in), managed to get a packaged deal worth about 1500 sgd. not too bad a deal.

Yeah ex demos are literally brand new and they can be a few hundred dollars cheaper, if you can get hold of them.

hey windsurfing was never a cheap sport...but the thrill of new gear just feels so good!