So you will remember, and if not I will remember for you (LOL), we blew out our genoa on our passage from Chagos to Rodriguez…it is clearly time for a new head sail!
We were told our blew out jib was a 156% genoa. She was tired but she held us right for many years. 
All our sail inventory we inherited when we purchased Slow Flight. We had never flown our back up jib before now. We estimated it to be a 90% “working jib”….much smaller than our last.
When we arrived in Port Louis, Mauritius one of the first things we did was research how to get a replacement sail. We were contacted by Southeast Asia Sails, where we had a new main sail built in Thailand and their price was good, but we had no idea about the costs to ship it from Thailand. Trevor found a few used sails that would work online from Minnie’s in California, but again, shipping costs and a true fit was unpredictable. We found a local sail maker, in Mauritius and though the price was slightly higher, we felt really good about having someone locally here to create what we wanted or fix any issues and supporting local business is always a plus. Additionally, by using a local company we knew the true price and could “budget” appropriately…..sometimes this is priceless….!
To be perfectly frank, we had never “measured” any of our sails or know exactly which type of sails we had on Slow Flight nor do we really “geek out” about sail performance…..as cruisers and non-racers, we would just raise sails and trim to the weather conditions…hoping to not have to touch them again until we made land fall (we are inherently lazy). So now, it was time to go a little deeper into the web and try to understand what we want…the same as what we had before or something different.
If you did a Google search for “how to choose a new head sail”…your mind, like mine, would explode with too much information and options such as size, shape, material, relative to performance. For simplicity sake, we knew we wanted a similar sized sail….honestly, we know how it works. Although our back up “working jib” did the job on our passages from Rodriguez to Mauritius, we felt like we needed a little more power.
Want to learn more…here is a great, simple article explaining the different types of sails: https://improvesailing.com/guides/sail-types
The difference between a jib and a genoa: The end of a jib sail basically meets the mast where a genoa sail overlaps the mast.
We have a 90% working jib so we knew we wanted a genoa….but what size?
To determine what size and attributes we want, we first had to balance a few factors such as: mainsail size relative to our head sail, downwind vs. upwind sailing conditions and everything in between, and the ease of handling (larger sail = more muscle). In summary, the question was: What is the most versatile sized sail with the least compromises in performance for a variety of sailing conditions…the millions dollar question I know….our budget could only handle 1 sail (LOL)!
I found this article to help us: https://www.quantumsails.com/en/resources-and-expertise/articles/how-to-choose-your-cruising-sail-inventory-headsa
Seriously, don’t ask me where or why these letters originate from or used..it is what it is….LOL!
This decision is way over my pay grade but we had to learn fast. Here is a quick and dirty summary of the main factors we decided on:
- Our “J” measurement is bigger than our “E” measurement which means we have a smaller mainsail area and are more reliant on our genoa, rather than our mainsail, for power. Thus having a larger genoa is ok for us plus we are a heavy boat (27 tons) so we need more power than most cruising boats.
- We have our genoa on a roller furling system. When you “reef” the genoa, you lose shape thus performance declines when you do this. Because we often had our 156% genoa reefed…we think we lost performance ability. So having a smaller genoa than 156% is probably a better choice for performance.
- Larger sail means harder to handle and doesn’t give a huge benefit for broad reach or down wind sailing. I am a weakling…so smaller was my vote.
- We decided on a cross cut style genoa that uses less material ….a radial cut style just didn’t warrant the expense of the added material for the strength.
- There are many more factors such as clew height, twist, materials, etc…..
The % of a genoa sail is determined by the amount of overlap past the mast.. So basically a jib, which meets the mast, is 100% ….the larger the percentage is means the more the sail overlaps the mast. Generally, the larger the percentage means more sail power.
MU Sailmakers
Contact was made to MU Sails, price negotiated, and a date and time to meet was schedule. We agreed on a:
- 140% genoa (approximately 47.61 Sq/m),
- White American made polyester sail cloth (SPX 925 Balanced 9.7 oz)
- UV Protection Strip on Leech & Foot (Royal blue)
- Dyneema Leech Line with Clam Cleat
- Foam luff
- Boltrope of 5 mm
- Tell tails
- Small windows to see tell tails
- Sail numbers
- Reef indicator lines
MU Sails business card. These guys are AMAZING! They responded to our emails in 1 day and were at our boat the next day. Professional, generous with their time, flexible, and most importantly…reliable! 
Meet Julien and his brother Laurent….a family business since his father started the company back in 1999. 
Measure twice…. 
…cut once ; ) 
All packed up…. 
Throughout the process, they would message us questions and ask for approval on colors and smaller details. Laurent sent me this photo of samples for our UV cover color to approve. 
And would message us photos of the progress made… 
The US brand of sail cloth they use. We appreciated how they provided us with specifications before so we could do our own research.
About few week after our initial meeting, we asked if we could swing by the sail loft for a visit…and a tour. Laurent was there to greet us and described how they do things at MU Sails. It’s not the largest operation but the service was superb! We talked about how they are the main sail loft when the World ARC rally or the Oyster rally when herds of boats comes to Mauritius every other year or so. In addition, they are adding an office or sail loft at Taylor Smith boat yard so business we think is good!
A panoramic view of their sail loft….sorry I am not a professional photographer : )
Our sail in progress…..
the tour….
If you visit their website, you get a feeling they have a dedicated and loyal crew. We got that vibe when we walked through the door. 
They have 3 major sewing machines (this one is the big daddy) that can handle different thicknesses of material. I haven’t been to many sail lofts in my life but I love how there are sewing stations. 
They even make/repair life jackets?! 
They use technology to cut the cloth for the sails. A program will design the sail and then the fabric can be rolled out on this long platform…..but you are thinking it’s too narrow for an entire sail…right?! 
The program tells this ‘arm’ the exact dimensions of each piece and then traces it onto the sail cloth for cutting…and of course sewing….then all the extra details are attached and sewn by machine..or possibly by hand?! 
Options…..
SAVE a Sail
SAVE a Sail a “sister” company to MU Sails that produces fun bags and accessories from recycled material…How cool is that! It’s a relatively new company getting recognition locally in stores around the island….maybe we will see them on Amazon?….fingers crossed…..
SAVE a Sail display at MU Sails sail loft in Mauritius. A horrible photo I know but you get the idea…they have lots of fun, colorful items to choose from!
What a great way for a sail loft to capitalize on their assets and skill sets…..and of course shows a commitment to promote recycling and being environmentally conscious. 
The SAVE a Sail loft is right upstairs….AWESOME! 
Some of the templates hanging of their line of unique and creative bags and accessories. 
Laurent told us that in addition to using old sails, they also use other materials…like this….It’s part of a billboard sign that hangs at the side of the highways and streets. They have a contract with a company that provides them with this material rather than being thrown away…. 
…even old wet suits?! 
The team worked as we walked through….but not a frantic rushing around feeling…more of a relaxed busy feeling. 
We did get a few smiles at the end….always our goal! 
A few of the bags that were being finished at the time of our visit. 
I just love this bag…made partially out of the billboard material that had the word “Club” on it….and sail cloth….brilliant!
A few weeks later …we got the call…the sail was ready…. at this point we were in Grand Baie anchored out enjoying..I don’t know what. This was really cool news as we wanted to try out the sail on our way from Grand Baie back to Port Louis. They made it happen for us! Unfortunately, this was also the same time our outboard motor for our dinghy was in the shop and we didn’t have a way to get to land and back. We could of asked Bruce and Laura for a lift but Julien knew a guy at the GBYC and had use of his boat so he offered to bring the sail to us?! Man this guy is good!
Julien with cash in hand…sail in the bag… 
…Trevor’s head in our new SAVE a Sail bag! Julien offered us a gift as he probably heard from Laurent from our tour of the sail loft, how much I loved everything there…it was a hard not to buy one of everything!
We finally had a calm wind day in Grand Baie and got the new sail up and we flew our new sail back to Port Louis. It was gorgeous!
Full sail…. 
1st reef line… 
2nd reef line… 
3rd reef line. 
Overlap under full sail… 
Overlap under 1st reef… 
Overlap under 2nd reef… 
Overlap under 3rd reef…
Perfect size!
There were a few items missing so a short conversation later, they picked up the sail at Le Caudan marina….no questions asked! We went over the changes and with a departure date for us, it was going to be a quick turn around for them. And to make matters worse, our dinghy chaps were literally falling apart at the seams. The last time the dinghy chaps had any attention was with Jill on SV Me Too back in New Zealand 2018? We kindly asked if they had time to do a patch in the front and a quick sew around the rim to reinforce the outer seam…we didn’t care about colors or anything…just has to last 1 more year….accepted the challenge : )
A few days later, the sail had our sail numbers on…. 
Our small windows and tell tails….. 
Can you tell where the new fabric starts and the old fabric begins? Brillant job and it even matches?! 
A large patch Trevor tried to “glue” a long while back. Now it looks so much better. 
And if all this wasn’t above and beyond incredible service, Julien even organized the customs folks to come to our boat when he made the final delivery of the sail so we didn’t have to pay 15% VAT tax….this was truly something we didn’t expect but are so thankful for his attention to our needs and desires. Thank you Julien!
Thank you to Julien and Laurent and the entire team at MU Sails and SAVE a Sail for letting us tour your facilities. You all do amazing work and truly care about your customers. It’s not everyday one receives such fantastic service and you all were absolutely the best!
I hope you can tell by now that we are super happy about our new genoa and we learned a lot. We would highly recommend MU Sails. Julien and Laurent understand cruisers needs and every step of the process they were responsive, timely, reliable, and most of all helpful and honest. We hope to hear in a few years that their businesses are soaring. Again…what an amazing find in the middle of the Southern Indian Ocean!
Up next: Preparing to leave Mauritius….Visa Extensions, Fuel, Duty Free, and more beers with SV Star Charger IV.