I sailed down Lake Macquarie today as I intend to leave the lake tomorrow and sail 35 miles south to Broken Bay.  As I was lowering my sail before picking up a mooring, I noticed a strange looking area near the peak of my sail.  Not being sure if it was just a white mark or what, I rubbed it with my finger and put my whole hand through the sail, ending up with a 300mm long tear, though I think I could tear the entire top panel in half without trying.  The material seems to be paper thin across much of the panel and is as weak as a rotten bedsheet!  Given that this area of my sail cannot flog or even flutter, I am at a loss to understand the cause.  It might be sun damage, though the sail ismostly covered, or perhaps (ironically) the canvas sailcover has chafed the sail away.  The sail has done about 3000 miles in the last 4 years.  I am loathe to test the rest of the sail too vigorously at this stage as I want to get back to Broken Bay tomorrow.  If I start blowing out panels I might be able to tie battens together or just tie on a temporary boltrope on the leech.  I expect the wind to be aft of the beam so should blow home, perhaps with a bit of help from the engine.  I have a very heavy leech tabling, so hopefully that will help keep the sail together.  I am carrying a flat Dacron spare sail which I could bend on if things become dire, though that would be a sod of a job to do at sea.  Hopefully with a following wind and the engine I'll make it.

Then I'll have to inspect the whole sail and see what condition it is in, but I am unimpressed and there is no way I'd use or recommend Odyssey 111 material again.  This sort of thing just would not happen to a Dacron sail of this vintage.  Oh well, problems are best viewed as opportunities, the question being for Arion, where to from here.  I am not just going to build another sail of the same type of construction, though I have come to love the light air performance.