Hi Barry, I bought Storm Petrel in 1998 and only sailed her for one year with the original (1981) sails. They were well used and I thought I needed a new set, so I bought the main and working jib along with an asynch spinnaker and storm jib; the whole 9 yards. There should be a picture or two of the lime & blue spinnaker on the site somewhere. The storm jib is a real tiny white "spitfire" jib but does the job. I didn't like the way the original main looked, but wasn't using the Cunningham (downhaul) then, and that may have contributed. I like the full battened main very much. I don't see any real disadvantages. I leave the main on the boom and just stow it the whole works in the cabin. I wanted tanbark but was going with standard white because, when a sailmaker could even get the material, prices were about 50% more. Then one guy got some material at a good price, only 10% more, so I was thrilled. I used Kern's Sails. Kern Ferguson was a friend of Jerry M. and was an OEM at one time, I believe. He did a great job on all 4 sails. He suggested the full batten main. Since he was the expert, and knew the boat much better than I did, I let him make the sails as he saw fit. Unfortunately, Jerry reported that Kern has retired. I have used all the sails. I go to the second reef before putting up the storm jib, so it hasn't seen too much action. But, for safety, it is necessary. The spinnaker is very light material and partially replaces a Genoa. You wouldn't want it up in a blow. It can't be used on the wind, but works okay up to about a beam reach. One advantage is that it doesn't require the separate hardware, track, cleat, etc. But it isn't practical on short tacks, as it needs to be "tacked" forward of the forestay. Note that my experience has been mostly on larger bodies of water, mostly Lake Erie and the Chesapeake. On smaller lakes, you're not as likely to get caught out and need to sail home, so the storm jib may be on option. And the spinnaker wouldn't be as practical on short runs. The main seems to have more depth than most sails, but it seems to work well. I have been happy with the performance against other M-boats. Hope this answers your questions. If not, holler back. Bill Riker M-15 - #184 Storm Petrel -----Original Message----- From: montgomery_boats-bounces+wriker=mindspring.com@mailman.xmission.com [mailto:montgomery_boats-bounces+wriker=mindspring.com@mailman.xmission.com] On Behalf Of Barry Lukatch Sent: Thursday, October 05, 2006 10:58 PM To: montgomery_boats@mailman.xmission.com Subject: M_Boats: Bill Riker's Storm Petrel Sails Bill, I noticed your pictures on the Monty photo site and admired your sails. I liked the full batten main and am curious if you noticed a difference in the sailing characteristics of Storm Petrel. Would you mind telling me what you bought for a sail inventory and are you using all of them on a regular basis? Lastly, could you tell me who made your sails and how to contact them. Thank you, Barry __________________________________________________ Do You Yahoo!? Tired of spam? Yahoo! Mail has the best spam protection around http://mail.yahoo.com _______________________________________________ http://mailman.xmission.com/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/montgomery_boats