Hello John, Last weekend Cathryn and I were invited to join the local racers for the afternoon. Our sails are really old and yet we were faster than a Catalina 22 with newer and larger sails on the downwind leg and held our own an the reaching leg-we fell behind badly on the upwind leg-in particular the head of our jib would start to luff and we would have to fall off the wind a bit to keep the whole sail pulling. The telltales on our sails don't stream as they should either, even in a good wind and after trying different adjustments. I have priced new sails from several places-when I contacted North Sails I was connected to Cruising Direct [ I think this is a North subsidiary? ] and was given a very good price. A few days later I picked up a Cruising Direct brochure at Marine West [ maybe a West subsidiary? ] which included good prices on CDI furlers. We are thinking of getting the whole setup here- has anyone done business with Cruising Direct? Are they the same as North? Prices: main $393; 110% jib$337; CDI FF2 $359. Rope or foam reefing pad is extra. Last week a low pressure front moved thru northern California with winds on Scotts Flat Lake at about 20 with higher gusts. Cat and I are first year sailors so this was our first time to enjoy[?] getting the rail in the water and tying in a reef in the main. Cat is still not sure if she had fun but I did and we both enjoyed meeting the challenge of bigger weather. we are trying to come up with one of those sailing "ratios", you know...AF [amount of fun] = number of bruises/ the % reduction in sail area...or something like that! Plan to get two reefs in the new main but still unsure what % jib to get so that it still has good shape when reefed to work with the second reef in the main, maybe a 120% that will go down to about 90%? We plan to get out to the S.F. Bay where 30 knots is typical on summer afternoons. Any advice or info is appreciated. Ron and Cathryn Goodspeed M17 "hula pie" #025