[quote]I have heard that In a blow is it better to use an old sail rather than a newer one as they do not power up so much ....is this an old wives tale
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Derek,
Your question is best answered by the ilks of Brian Phipps and Bob Carter, but as they have yet to show signs of recovering from Christmas and the New Year here is my pennyworth:-
I think it depends on which variety of sailcloth a sail is made from - there have been a few over the years due to the sailcloth manufacturers stopping making cloth of the then current Spark/Dart 15/Sprint 15 Specification.
Early sailcloths lost both their stiffness and their resistance to stretching over the years. If you sailed in a blow with an old sail in this condition with no batten tension, then the power of the wind would cause the sail to lose some shape as it stretched AND to lose its earlier ability to hold the line of the leach - allowing more wind to spill over the leach and reduce the sail's power. This is especially noticeable, and useful, when sailing in strong gusty winds as the effect of gusts is less than for a newer sail in good condition - the extra spilling of wind in a gust acts as though you had let off a tiny bit of mainsheet in the gust, helping avoid a capsize to leeward (on a beat or reach). If you do have to let out some mainsheet to prevent undue heeling in the gust, the extra stretch before you have time to react gives you a little insurance against capsizing. But the change in sail shape means you do lose some power between the gusts if you are able to sail with the traveller in its usual positions for the beat or reach - the lack of power (due to loss of shape of the sail) is probably less critical if you have to set the traveller further out than normal between gusts, even with the older sail. I don't think that an old sail of early vintage offers any advantage running offwind.
My original sail for 1594 (built 1991/2) was made of such a material. I replaced it for Dart 15/Sprint 15 and Open Events with a newer sail, and eventually for Club sailing when I found Gordon was beating me more often than I felt happy about!!!!! But I did use it a few times in strong gusty wind conditions for the reasons given above.
I don't know if newer sailcloths age in the same way as the earlier materials - if they do lose resistance to stretching then there may still be some advantage in using them in strong gusty conditions.
I'm not sure about sailing this weekend - I haven't sailed at all for 5 months and I don't yet feel gutsy enough to cope with the gusty wind that is forecast........
We have a number of novice Draycote sailors who will be joining us on Saturday . I wondered what the top sailors will be doing on Saturday to combat the wind and keep going the right way up , I know that I and a few of the novices would appreciate current wisdom on sailing in a good blow 
PS what are the two holes in the main sail sheet connection point for .....is the inner one for high winds ...I have never used it and wondered what it was for 
