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Hans Almqvist - 6/27/2019

We have now ordered a Radian genua. We are replacing an eight to nine year old laminate sail that we have been very happy with. It is just recently that it started to delaminate after 15 000 Nm in mostly tropical waters. We have a North Radian main sail 7-8 years old and the canvas is still going strong. We have just restitched the seams which was needed even though we have a lazy bag that protects it from UV. The shape was is still perfect as I see it.
The reason for choosing Radian and not 3Di for the new genua is that we know what we get as we have experience of it from the main. Also, I am a bit reluctant to order a sail built with lack of enough track record of durability. Especially the fact that there is glue involved in the 3Di technology even if my sail maker told me that the glue used for 3Di will not dissolve in high temperatures as it did in the laminated genua we are replacing. 
The price difference is not that much. For the size of sail we are ordering the 3Di is about 10% more expensive.
I have great trust in North ability to design good sails so I am not expecting to be forced to redo the shape in any way so this is not the reason to reject 3Di. It's simply the uncertainty if it will last in a tropical environment.
Our boat is a 32 foot long keeled double ender.
I am not a fanatic when it comes to performance and being a cursing yacht heavily loaded with equipment you can't expect it to sail like a racer but I do care about performance and try to get descent speed. Being a small cruising boat loading her with all things needed living aboard the penalty is greater than for a larger boat.
We have on several occasions outperformed boats larger than ours and have been praised by their crew for the speed. 
Even though we where not faster I especially remember a 48 hour and 300 Nm crossing from Guyana to Tobago, 2 years ago. We buddy sailed with a 44 footer and they beat us with only 2 hours.The crew of the other boat kept coming back commenting how well we performed. They had sailed together with other boats of our size and then they left the others far behind. This was of course a downwind run but even on a closed hailed, where the sails have a more pronounced impact on performance we have sailed faster and closer to wind than larger fin keeled boats.

Pia & Hans Almqvist
S/V Trud