Gaskets (sail ties) and Hot Buttered Rum

Watching The Ocean Race getting ready for the Southern Ocean brings back memories of tough times I have had while sailing. One of those was taking the yawl Temptation from Anacortes, WA to Vancouver BC after she had been repowered.

We were going to Vancouver for the Southern Straits race which is normally on Easter weekend. The race starts on Saturday, so Thursday we were in Anacortes heading north through the Straits of Georgia on a particularly foul day.

Temptation had a brand new engine that hadn’t been put to the test. We were all concerned about reliability, but the race was calling. Leaving port we were able to sail but the owner finally decided we could make better time under power.

Time to lower the sails. Two of us were sent to the foredeck to handle the jib. We got the sail down, but controlling it on deck was a problem. Laying on top of the sail with seas washing over, the two of us were able to get gaskets (lengths of polyester webbing) around the sail and lifeline stanchions. We were wet, it was dark and we still had a ways to go.

When we finally were tied to the dock in Vancouver the senior (by age) member of the crew announced that he was making everyone a hot buttered rum. At least, that’s what I heard. Get the alcohol stove going, heat water and prepare our beverages. For some reason we didn’t have much light in the cabin, so we couldn’t see what was going on.

Our hot buttered rums were delivered but after a single sip we could all tell something was amiss. There was no sweetness in our drinks, just hot water and rum in a 50/50 mix. I believe we all finished our drinks but they could have been so much better!


Temptation Style Gaskets
Ocean Race Special Pricing

To help celebrate The Ocean Race, we are offering T-Style Gaskets (Temptation Style), made from heavyweight white polyester webbing. Each gasket is 8′ in length and they are sold in packages of 5. For the duration of The Ocean Race 2023 we will be selling a pack of 5 for $19.95 plus shipping.

Temptation Style Gasket
Buy Sail Gaskets

Quick release sail ties

quick-release-sail-tie

We will soon be producing quick release sail ties in a wide variety of colors. Unlike our other sail ties, these have a side release buckle, hence the “quick release”, grab loop and sewn tab so you can’t lose the male half of the buckle.

quick-release-sail-tie-detail

They are made using polypropylene webbing which does not adsorb water or bleed pigment. All sewing is done using A&E’s SunStop polyester thread which has advanced UV protection which helps maintain the strength of the stitching over time.

Just click the buckle closed, grab on to the loop and tab and it is easy to cinch up the sail tie. These should be available online in July, if you want some sooner give us a call at (253) 883-5800.

Sail Ties

Straps to Go produces sail ties from both polypropylene and polyester webbing. The standard webbing width is 1″ although we can make them whatever width you want.

Construction

I am a bit “old school” and like to keep my sail ties simple. Just a length of webbing with a loop sewn in one end works for me. A bit better is to have the webbing in the loop twisted so that the eye stays open when you are trying to thread the other end through.

sail tie flat view

On the left you have a sail tie with a twisted loop, on the right (the black strap) the loop is not twisted.

sail tie side view

The side view shows how the twisted loop in the white sail tie stays open even if the loop has been pressed closed.

Others like to have a buckle on their sail tie, once adjusted all you have to do is snap is shut. We have had customers buy these ties in different colors so that they know that the blue ones are the longest, red are a a medium length and black are the shortest (or whatever colors suit your fancy).

The sewing on all of our sail ties is done using polyester thread with advanced UV protection. It is made in the USA by A&E and is a TEX 90 size. We use a Box-X stitching pattern.

Materials

Polypropylene webbing is the standard we use. It is inexpensive and doesn’t adsorb water which is also nice and comes in a bunch of colors. What polypropylene doesn’t like is sunlight. It will degrade if you don’t cover your sail ties with a sail cover.

Polyester webbing will stand up to ultra-violet exposure. It will adsorb a bit of water, more than polypropylene but much less than nylon. We only carry this webbing in black and white. Our white polyester webbing has a much better feel to the hand than the black so it would be my choice if I were replacing my sail ties.

Over the years I have sailed on boats with a bunch of different solutions for sail ties. The most basic, just a length of webbing with no eye works fine but is a bit more difficult to get secured than webbing with an eye in one end. Elastic cords were the rage for a while as was my black eye when I got hit from one of the plastic balls on the end of the cord. Then there were the contraptions that went from your mast to the end of the boom with a number of elastic ties hanging from them. Once you had these untangled and installed, the rest of the crew was cleaned up and in the bar.

Ordering

If you are looking for sail ties with a sewn loop, check out https://strapstogo.com/straps/sail-ties.php

If you want ones with side release buckles, https://strapstogo.com/straps/side-release-buckle-straps.php

In either case they will be promptly produced and shipped to you. We ship using Priority Mail which is speedy and only costs $7.00 no matter how many you order.

Questions? Give Rollie a call at (253) 627-6000.