Best small boat sail color, tropical latitudes?

[Billy Bones]

Anything red really fades fast. Most sails are white on boats here, but that's hard on the eyes.

Egyptian sounds nice, a dark color would be interesting and non-reflective, etc etc etc.

Unfortunately there aren't any traditional sailing craft here to compare with/learn from.

I'd like to balance looks(tanbark?) with practicality(white?) with longevity(buff/tan/egyptian?).

Specs: 64sf lug main, 14sf jib. Weight recommended is 5oz, so Oceanus is out since their lightest cloth is 7.5oz IIRC.

Anyone have any recommendations? warnings? experiences?

Thanks in advance.

[Bob Cleek]

White. No two ways around it. Oceanus is nicer, but as you say, unavailable in light weights. You COULD soak your brand new white sails in some strong coffee and maybe you'd approximate Oceanus' cream... but, hey, they get dirty fast enough and then it's all academic anyway.

[Todd Bradshaw]

White Dacron is no more resistant to the damaging effects of sunlight than colored Dacron. It just doesn't show it as much. If a colored sail has had enough sun to fade badly, it's white counterpart is structurally no better off at that point. I'd go either Egyptian or Tanbark if you like the looks of it. They will both fade a bit over the years, but the worst that can happen to Egyptian is that it will turn lighter and old Tanbark sails have a kind of nice patina that even though somewhat faded, still usually looks better than a white sail of the same age because the stuff doesn't show dirt as much.

Some brands of fabric are more U.V. resistant than others. In Egyptian and Tanbark, the best that I've found is Richard Hayward from England. It seems to be more fade resistant than the other brands and is also superb fabric. It's about 40% more than the domestic stuff, but worth every penny.

Everybody has seen an old Hobie Cat sail that has faded to the point of looking pretty bad but I don't think you'll find the more natural colors like Egyptian and Tanbark as objectionable, even if they do fade some in time. The older they get, the more they look like cotton.

For a 64 sq. ft. lugsail, even 5 oz. is overkill as long as the luff is properly reinforced. It would be more common to use 4 oz. fabric for that sail. Oceanus would be awfully heavy, though there are people who have built small sails from it. Since it's a form of Dacron, it will also fade in time.