Developments
Developments
Starting from March SAILSetc will be open four days each week, Monday to Thursday. This applies to collections as well as dealing with mail order business and it may take a while for our customers to get used to the new format. As usual the website will be able to take your orders at any time and on any day, but please bear in mind we will not be able to take your phone calls on Fridays. Our total working hours are un-changed so our production capacity remains the same.
Please note that David Marshall has retired for health reasons. We will miss his presence here in the workshop and office dealing with the multitude of technical and administrative tasks that he had become adept at since he joined us in 2010. No doubt the customers who have had contact with him will join us in wishing him an enjoyable retirement. And we would appreciate your understanding if responses to enquiries and order processing do not happen as promptly as they have in the past.
Hopefully 2023 will bring our sport, the UK and the world back to something resembling normality whatever that may be. The confident scheduling of major events for the three major classes is an encouraging and truly welcome step. We have enjoyed returning to our own 'new' normal way of working and customer service.
11.0 mm round alloy mast tubes in natural and black anodised finishes and 7075 alloy are in stock and can also be collected from ‘stockists’ in the Chichester, Middlesbrough and Norwich areas. They are identified as SAILSetc products by a non-tamper label to assist with the certification process. We can also supply a versatile mast bending tool at will enable you to add a controlled pre-bend to the tubes.
The MYA's AGM will host a Boat Jumble for the first time in 2023. We will have a table there with many of the experimental and slight reject parts that have accumulauted in the SAILSetc workshops over the years. Not good enough to offer in our normal range and too useful to scrap, so we hope they will find good homes via this outlet.
Also looking for a good home is SAILSetc. After 45 years running this business it is time to seek new ownership that can provide an excellent service to existing and new SAILSetc customers for the next generation or, perhaps, more. There are no plans to close the business, stop developing new products, or reduce the stock levels in the meantime.
Internet Explorer is no longer capable of opening our website satisfactorily - please do not use it. We suggest Edge, Chrome or Firefox.
Internet Security - several things to note.
SAILSetc has NO facility to take payment on line. Our preferred payment method is by BACS. We always ask our customers who want to pay by card to phone us with card data or to send it in several e mails. PayPal is a safe alternative but a little more expensive. If you receive an e mail asking for all your card details, it will not have come from SAILSetc - do not respond.
SAILSetc does not store any customer card data on its computers. We are GDPR compliant with regard to personal data.
From time to time customers report not getting a response from us. Usually this is because your junk mail settings automatically filter out any mail that has 'sales' in its title or source address. We are normally very prompt at responding to orders and enquiries about SAILSetc products. If you do not get a reply within a few days then it is worth checking your junk mail settings. If our mails are going there, please identify our mail address as one that should never be blocked.
Export orders
On all sales to customers outside Great Britain we deduct British Sales Tax (VAT) from the cost of goods. This amounts to 16.67% of the headline prices that are displayed on this website. You may have to pay your country's VAT before you receive the goods and this may cause a delay in delivery. Hopefully this will not be a major problem. Experience seems to show that for small value orders the local tax may be waived and delivery is not unduly delayed. Sadly this is not the case for all countries so please allow plenty of time for delays with deliveries.
Delivery times
While the time taken for our products to travel to customers in Australia, New Zeland, the Far East and the Americas remains much the same as usual, the passage of our products through the customs control of European (EU member) countries has increased to several weeks. In some instances it now takes 6 weeks for our goods to arrive with the customer. This is something we have no control over, is a result of Brexit, and depends on how each European country treats imports from the UK. All we can suggest is that you take this into account when planning your purchases and consider having them delivered by a carrier rather than by post.
Suitability of our products
To help you fiind products that are ideal for your application the website allows you to choose products by class as well as products by category. If you use the products by class route to find, for example, standing rigging, you will be shown only products that are suitable for the chosen class. On some product pages, for example, those for rigging wire and Dyneema lines you will find a link to the SAILSetc Rigging Guide. This guide lists all the major component rigging parts (excluding spars) and the suitable products for the common major classes. The Rigging Guide can also be found on the Downloadable Documents section of this website.
Cheques
We have taken the decision to discontinue taking payment by cheque. Apologies to those who like to use this form of payment - it has become amazingly costly to pay any cheque into our bank account and is totally un-sustainable for any normal value of cheque.
All best wishes for a healthy and happy 2023,
Graham, Lorna, Lili and Emma.