Sailing the sails left behind
As every yachtsman knows, there are many sails that could still be sailing, but have been forgotten in the corner of a garage or at the bottom of a trunk. With this in mind, sailmaker All Purpose has decided to get involved in putting them back in their rightful place on boats, so that they can once again taste the joy of sailing, by collecting them with a view to putting them back on the market. Under the name Second Souffle, it is experimenting with a system for collecting these sails in Morbihan and giving them a new lease of life.
The expertise of a sailmaker
Owners of these neglected sails can drop them off at collection points at sailing schools, shipyards or shipchandlers. By flashing a QR code, they leave their contact details, along with the date and as much information as possible, and specify whether it's a donation or a request for expertise.
All Purpose's master sailmakers examine the sail and, depending on its condition, either overhaul it to put it back on the second-hand market, or sell it by the square meter to a network of partners who value it. The owner recovers the amount of the sail's resale minus the work, or vouchers from the partner who upgraded it if it was out of use.
An ethically and economically coherent approach
For sailmaker All Purpose, which has been working hard for several years on its environmental impact, the process is off to a good start, as Frédéric Moreau, its sales manager, explains: "We started in May 2023 in Morbihan, and by the end of July, we had recovered 40 sails and resold 8. We'll be making an initial assessment at Grand Pavois. Rather than always wanting to sell new sails, we think it's a good idea to re-sail these sails that are lying around. It's both ethically interesting and economically coherent, because it keeps us working too. We're starting to hear about it, and some people are coming to see us about it. A recent example was Sun Fast 32i. Compared with second-hand boats on the Bon Coin, we bring our expertise to the table, which is reassuring for the yachtsman."
