Here is a brief guide on how best to approach this moment using the right arguments.
Aesthetics first: we need to explain that a sailboat is like a woman, every now and then she needs to redo her makeup and buy new clothes and accessories (be careful not to abuse this statement, you run the risk of spending the next day accompanying your wife around the stores with our credit card in hand). With new sails, the boat will surely not go unnoticed in the eyes of her friends who will congratulate her on her excellent purchase.
Faster moves: if one of our wife’s priorities is to get to a roadstead as soon as possible for sunbathing and swimming, with new sails the boat will be able to grind out miles faster by reducing the “uncomfortable” moments of sailing with the boat heeling and shadowing the sails.
Safety: new sails mean safer sailing. In this way she can invite her friends or girlfriends on a cruise without incurring embarrassment due to broken sails or parts of them. Also, with new sails the boat will sail less heeled (when we explain this to our wife we can use the term “flat” to convince her more) and you will be able to sunbathe more easily.
Make her participate in the choice: once we have decided pretty much everything about our new sails, we also let our wife participate in choosing some (inexpensive but impressive) details such as the color of the genoa’s stitching and anti-UV band, the color of the tell tales (fillets), the color of the sailbags or the shape lines. This way she can brag to her friends that she was the one who chose the color combination. The important thing is to arrive prepared and avoid that it also begins to delve into materials, cuts, shapes, finishes, etc … you risk in this case spending unnecessary money on optionals that you do not need.
Well exchange: we kept this option in the end as it is the most “painful” for us and for this reason it is the last card to be played. If despite all the previous arguments we have failed to persuade her, then we can agree on a gift (a bag, dress, shoes, etc.) for her as well. In this case, it is best not to show her the sail quote by remaining vague to avoid a 1:1 exchange. If we already know that this will be the key to getting her approval as well then it is best to try to save money on new sails to have enough money available to give her the gift.
(Image source: www.zaolicruising.com)
