...I'd say you have some options. The best repair would be to cut out the damage, sew in a patch and seal the seams with seam tape. A more expedient approach would be to cover the damaged area with patch that's glued on with Aquaseal or GOOP. Sewing it as well would be a good idea for added strength, but not mandatory. In a similar vein, you can buy self-adhesive patch material that you can apply over the damage, but I would seal the edges with Aquaseal or Goop to keep them from loosening over time. One thing to keep in mind is that you can do a glued patch now and it really won't create a problem if you send it in to have a sewn patch done later, as they'll be cutting out the damaged area anyway.