13 minute read
Buyer’s Guide
Run to reach
Sam Fortescue looks at the options for refreshing your boat’s downwind sail wardrobe
Coaxing extra speed from the boat downwind is not only a matter of sail trim. There comes a point where more radical steps are required if your symmetrical spinnaker is beginning to look a bit asymmetrical, or the genoa is more belly than bite. It’s time to renew the downwind sail wardrobe.
Most boats of a certain vintage were designed with three sails in mind: main, genoa and spinnaker.
They allow you to cover every point of sail with reasonable efficiency, but there can be some chinks. Take my
Sadler 34: her gigantic 150 per cent genoa goes from beating upwind in a light zephyr to broad reaching in a gale. Tacking so much canvas in anything over 10kts is hard work for the crew, and for the deck fittings.
And, when it comes to a run, I always struggle to decide between the undoubted speed and satisfaction of setting the spinnaker, or the inelegant but hassle-free option of letting the genoa take the strain.
Sail makers are not blind to these issues. Cruising chutes, gennakers and asymmetrics have emerged as alternatives to the symmetric spinnaker. Then there are mutant versions of racing sails, like the ubiquitous Code 0 for reaching. “Cruisers these days want simplicity and an easy solution for shorthanded sailing,” says Annabel Shove, UK dealer for Rolly Tasker. “Where family cruising is now on the increase it’s largely up to the parents to both skipper and crew the boat. With an asymmetric, you are filling that gap in light airs broad reaching where a genoa could be just too heavy to fill, so you end up resorting to the engine. It gives you the ability to carry on sailing.”
BELOW
Hyde Sail’s triradial cruising chute in action
Reaching sails
The term ‘reaching’ really covers a multitude of different wind angles from 65 degrees apparent round to 140 degrees. On a close reach, you’d be relying on the aerofoil principle, whereby low pressure behind the sail creates lift. But from a beam reach round to a broad reach, it is simple pulling power: you want the sail to create as much drag as possible.
While the big overlap of a 150 per cent genoa is theoretically capable of doing both jobs, it is heavy and hard to handle, and prone to stretch. That’s why rig design has tended towards a smaller jib and a dedicated reaching sail, such as an asymmetric.
“There’s a whole generation of things like J-Boats that were designed for an overlapping headsail, but for better or for worse, they’ve moved to non-overlapping inventories,” says Peter Kay of One Sails UK. “That is good for handling and rating, but leaves you underpowered across and upwind. In an ideal world, I would have a sail dedicated to downwind and a sail that is dedicated to across the wind and upwind in very light airs – especially for modern boats, where they don’t have overlapping sails.”
Kay snorts at the idea of carrying a Code 0 on a cruising boat. The sail, which emerged as a fudge for the 1997 Whitbread Round the World
Race, has evolved to have a girth halfway up the sail that is at least 75 per cent of the sail’s foot – lots of belly, in other words. “IRC
Code 0 is nothing like the sail in that original Whitbread.” Instead, he argues for a reaching sail that has a more modest 55 per cent halfway girth, like One Sails’ Flat Furling
Reacher. It is designed and cut to serve a dual function. In light
airs of 5kts or less, the sail catches a lot of breeze on a windward reach, keeping you sailing. Then, as the wind or the course falls further aft, the sail works very well in stronger winds round as far as 130 degrees off the wind.
Rolly Tasker’s Code-C sail is a little more specialised, with an effective range of 70-135 degrees apparent wind angle in winds from 15-22kts. “Our Code C sail is a hybrid between a Code 0 and an asymmetric, optimised purely for cruising,” says Annabel Shove. “What is really appealing is how easy the sail is to handle. With its straight luff, the sail is fitted with a torsion rope finished with thimbles that enable the sail to be fitted to a bottom-up furler. With a continuous furling line led back to the cockpit, this sail can be furled away in a matter of seconds, just like a genoa.”
And there are a host of similar products out there, such as Elvstrom’s Furlstrom reacher, or Dehler’s Freeride sail.
Running sail
Perhaps surprisingly, a symmetric spinnaker is still the most efficient downwind sail for most boats. Asymmetrics don’t allow you to run so deep, forcing boats to gybe downwind. Only fast, light displacement craft gain enough speed from doing this to outweigh the extra distance that has to be covered. It is rarely the case with comfortable cruising yachts.
“If you’re happy playing with spinnaker poles, there’s nothing better than a traditional symmetric spinnaker,” confirms Kay. “But a lot of people don’t like that. If, for perfectly understandable reasons, you don’t want to fuss about with poles and guys, you can design an asymmetric that is optimised for going downwind. You can’t go down to 170 degrees, like with a symmetrical, but you might still be able to go down to 150-160 degrees.”
North Sails’ newly-launched Easy Furling Gennaker fits this bill perfectly, optimised for headings from 130-160 degress apparent wind angle up to around 20kts. Modern boats are increasingly designed with this in mind, and indeed X-Yachts hasn’t sold a boat with a symmetric spinnaker for a decade. “We find the ease of handling far outweighs the last few degrees that a symmetrical spinnaker can run deeper,” says Stuart Abernethy of X-Yachts GB. “If you can handle it easily with two aboard, then the sails get used far more often – and that is key.” Most customers will take a G2 style asymmetric with a snuffer.
A short bowsprit offers a tack point for the sail that keeps it clear of guardwires, forestays and the like. Older boats can be modified to tack to the bow roller or even the pulpit. With a continuous furling system rather than a traditional snuffer, the sail can be easily launched or doused from the cockpit. It requires no pole and just two sheets, so can be gybed simply.
But the more you shape an asymmetric for going downwind, the less efficient it becomes on a reach. Either you need to consider buying and stowing a separate reaching sail for those conditions, or accept that life is a compromise and choose one or the other. “If you only had one, take the downwind sail,” advises Kay. “That’s the one that’s going to make the most difference.”
Either way, spec the sail in a modern spinnaker nylon if you can afford it – such as AirX from Bainbridge. It is fantastic at resisting ripping and bursting, repels water, and features bias and weave that resists stretching and generates maximum power.
The compromises entailed with spinnakers have spurred efforts to find alternative downwind sails. A popular option for tradewind sailing is a double headsail – most effective when one of the sails is loose-luffed, so the pressure escapes without inducing roll.
North Sails has developed an off-the-peg product called the Tradewind – twin headsails in lightweight (1.5-2.5oz) spinnaker nylon, which are hoisted independently of the headstay. There’s still a light pole to hold out the windward clew, but it can all be rigged on a furler. Plus, the two clews Velcro together to act as a single reaching sail up to 70 degrees true wind angle.
Another solution is the Parasailor – a pole-less spinnaker with a slot and a horizontal wing to support it in low winds. The slot dampens gusts and reduces rolling, by allowing the pressure to escape. It also flies from an impressive 60-180 degrees apparent wind angle. UK Sailmakers has its own version of the sail, called the Oxley self-stabilising
ABOVE LEFT
A traditional symmetric spinnaker remains the most efficient downwind sail for most cruising yachts, but the ease of handling associated with asymmetrics has seen them widely adopted
ABOVE RIGHT
Parasailor’s perforated gennaker in action
BELOW
Hyde Sails’ cross cut main, jib and staysail
Meet the sailmaker
OneSails
For upwind work, OneSails offers the full range of woven, laminate and membrane sails, including its high-end 40T Forte line, which can be simply split into its constituent parts for recycling.
It offers a dedicated Flat Furling Reacher for cross-wind sailing, which is good from 50 degrees in light airs down to around 130-140 degrees apparent wind angle in a blow. And for powerful downwind sailing, it offers a cable-less furling gennaker marketed under the IFS moniker. High modulus fibres are machine-laid at the luff of the sail to channel loads – like a furling cable, but a fraction of the weight. This so-called ‘lens’ also provides a structure to furl the sail around. Less tension is required to set the sail properly, there is less weight in the rigging, plus the lens supports a small luff projection to windward, for extra power. Dispensing with the expensive luff cable makes this type of sail price competitive with a traditional asymmetric sail.
onesails.com +44 23 8045 8213
Doyle Sails
Offering the full gamut of woven and laminate sails, Doyle’s high-end Stratis range adorns racing yachts of all stripes, from New Zealand’s successful SailGP team down. Stratis sails are fully customised to the boat in question, but can be laminated with numerous types of fibre, from low-cost polyester up to high-modulus carbonfibre.
The Kiwi company is proud that it was the first to develop cableless technology for asymmetric sails, launching its Structured Luff back in 2014. Carbonfibre is laid down the luff to replace the torsion cable, and the sail projects to windward for better reaching. “We’re still the only sail manufacturer that can build complete lenses from head to tack,” says Will Alloway of Doyle UK.
Lower-cost cruising asymmetrics can also benefit from the Structured Luff technology, he adds. “We’ve done from 25 to 80-footers, from a Cornish Crabber up to a Sunreef 80.” Cost is around 10 per cent higher than a traditional asymmetric.
Meanwhile Doyle’s Utility Power Sail is designed to cover light airs beating up to an impressive 33 degrees apparent, as well as heavier reaching and round onto a dead run – a real jack of all trades.
doylesails.com +44 23 8033 2622
North Sails
Perhaps the best-known name in the performance sail business, North also has a thriving line of cruising sails too. A cruising version of its moulded 3Di sails uses polyester, Dyneema or aramid fibres instead of carbonfibre. Cruising laminates and woven sails are also available.
The same choices are available for reaching sails – 3Di membrane, laminate and woven, but only the fastest, lightest boats will see a return on the heavy investment in hi-tech reaching sails: those that are capable of fast VMG sailing. North also has a cable-less technology called Helix, which it now offers in a cruising G1-style gennaker.
Most cruisers will choose a nylon or polyester woven asymmetric or symmetric spinnaker for deep downwind work. North’s NorLon product is resin impregnated to resist tearing, and built using radial panel construction. The Easy Furling Gennaker is its latest offering aimed specifically at cruisers. North also offers a line of neat load sensing shackles, which wirelessly relay realtime load data from the clew of the sail. They’re not cheap, however.
northsails.com +44 23 9252 5588
Jeckells
This long-running, family-owned sail loft pioneered laser cutting in the 1980s, and produces robust, reliable cruising sails. Jeckells has the capability to produce laminate sails, too, utilising multiple weights
ABOVE
A full suit of OneSails featuring a Dacron radial genoa, cross cut main
ABOVE CENTRE
Doyle Sails has a comprehensive range from top end performance sails through to cruising laminates
BELOW RIGHT
A craftsman at Jeckells working on a traditional sail using traditional methods
of laminate in a single sail for optimum strength and weight.
For downwind work, the loft offers an asymmetric cruising chute, for use with a snuffer. The radial head version can be sailed to 70 degrees apparent wind angle, with the tri-radial sailing even closer. All sails carry a five-year guarantee.
jeckells.co.uk +44 1603 782223
Hyde Sails
Still synonymous with winning dinghy sails, Hyde has grown to a range that runs from cruising to Grand Prix racing. Sails are made in Asia using woven and laminate materials. Besides the standard A sails, Hyde does an off-the-peg cruising chute in sizes from 27sq m (£579) to 108sq m (£1,656) and in a range of colours. Hard to beat on convenience and price. A snuffer costs from £240 extra.
Hydesails.co.uk +44 2380 457779
Kemp Sails
Based in Wareham, Dorset, Kemp offers the full range of woven sails for cruisers, as well as laminate panelled sails for better performance. The loft can handle radial cut, fully battened and mast-furling mains, offering a ‘Super Cruise’ product for easy-to-handle and durable sails.
For downwind work, Kemp has a reaching sail called the Ultra Light Genoa, aka a Code sail. It is designed for close reaching in light winds, or to be poled out in a twin-headsail running rig. It also recommends a free-luffed gennaker or cruising chute for deep downwind work, all on a top-down furling system. Kemp was an early mover in top-down furling, developing its own RolleX TD system, but has since switched to using specialist hardware.
kempsails.com +44 1929 554308
Crusader Sails
Catering to cruisers and racers alike, Crusader has plenty of experience with hi-tech laminates and membranes from the top manufacturers. The loft distinguishes between plain cruising, longdistance cruising and cruiser-racer products, all to different specs.
Crusader’s answer to the Code sail is the Super Zero, which has been optimised for cruising. Fly it from around 40-100 degrees apparent wind angle – and leave it rigged and furled, thanks to the UV strip on the leech. “The sail was conceived by our customers needing a solution for improved light wind performance with the sheets eased, particularly on modern yachts with non-overlapping headsails,” says founder Paul Lees.
For smaller boats below 30ft loa, there’s the Magic Zero gennaker, which is a high-cut, free flying
ABOVE
Rolly Tasker’s Code C gennaker
BELOW
Hyde Sails’ tri radial cruising chute nylon sail for gybing downwind. Plus, the full range of symmetric and asymmetric spinnakers.
crusadersails.com +44 1202 670580
Rolly Tasker
With the world’s biggest sail loft in Thailand, Rolly Tasker is squarely focused on the cruising market. It does offer a couple of racier lines too, in the form of its CDX Pro Laminat, Lite Skin and Tape Carbon sails – the latter of which uses carbonfibre tape laid on a single taffeta laminate along load lines.
Its downwind sails include a full range of asymmetric sails, from Code 0 to A4 and A5. But for the cruiser, Rolly Tasker has developed its allround Code-C sail, which covers close reaching to 65 degrees in lighter airs, then broad reaching down to about 140 degrees apparent wind angle in over 20kts. With the use of a pole, the sail can even be used on a run. A Sveggen top-down furler is recommended with the Code-C.
rollytasker.com +44 23 8045 7619
Quantum Sails
Well known on the racing circuit, Quantum produces Dacron sails as well as a hi-tech Fusion-M product, where a variety of different fibres are custom laid on the laminate. Its downwind sails are race-oriented, falling into three reaching variants capable of 40, 60 and 80 degrees off the apparent wind, and three standard asymmetrics that can run down to 160 degrees.
