Butch Ulmer: Woven Dacron will be the best value and most durable cloth for offshore sails. For offshore sailing, often with a small crew, sail handling will be an issue, so we recommend that cruisers stay away from heavily resined fabrics, which are harder to handle and more likely to tear than softer cloth that may not offer the peak of performance but will be easier to handle.
Bob Pattison: Dacron remains the best bang for the buck in a new cruising sail and there are a lot of options to consider. At Neil Pryde we have established standard coastal and offshore specs as a starting point. One thing to remember is that out there cruising, you are more likely to find someone who can repair Dacron than someone who can fix a laminated sail.
Laminated mainsails, such as this 3DL Marathon Sail, hold their shape better than Dacron sails. Modern laminates, sandwiched between layers of Dacron taffeta, will have lives of five years or more.What are some of the other options in sailcloth?
Steve Cruse: For those who want a higher performance sail, laminated sails will be the choice. North builds 3DL Marathon sails, which are molded and aramidfiber-reinforced laminates that are sandwiched inside layers of Dacron taffeta for durability and UV protection. These sound like high end sails, but they have proven to be practical for performance cruisers who want a top-of-the-line mainsail.
Robbie Doyle: If you are going to a laminated sail, I really like Vectran fibers. The fiber is a liquid crystal polymer that can be tricky to laminate but we have had good success with it. Vectran has pretty good UV resistance especially when the laminate is covered with Dacron taffeta. A high-quality Vectran laminated sail should give at least five years of good service. Another option for extended offshore sailing is Hydranet, which is tough and has good long-term shape retention.
Butch Ulmer: For those wanting a performance edge, there are a variety of upgrades from woven Dacron that will reduce stretch. We would upgrade first to UK's TapeDrive sails, which are very durable and offer good performance. TapeDrive sails can be built with a range of options that will affect durability, stretch, weight and price. Then we would look at string laminate sails.
Bob Pattison: There are so many choices, that your options for building durable performance sails are wide open. For cruisers wanting to build a performance sail, they can go with high quality Dacron or move up to cruising laminates or even go with Kevlar-Mylar laminates. We often recommend Pentex laminated sails that have proven to be very durable with a useful year-round working life of five years or more.
On a slab reefed mainsail, what batten system do you recommend?
Steve Cruse: I like batten systems that are simple with few moving parts so the sail is easy to hoist and drop. We prefer flat fiberglass battens and high-quality slides and mast fittings. We offer both front- and rear-entry batten pockets. For sailors heading offshore, we recommend front loading pockets since they are more durable and reduce wear and bulk at the leech end of the batten.
Robbie Doyle: I like to use full-length battens for the top two or three battens that are supporting the leech of the sail. The bottom two or three can be partial length–about 40 percent of the chord–to save weight and cost in the sail. Also, UPS has an eight-foot restriction on packages, so we try to work within that limit.
Doyle developed Nylatron donuts for reef clew fittings while building sails for Mirabella V.Butch Ulmer: If you don't have a big mainsail, you don't really need full battens. On bigger boats, over 40 feet or so, full battens with a Dutchman or another system make the sail much easier to handle. On full batten sails you need to go with a good low-friction mast track and slide. The STRONG Track system works well on boats up to 45 feet. Above that Antal and Harken and others make good systems.
Bob Pattison: We recommend slab reefing and like full-batten mainsails for cruising. Wear and tear is the biggest problem with mainsails. A full batten system acts as a kind of shock absorber that reduces flogging and luffing and will lengthen a sail's useful life.
What sort of sail controls, such as lazy jacks, do you recommend?
Steve Cruse: I am not a big fan of lazy jacks since they tend to catch on batten tips when you are raising the sail and you always have to handle them when you are putting on a sail cover or rigging an awning. North offers the QuickCover, which is a variation on lazy jacks and combines a detachable sail cover that can be removed if you are racing. I also like the Dutchman, which works well if it has been set up well.
Robbie Doyle: We developed the StackPack years ago and it still works well. The good thing about it is you can reef or furl the sail and it will always lie on top of the boom. We also like the Dutchman system, although building a sail cover to go around it can be a problem.
