Performance and Club Race / Cruise compromise

Call it what you like but this is the next step up in woven sail cloth and are suitable for cruising sailors who demand high quality sails that do not stretch, they are expected to last longer in useable efficient sailing terms than the standard coastal cruising sails and would be equally at home on an evening club race boat or an offshore cruising boat

Dacron Sails. Dacron or Polyester as its family name is still the overwhelming most popular choice of sail cloth on cruising boats and as long material choice is carefully selected to match the sails geometry it is still a very cost effective choice for a very well-tailored sail

When we start looking at higher quality products – the weave construction needs to meet the aspect ratio of the sail.

 

HIGH ASPECT: ratio of around 3:1 or above

For High Aspect sails with an aspect ratio of around 3:1 or above The very best quality cruising or cruiser / racer Dacron for cross cut High Aspect sails (long luff / short foot) is Contender ‘High Aspect’. This fabric is specifically designed for medium to high or high aspect sails. The fibres are very tightly woven and they are thinner across the warp than fill, this force the crimp off the fabric into the warp, leaving the fill fibres perfectly straight and able to offset the high leech loads. The yarns themselves are ‘Fibrecon’ which is a derivative of Polyester or Dacron but with a higher tenacity. This yarn bends better, stretches less and has better UV properties than all other polyester (Dacron) yarns. The construction and finish of this fabric also means that it is slightly softer and easier to handle than any other Woven Dacron style. This is the best high performance and shape retention available without moving to laminates or fibre like Vectran.
Contender Product Sheet Fibercon Pro High & Low Aspect
Contender Product Sheet Fibercon AP

Dimension-Polyant Strong Fill is a very similar style material to the Contender High Aspect and it also has the UVi coating so may be better suited for sailing in high UV areas and it is also available in a medium to firm finish offering slightly better performance. Which would be suitable for club racing boats. This material also has a unique to Dimension-Polyant a UVi coating in the resin that helps to protect the sail from harmful UV exposure and can increase the materials lifespan by around 15%.
DP_StrongFill SF
UVi finish

Perhaps the best quality woven fabric available for high and medium aspect ratio sails is “Vectron”. This a very tightly constructed Polyester material offering better bias support than a dedicated High Aspect fabric but also has ultra-low stretch ‘Vectran’ yarns in the fill to resist the leech loads. This fabric was originally produced by Hood Textiles for the BT Global Challenge and Clipper Venture projects but is now commercially available and is a perfect high performing cruising material. This material also has a unique to Dimension-Polyant a UVi coating in the resin that helps to protect the sail from harmful UV exposure and can increase the materials lifespan by around 15%We have found the Dimension-Polyant version to be the best in this range, but Contender ‘Vectran’ is comparable and does offer some weights of fabric unavailable in the Dimension-Polyant range.
DP_Vectron_E_2013
UVi finish

Dacron sails in Tri Radial Construction

In general terms Dacron sailcloth is not usually best suited to radial construction. Woven Dacron radial cut sails are typically made from a strong warp woven Dacron; this material is still available but with the advent of modern cruising laminates has become rather redundant as the laminate materials have become more common place. With less and less of the radial style Dacron being sold we found problems with consistency and stretch characteristics as a result we no longer offer this option and usually recommend one of the above fabrics which is ideally suited to the application. For performance cruising or dual purpose cruising and club racing we recommend a style of fabric called a cruising laminate.

However Extreme High Aspect over 3.5:1 For applications where the sail is so high aspect a high yarn count along the leech but a common problem is that the off axis stability of the material is poor; the best solution is to make the sail in a tri radial construction otherwise the sail can ‘tube’ in shape in other words get excessively deep in camber under load which is bad news in strong winds. The very best woven polyester radial sail with the yarn offering almost zero crimp in the warp yet remarkable overall stability is Dimension Polyant PR Radial. This problem often occurs in tall jibs or In Mast reefing mainsails where the loads vary under use and we have found the PR Radial to be the best solution available including using laminates or woven Dyneema products. This material also has a unique to Dimension-Polyant a UVi coating in the resin that helps to protect the sail from harmful UV exposure and can increase the materials lifespan by around 15%.
DP_Pro_Radial
UVi finish

MEDIUM ASPECT: ratio is less than around 2:6 to 3:1

For Medium Aspect sails around 2.6:1 to 3:1 we recommend an All Purpose (AP)fabric which the weave content is neither particularly high or low aspect. Dimension Polyant Sailcloth produces a premium material called All Purpose. This fabric has a tight woven construction of high tenacity polyester offering balanced stable low stretch woven Dacron ideal for medium aspect ratio sails. This tight construction relies on the weave for its low stretch characteristics rather than hard resin coatings. All Purpose therefore is a low stretch Dacron that is fairly soft and is easier to handle. The result is that the sail will perform well due to low stretch, will be very durable as there is little resin to break down and is easy to handle. Contender Sailcloth also manufacture an All Purpose style which utilises high tenacity ‘Fibrecon’ yarn but we feel that the weave construction and the UVI finish of the Dimension-Polyant version makes this a superior fabric. This material also has a unique to Dimension-Polyant a UVi coating in the resin that helps to protect the sail from harmful UV exposure and can increase the materials lifespan by around 15%. None the less the Contender AP is cheaper and is worthy of consideration in some applications especially where the requirement is somewhere between an entry level fabric and a premium Dacron and the Contender version is available in two shade of Tan and cream.
all_purpose AP
UVi finish
Contender AP pdf
Perhaps the best quality woven fabric available for high and medium aspect ratio sails is “Vectron”. This a very tightly constructed Polyester material offering better bias support than a dedicated High Aspect fabric but also has ultra-low stretch ‘Vectran’ yarns in the fill to resist the leech loads. This fabric was originally produced by Hood Textiles for the BT Global Challenge and Clipper Venture projects but is now commercially available and is a perfect high performing cruising material. This material also has a unique to Dimension-Polyant a UVi coating in the resin that helps to protect the sail from harmful UV exposure and can increase the materials lifespan by around 15%We have found the Dimension-Polyant version to be the best in this range, but Contender ‘Vectran’ is comparable and does offer some weights of fabric unavailable in the Dimension-Polyant range.
DP_Vectron_E_2013
UVi finish

LOW ASPECT: ratio is less than around 2:1 or 2.5:1

For very low aspect sails (around 2:1) Challenge Marblehead is excellent. It utilises the highest quality yarn and boasts that it is the tightest weave construction of any fabric in the world. It also has less resin than many rivals so can be quite soft depending on the batch. For big overlapping Genoas or Gaff mainsails Marblehead can be excellent. It can occasionally be hard to get consistent batches of high quality in the UK so lead times can be higher.
Marblehead information
Dimension-Polyant SQUARE is again very balanced suitable for low aspect sails. It utilises high tenacity yarn and has a large yarn rip stop that adds enormous off axis stability making SQUARE suitable for cross cut or radial constructions. The rip stop also makes the fabric probably the toughest most robust woven Dacron on the market. This material also has a unique to Dimension-Polyant a UVi coating in the resin that helps to protect the sail from harmful UV exposure and can increase the materials lifespan by around 15%.
DP_Square
UVi finish
For sails around the 2:1 – 2:5 range we recommend Contender Low Aspect. The fibres are very tightly woven but thinner across the warp than most yarns, this allows the fill yarn to bend over and under the opposite yarn easier making a tighter construction allowing a smoother, lower stretch and longer lasting fabric. The yarns themselves are also ‘Fibrecon’. The construction and finish of this fabric also means that it is slightly softer and easier to handle than many other Woven Dacron style. This is the best high performance and shape retention available without moving to laminates or high modulus fibres like Spectra or using radial construction.
Contender Product Sheet Fibercon Pro High & Low Aspect
Contender Product Sheet Fibercon AP

If you would like a quote, please click here for our QUOTE REQUEST FORM, or ring us at the loft to speak to us in person. For more information, click on the links below to find out more about specific sails: