For Blue Water Cruising sail simply have to last – it is false economy using a cheaper product if it fails mid Ocean. All of the materials listed in the Performance or Offshore Cruising and Club Race section would be suitable but the seam widths and reinforcement patches would be made larger, but ease of handling also is of utmost importance.

The absolutely most robust and longest lasting sailcloth available in the world is Dimension-Polyant ‘Hydra-Net’. If the boat is going to be extensively cruised, particularly long offshore or in adverse conditions we recommend a style of material called Hydra-net. This material is a woven mix of Polyester and Spectra producing the most rugged and reliable sailcloth available. This material is very low stretch and provides ultimate reliability; ‘Hydra-net’ therefore provides the most rugged long lasting Blue Water sail cloth available on the market. ‘Hydra-net’ is also the softest fabric option available and is therefore the easiest to handle; this is relevant whether the sails are for roller reefing or folded into Lazy Jack systems. All other materials will be quite firm and therefore bulkier than your existing older sails and would be harder to fold away, however ‘Hydra net’ is soft and pliable and easily rolled and folded, this means that ‘Hydra-net’ is ideally suited for short-handed cruising. The final advantage of ‘Hydra net’ is that it has excellent UV resistant properties. Hydra-net is the fabric of choice for Blue-Water Cruising yachts.

The ‘Hydra-net’ fabric comes in two different styles, one suitable for cross cut sails and the other for radial constructed sails. The cross cut version is fairly balanced with Spectra / Dyneema running in both directions. This fabric is the absolutely most robust and softest / easiest to fold / roll fabric available on the market, for a Blue water cruising boat or an aging family crew where soft and easy to handle sails are desired then the cross cut version of ‘Hydra Net’ is absolutely perfect. 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%The fabric performs better than most woven Dacron but is stretchier and therefore inferior in shape retention when compared to laminates or the radial version. The stretch that does occur is fairly elastic so any elongation that does occur is not permanent, but it does mean that although a high quality product this material is aimed at ease of handling rather than performance.

‘Hydra-net Radial’ has far more Dyneema running along the warp and offers far superior shape retention and therefore performance, yet the fabric is almost as soft and easy to handle as the cross cut version. ‘Hydra-net Radial’ out performs all other woven materials including ‘Vectran’ and most laminates. For a Blue Water cruising yacht where performance and shape retention is desired ‘Hydra-net Radial’ is the perfect material. The radial version is far better suited for high aspect sails and this is the style we have quoted for 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%. Contender Sailcloth manufacture a similar product called ‘Hybrid’ which is also a mix of Dyneema and Polyester, it has less Dyneema in the warp but a little more in the fill than Hydra Net Radial, this means that is does not offer quite as good shape retention as the Hydra Net but it is a little cheaper so can be worth considering on some applications .

All of the major suppliers produce sail fabric in polyester often referred to as the trade name ‘Dacron’ directly aimed at the weekend and everyday cruising sailor. All of the following styles are fill orientated and for most applications are only really suitable for cross cut construction.

In our opinion the best of these styles and the material we use most of is Dimension-Polyant C-Breeze which is a very consistent and flat weave utilising high tenacity yarn in fairly balanced constructions and is suitable for most general purpose cruising applications. From experience we believe C-Breeze is probably the highest quality entry level woven Dacron on the market but others are worth considering too

Bainbridge Ocean is a high tenacity fabric and is cheaper low end entry sail cloth suitable for day sailing but the weave quality does not match many of their rivals material so longer term shape retention is poor.

Bainbridge Ocean Premium Plus and Challenge High Modulus also has high tenacity yarn but does not have as tight a weave construction so is usually not quite as good as the C-Breeze for shape retention but can be a bit softer and easier on the hand. These styles are however available in either high or low aspect versions and are therefore worth consideration in applications of budget sails required for particularly high or low aspect sails.

Challenge High Mass is a fairly new material and is often used for far East imported sails. It is often cheap and therefore attractive. It has very large warp yarns meaning little of the yarn is exposed to UV light. Therefore this is a long lasting and strong fabric with excellent resistance to UV light and abrasion but these large yarns mean the crimp in the weave mean that the shape retention is poor compared to other materials.

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%.

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.

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%.

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.

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.

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.
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%.
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.