Lots of things have happened since my last post. I have made a 10.0 sail absolutely to my own needs. There are two versions of it. One, let’s call it LA ( low-aspect), which fits a 490 mast, and an HA (high-aspect), that fits a 520 mast. This sail is absolutely different from the others I’ve made previously. Read on, to get to know the details.
10.0 Racin LA
Let’s talk about the low aspect one.
I’ve made the two different versions in order to compare the low and high-aspect on a race course.
Design
I moved up to 7 battens from the previous 6, as I felt the sail needed more stability when testing the sail on the course. I also changed the configuration to 4 cams as well. To fit all these changes in the design, I’ve made adjustments in the overall shape as well. The draft position is more forward, also the sail is deeper on the 3rd and 4th battens from the top.
Materials
The materials used in the sail is quite different from our previous sails. The main panels of the sail are technora laminate, with a Dyneema reinforced xply window. The luff sleeve is technora laminate too, going all the way under the dacron front sleeve.
I used different construction as well with a different head cap. Different clew, and tack reinforcements were used and technora fibers go all the way from the tack to the head in the luff panel seams to avoid elongation.
In action
I was working on the rotation as well where thanks to the changes made, the sails is now much lighter, smoother and easier to maneuver with. Although it needs some refinement with the spacers on the longer term, the current design is almost perfect after testing it in various conditions.
Masts
We’ve tested the same sail with two different masts. The first one was the Duotone Platinum 490 and the other is the RS:x 490.
The time we had was enough to sail and test with the Duotone Platinum mast. In light conditions ( 8-10kts) the sail was easy to handle and rotated nicely, also the acceleration was better than on the previous version. We didn’t have enought time to test between 12-15kts, but the sail was pretty stable and fast.
As now we have some cold weather in Hungary, the plan is to travel to a warmer place at the beginning of February to make some nice footage and do some more testing.