In sea trials and throughout the life of the boat we optimise and put real numbers on the chart.’ There is a trend, Giattino says,
for owners of new superyachts to order a complete inventory of racing and cruising sails right at the start, rather than taking the traditional approach of gradually building up and developing their sail wardrobe. For Southern Wind projects such as the Reichel/Pugh 100 Morgana and the Farr-designed SW105 Sørvind, sea trials were conducted with a full set of sails from Doyle and the soon- to-launch SW108 #1 is set to follow suit. The advantage of this, Giattino explains, is that the entire sail wardrobe can be tested to ensure everything works perfectly as a coherent solution. Some of Doyle’s innovations have
been so widely embraced that they are now increasingly seen as the default option for high-performance yachts. ‘The Structured Luff and Cableless technology is now over seven years in the market, however when it was first developed, the technology was an unknown,’ Giattino recalls, ‘today it’s standard. All downwind sails and code sails are Cableless, and the majority of headsails and staysails have the Structured Luff load-sharing technology in some capacity. We’ve achieved a huge improvement in performance with this technology, ultimately reducing headstay sag, moved rig loads, reduced forestay loads, improved the sails' shape and durability.’ Superyacht sails now have a perfect shape for the entire duration of their service life rather than steadily losing their shape and hence their performance over a number of years. They are also a lot
Above and top right: rather than approaching the task piecemeal the SW105 Sørvind’s sea trials were conducted using the finished Doyle sail wardrobe so the entire sailplan could be evaluated as a coherent solution. Right: Structured Luff sails offer a wider range of usage – for example on the SW100 Morgana the cruising J1 very efficiently doubles up as the racing J3
lighter and more manoeuvrable. Doyle Sails’ Stratis membrane
technology has been a game- changer in its own right. Each piece of membrane is individually custom- made for a specific sail on a specific yacht, and it’s all produced at Doyle Sails Stratis manufacturing plant in New Zealand, which helps to maintain a strong focus on R&D. ‘Our machinery is upgraded regularly and our technology is continually improved,’ Giattino says. ‘We started 20 years ago with membrane sails on Perinis, Royal Huismans and others. The fibres we use in a sail for a 50m boat are different to those we use for a TP52 but our custom approach to manufacturing removes all barriers to what we can build.’ One big advantage of Structured
Luff sails for a performance cruiser is that you need fewer of them. ‘On Nyumba, we have a 220sqm J1 that works very well when it’s partially furled, a 110sqm J3 and then a J4,’ Giattino says. ‘We designed the J1 for a very wide range of use, so it’s strong like a J3 but can also be used in very light winds. Structured Luff sails allow a much greater change in sail shape as the sail is tensioned and trimmed for the conditions.’ Racing yachts and their sails are
often built with a dual purpose in mind, ‘we often advise clients to use some of their cruising sails for racing in the first season,’ Giattino says. ‘On the Southern Wind 100 Morgana we use the cruising J1 as a racing J3.' Code sails have also become
a lot more versatile with Doyle’s Cableless technology. ‘Because there is no cable inside when you
tension and ease the luff, you can totally change the shape of the sail,’ Giattino says. ‘We can increase the range of the sail in terms of wind angles by 30-35 per cent compared with a standard cable sail. When the luff is tensioned, you have a big genoa to use upwind. When you reduce the load and create a deeper luff entry, you have a downwind sail for deliveries, for ocean crossings and so on. Also, the sail’s range of wind speeds is increased a lot. Before, the maximum for a code zero was 12-15kts apparent’. The benefits of Structured Luff
technology in headsails are now widely understood, but it also has great potential in mainsail applications. ‘For example, on the Baltic 68 Café Racer, there are no runners, and there’s no backstay, so the mainsail itself plays a part of that role,’ Giattino explains. ‘When you load up the cunningham it completely changes the sail shape and it’s incredible how far you can move the masthead just by hauling the cunningham up and down. This technology has also been tested in the America’s Cup and on Maxi72s.’ ‘Today when designing a mainsail
for any new Superyacht we tend to go with a partial Structured Luff,’ he says. ‘Having continuous fibres all the way from the tack to the head in a lens-type layout, helps a lot with changing the sail shape and also increases durability without any negative result. The sail remains easy to handle, everything is laminated inside and the weight is about the same.’
www.doylesails.com
❑ SEAHORSE 61
GIULIANO SARGENTINI/SOUTHERN WIND SHIPYARD
SOUTHERN WIND SHIPYARD
GIULIANO SARGENTINI/SOUTHERN WIND SHIPYARD
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