custom-made tack plates were built to trial 75 per cent mid-girth sail designs, sized for a group of raceboats in the 32ft-50ft range. These tack plates were sewn into the sail, as were the swivel units at the head. To connect the tack to the furler, the tack plates were incorporated into a T-shape unit that slid directly into the Reflex drive unit. Using these tack plates also meant that the furler could accept a variety of sails, as well as offering the longest available luff length. Testing went well from the start and the system has now been rolled out and is currently aboard a range of boats including a J/145, J/109, J/99, J/97 and a Swan 42, which have used a variety of sails from both Doyle and North to great effect. ‘Our J/145 has a very long retractable pole – almost nine feet – and there is no bobstay which is a problem,’ said Sailing magazine’s publisher Bill Schanen. ‘We wanted a code sail with a 75 per cent girth measurement that we could fly off the end of the pole. It had to furl, but we didn't want the hassle or the weight out there of a conventional torsion cable. When we heard about the Reflex we called North Sails and talked about making a sail. We were delighted to see that it flies and furls with very little luff tension.’ But it’s not just about easy furling


Above and right: a key feature of the Harken Reflex furling system is a tack plate that is sewn into the sail and slots into the Reflex drive unit. This allows a variety of reaching and broad reaching sails to be used with the same drive unit while also maximising the sailsʼ luff length. A small, light- weight top swivel unit is also sewn into each sail. Apart from the major performance boost when deployed with sails from Doyle and North, Reflex delivers easier sail handling and stowage


and deployment of a code sail. Early reports from the racetrack point to a new style of sailing where crews are able to use the sails in different ways across a wide range of wind angles, especially in light weather, to enhance performance. In some quarters, the sails are already being referred to as “tweeners” as they span critical gaps in sail wardrobes. ‘This is the biggest step forward in the sailmaking world for a long time,’ said Orlebeke. ‘People here on the Great Lakes, who’ve been using these sails for distance racing, say that if you don’t have one it’s difficult to compete, it’s that big a step forward. In particular, they are proving unbeatable combined with the ability to transition quickly back and forth to headsails…which efficient furling makes possible. Meanwhile, for the sailmakers, the ease of deployment enabled by Harken Reflex is starting to influence the shapes of the sails themselves. ‘The cable-less technology really focuses more on the load distribution in a sail and what this does to the overall loading,’ explains Doyle Sails’ Richard Bouzaid. ‘What we have done, and our goal with this technology when we started to develop it, was to have sails fly and work more efficiently with less load on the boat and supporting structure. ‘This has allowed us to put big reaching sails onto boats that in that past could not have them due to the high loads: cruising code zero sails on superyachts, racing sails on prods where the prods were engineered to low loads, and so on. This is where the real gains are and it has a significant impact on not only sail design but rigs and boat structures.’


North Sails are also clear on the benefits and refer to the new concept as Load Sharing Technology, which has led to their range of Helix sails. ‘The big gains with Helix and Load Sharing Technology, especially on reaching and broad reaching furling sails, is overall weight reduction and the ability to really adjust the leading edge of the membrane’s shape with a very small luff cable or rope, not the large and heavy torque cables that have become commonplace,’ says North Sails’ group president Ken Read. ‘We are very excited about all the avenues this has opened for the use of 3Di in this process,’ Read adds. But it’s not just the racing scene that is seeing the advantages. One of the objectives with the Harken Reflex project was aimed at encouraging recreational sailors to get the A-sail out of the sail locker. The ease with which downwind and reaching sails can be handled was the primary attraction with Reflex, but now their cable-less system, means that the sails can be moved around and stowed more easily too as they take up less space.


And then there’s the big picture further down the track. Taking loads out of stays reduces the compression loads in the rig and the bowsprit. Reducing compression can then potentially reduce loads throughout the rest of the boat. It’s the kind of design spiral that engineers and sailors love and one that frequently sees big leaps in both performance and handling.


So while the broad concept is a familiar one across the sport, there are those who think the future of furling is on a roll.


www.harken.com/reflexcablefree q


SEAHORSE 73


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