Racing Headsails: X-Drive Carbon
Carbon fiber is the highest-performance yarn used in sailmaking. As seen below, carbon yarns are at the top of the chart in three out of four ways to measure their performance. Carbon fiber’s resistance to stretch is three times greater than S-Glass yarns, which are three times more stretch resistant than polyester yarns.
The almost complete coverage of continuous load path carbon yarns on the sail leads to a smooth flying shape. UK Sailmakers’ fiber laying machine puts down up to 11 yarns at a time, which means there are hundreds of continuous yarns on the sail. Since each yarn has 4,000 carbon filaments, there are up to 44,000 filaments of carbon are laid at a time, giving the sail great strength along with the ability to keep its designed shape without distortion. This means UK Sailmakers can use lighter and less expensive laminates and these savings are passed on.
All the carbon yarns used in X-Drive sails are dry (not coated in glue), which keeps them from becoming brittle. Keeping the carbon yarns dry improves their flexibility.
Extra Durability With Lite Skin® or Taffeta
To help protect today’s sails and extend their peak performance lives, UK Sailmakers can build all our X-Drive racing sails where one or both sides of the laminate is fully covered with a lightweight finely-woven polyester taffeta. Not only does taffeta protect the film layer from abrasion, but it also prevents cracking of the film and reduces creasing. While taffeta doesn’t add any strength, it does make sails last longer. We also offer the option of putting a layer of taffeta over the X-Drive yarns only on the leech of the sail as shown below.
Lite Skin, is a thin, lightweight sheet of random, non-woven, polyester filaments applied to what will be the outer sides of the sail giving the sail a mat-black or dark grey appearance. Lite Skin is a proprietary product of Dimension-Polyant Sailcloth.
Taffeta is a lightweight, finely woven polyester cloth. Taffeta is slightly heavier than Lite Skin but it is also more rugged. Taffeta is available in white or a medium grey color.
Partial Taffeta Options
The leech of any sail benefits from having extra taffeta protection; when a sail luffs, the leech is the area most exposed to flogging, abrasion, and potential damage. This is particularly the case for boats with overlapping genoas that get dragged across shrouds and the mast in every tack.
UK Sailmakers will work with you to determine the right amount of taffeta to add to your sails based on your boat, the kinds of sailing you do, and your budget. Having both sides covered with taffeta makes a sail more durable, but also would make the sail heavier. UK Sailmakers offers a Partial Taffeta option to save weight and cost.
