X-332 Cuben Fiber Mainsail |
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New Cuben Fiber sails
As part of our commitment to ensuring customers have
access to the widest possible range of fabrics for their new sails,
we have recently produced a Mainsail and Genoa from Cuben Fiber (CF).
This is a development of the cloth used to win the America's Cup in
1992 and features unidirectional prepreg tapes of inline plasma-treated
Spectra 2000 fibres spread to monofilament-level films.
The CF manufacturing process involves neither twists nor weaves and
the result, according to the manufacturers, is excellent shape holding.
CF is much thinner than other laminates and retains close to 100%
of its strength after being folded 250 times.
After initial sail trials Banks Sails' chief designer Hugh Myers commented:
"Even in 25 knots true the sail held its shape beautifully. The
material is just so supple and easy to handle!"
CF sails are certainly light. The X-332 Mainsail pictured top left,
for example, weighed in at around 9kg!
Ian Dawson's Explorer (left) raced with her new Banks Sails Cuben
Fiber Mainsail and No1 at the recent X-332 National Championships,
winning two races out of five. The new sails performed excellently
but Ian was let down by another sail in his inventory (not a Banks!)
and, having placed seventh in one race, had to settle for third overall.
Ian was very pleased with his much improved boat speed and commented
"we certainly seemed to have excellent upwind speed. I am very happy
with the performance of the new sails."
For more information on contact Hugh Myers
at the loft. on 01489 582444.
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