String sails - Can they be good for a cruising sailor?

by Butch Ulmer/Sail-World Cruising on 17 Jun 2009 Many racing sails today are made with 'strings', either continuous, or non-continuous. The question for the cruising sailor is: Can I benefit from this technology - or is it just suitable for racing sailors?

The original patents for 'string' sails were taken out by Peter Conrad, a sailmake of note. There have been many varieties of this original concept over the years, and also several struggles over patent infringement.

In the meantime, UK-Halsey Sailmakers developed a technique for applying continuous fibres after a sail is made, as opposed to during construction, and avoided any patent problems by making these under licence.

Laminating the load-bearing yarns inside the sail allows greater coverage thoughout the sail, and this type of string sail is called Titanium. Instead of having tapes every few inches, the yarns in a string sail are very close together. This gives the sail a smoother shape. String sails are lighter because the amount of glue needed in the finished sails is radically reduced.

However, these sails, while they can be as light as the sailor wants them to be, generally don't last, and that's certainly no good for the cruising sailor.

However, cruising boats are generally sailed short-handed, usually two-handed, and for this reason sails that are relatively light to handle have an advantage. For this reason, Titanium sails are well suited to performance cruising boats over 50 feet as the large sails on such a boat are both easy to handle and very strong and durable.

The Taffeta Option:
Then there is the taffeta option. Taffeta is a finely woven, light-weight polyester fabric that is laminated to the outside of one or both sides of the membrane. This protects the sail from abrasion and UV light. It makes the whole sail heavier, but for long distance cruising, it adds many miles to your sail’s life.

As any cruising sailor will tell you, UV attacks everything on a boat, from the halyards to the seat cushions, to the sails. It is why having taffeta on cruising string sails would be so important. Racing sails, used for short bursts on the race course, don’t get nearly as much exposure to the sun’s ultra violet rays. Cruising sails, especially mainsails, can be up all day long, or for weeks at a time.

There are also Titanium sails that utilize special yarn layouts for roller-furling genoas, enabling cruising sailors to enjoy the benefits of lighter weight, performance sails.

However, this is only one side of the coin. There are some other factors which need to be considered.

One is cost. String sails are considerably more expensive than 'normal' woven Dacron sails - in some cases twice as much.

Another factor is durability. Even though the addition of taffeta to one or both sides of the sail does increase durability, this will also increase the cost again, and decrease the weight advantage.

Repairing such sails is another such consideration. Laminates in general and string sails in particular, can, in many cases, be more effectively repaired by using a modern adhesive instead of a sewing machine or palm & needle. This kind of service and expertise is not available in every port of call. That can mean shipping the sails somewhere for service which is expensive and time consuming.

If this sounds like a discouraging picture, it is not intended to be. As string sails become more and more common, their prices will drop and their quality will improve. The sailmaking industry recognizes the benefits and the drawbacks of this type product for the cruising sailor. They are also cognizant of the size of the cruising market which offers a lot of economic incentive to make things better.

This is another 'trickle down' benefit from the racing market to the cruising market and while it has a way to go, it will get there.

Sail-World Cruising thanks Butch Ullmer from www.ukhalsey.com!UK-Halsey_Sailmakers for his contribution to this article