Whirlwind Sails - Nacra 5.5 SL

Chip make a wonderful product - And the Preformance is out of this world

Wow!

SEXY!

that's hot.

310 is my local area code.

what material are those? Mylar/Pentex?

Yes. Tinted Mylar with Spectra tensile.

GARY

nice pic Gary... 2 questions,

what the heck is that on your tramp? Is that some kind of beach wheels near the back beam? or are you sailing to a pugil stick contest?

how the heck did you set up to reef a mystere sail....

Gordon, looks like you now have a cross-cut sail. Which fabric did Chip use and what motivated you in that direction?

Sail fast, Tom G

It's Pentex mylar and I really was impressed with chip's work - We spend every weekend chasing 5.8's and a Inter 20
so I wanted a bit more power - plus our old sails were at the end of their life. It was time to step up.

Gordon

Gordon, Tom's asking why you went with cross-cut sails rather than radial-cut. I'm curious, too.

Gordon,

they are beutiful! Sorry 'bout the hi-jack, but couldn't resist when I saw your sail number.



I carry three of those "pugil sticks" to roll the boat up and down the beach at the islands. We call 'em Q-tips.

Those rollers have traveled several hundreds of miles with me on that boat. I'd say that they've been used to roll the boat up and down beaches on various Channel Islands at least 55 times. They double as hull protectors when the boat is on the rocks.



I had reef points built into the original sails by Skip Elliott. I was satisfied with their performance so when I ordered new sails, I got them with the reef points in them. (EPsails)



GARY

does anyone have pictures of the X2 sails that whirl wind offers. Im interested in these sails but the website doesnt have any actual pictures

thanks for the data... i can see with the rocks in that picture that the q-tips are needed.

to be Honest - I let chip make that call as to what cut would work best. I figured he is the expert.

The radial cut I think looks a little better.

But thats probably a question for chip. It appears to me that it might be because of the material

What beautiful pictures!

Here is the answer from chip as to the way the sail is cut.

The new fabric FLEX13P from Dimension Polyant is the best of the cross-cut fabrics and works well with a your boomless system. Having the clew bar loads the foot of the sail not just at the corner with loads radiating out it's entire length. We don't want to load up the clew in the wrong direction, that will cause delamination. If you had a conventional setup (boom) then the tri-radial is more appropriate.

Interesting, but that doesn't seem to be the direction other sail makers are going.

Does your new sail have the aluminum bar in the clew?

Attached is a picture of the sails Chip made for my Hobie 14--Hooter and main. He made a custom jib, but I don't have a picture of it in action.

...and a second set he made for a friend's boat...

I looked at the Elliott/Pattison sails also, I have friends that just purchase a new main for their 5.8 and noticed the aluminum bar in the clew - Chip's sail does not but I'll live with that - still couldn't be more pleased.

The new nacra sails look similair but are clear - I assume they are the europe import from performance sails but am
not sure on that.

http://www.performancesails.com/

All very nice looking sails BUT it looks like that hobie16 also has cross-cut sails and they have booms (but that one is white? - is it possible it doesn't have a boom?)

Good eye Andrew

I'm pretty sure thats a Hobie 14 no dolphin stricker - looks cut just like ours - Chip must have had a reason or maybe the customer wanted it that way - I'm not sure

Thats what i meant, look at that hobie14,.. it has no boom (or dolphin stricker) and has the same cut! <img src="http://www.catsailor.com/forums/images/graemlins/wink.gif" alt="" />

It has a boom its just hard to see in the picture same color as the mast!! <img src="http://www.catsailor.com/forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif" alt="" />

DIMENSION-POLYANT’s FLEX line stands for “Fill Laminate Extra X”. The FLEX range of fabrics is suited to racing and cruising sails. Foundations of
all FLEX laminate constructions are strong fill and warp yarns. Additional 20° and 30° “Double X” patterns from the fill absorb multiple load situations.
Thanks to its novel construction, FLEX handles strain in six different directions, resulting in unprecedented shape retention characteristics. In addition
to primary loads, off-angle loads in clew, head and tack areas, mid leech and luff are catered for. FLEX will also absorb those dynamic loads that
occur during sailing and enables excellent shape control. FLEX styles are crosscut fabrics and available with several fibre densities which can be
combined in a sail in accordance with the expected load situation

Similar to Maxx Penn from Contender.

Both cloths are geared towards cross-cut applications only.

I see they now both reside on the F18 mainsail & jib approved fabric lists. I believe F18's do have booms.

Honestly, I am more puzzled by the number of wrinkles in the H14's sail while under load, in spite of it being a great looking sail.


Sail fast, Tom G

I found the picture on the hobie forum

the owner had this to say:

"Last weekend on my 14 and a neighbour was kind enough to snap these pictures. Didn't tie the upper battens tight enough."

Maybe that would explain the wrinkles