Classic_Boat_2016-01

SAILS

overall wins at Panerai British Classic Week in David

Sherriff’s 1897 Fife Jap. When Ratsey & Lapthorn made

new sails for Jap three years ago, the sails were given

hand-sewn luff rope, brass cringles and other classic

fittings for a period look. But there the desire for

authenticity ended. “There was nothing about the shape

of the sails that we were trying to replicate from 1897,”

says Cassell. “We made them as we would modern sails,

giving them as much performance as we could.”

Jap’s main and headsails, like those of many classics

today, are made of Dacron (originally known as Terylene

in the UK), the brand name for polyethylene

terephthalate, a polyester patented in 1941 and now

used to make any number of modern plastic products.

Cassell says: “Dacron is more stable than the

Egyptian cotton Jap’s sails would have been originally. If

it started raining, as it would have done occasionally in

Ireland [Jap is a Cork Harbour One Design], the sails

would have shrunk out of all proportion.”

Ratsey & Lapthorn also offers cruising sails for

classic boats and Cassell says: “Cruising sailors often

choose a softer Dacron that is easier on the hands and

fingers, easy to flake over the boom, and is more

durable. But because it’s softer, it doesn’t hold its shape

as well as a more tightly woven Dacron sail, which will

have stabilisers and fillers that lock all the yarns

together so that the shape is retained, and is

consequently more expensive. Gradually, however, even

with a Dacron sail, the shape moves to the back of the

sail and goes out of the sail altogether.”

The classic sail cuts

Vertical or leech cut Mitre cut

Cross cut (square to leech)

Vertical or leech cut

Cross cut (parallel to foot)

Cross cut

Scotch cut (rare)

HEADSAILS

(topsails are similar)

MAIN SAIL

(gaff shown but bermudan is similar)

Cross cut

In 1845, the yacht Maria had success

experimenting with Cross-cut sails,

orienting the cloth parallel to the sail’s

foot. In 1890 pictures begin to show

cross-cut gaff and boomed sails, the

cloth oriented perpendicular to the leech.

Scottish cut

In 1825 Greenock sailmaker Matthew Orr

patented the Scottish cut, with cloth

running in two main directions, parallel to

the leech and parallel to the foot,

intersecting in a seam that bisects the clew

angle. Also known as the Mitre vertical cut,

this cut is tear-resistant and suitable for

head and topsails.

Vertical or leech cut

The oldest sail cut is the vertical or leech

cut, where the cloth runs parallel to the

leech direction. The cloth was woven with

a stronger, larger warp to prevent leech

stretch. Its disadvantage is that shape and

tightening of the leech is limited.