Classic_Boat_2016-01

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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.
Free download pdf