Family
Wagon, is a custom 27' boat designed and built by Richard Hallett, owner
of Hallett Canvas and Sails, Inc. Family Wagon won Key West Race Week 2001,
United State's most prestigious and challenging regatta all year. The
Family Wagon's sails are made with carbon, which is the best material
on the market for performance to date. Carbon doesn't stretch and is
much lighter than any other fabric. The seams are glued together with Ultra-Bond
system, which provide better accuracy of the seams, smoother sails, and absolutely
no seam creep.
Bandito a Nelson/Merek 45' is sailing here with a Pentex light #1 with glue seams
and a Kevlar full-batten Mainsail also with glued seams. Pentex is a polyester
substrate, which has very good flex characteristics. This means the fibers will
not break down when being folded or creased. Pentex will stretch more than Kevlar
or Carbon but is considerably less expensive. Pentex is a good option for light
air sails for larger boats, any sail for medium sized cruiser racers or offshore
sails for performance cruisers. Bandito has won many races the last few years,
winning Gulf of Maine overall trophy Class A 1999, 2000, 2001.
Kaos a
G&S 36' (in front) and Wiley a J-35' are both sailing with Hallett
spinnakers. Kaos' spinnaker is made of AIRX material, which is Bainbridge
International's latest high performance cloth. AIRX was used with many
of the last America's Cup spinnakers. Wiley's spinnaker is six years
old and still has a great shape. The material is polyester, which is stiff
spinnaker cloth that initially has an extremely low level of porosity. As
with all spinnaker cloths the performance or low porosity is in the coating,
which doesn't last as long as the actual strength of the cloth. Check
your cloth by blowing through it and trying to feel the wind pass through
the material. If you can feel any wind its time for new!
Osakini, a brand new Catalina 40' is sailing with a Pentex Mainsail and Genoa. Pentex
qualifies for the recreational handicap under the PHRF rating system. The recreational
handicap give boats that qualify an extra 3 seconds to their rating. This can
be very beneficial to the occasional racer or cruiser/racer. Ask us about the
details and how this rating type can benefit your boat.
