NIGEL YOUNG LOOK AT THE QUESTION OF ALLOWING KEVLAR SAILS IN THE MELGES 24 - PART 1

When the Melges 24 was first introduced into the World the early prototype's were fitted with Kevlar sails. At the time Kevlar was the latest thing in sailcloth and matched perfectly with the high Tech design parameters of this Grand Prix Sports Boat.

Carbon foils, Carbon Pole, Carbon mast and Kevlar sails all matched the image of this outstanding Keelboat we all enjoy sailing some much today! Quite quickly into the early life of the boat the Kevlar sails were thought of as an expensive luxury that the class could not afford. At that time the cost difference between Polyester Mylar and Kevlar was vast and the class decided quite rightly to only allow Polyester Mylars and Dacrons.

As time passed by (Now over Ten years!) sail cloth has developed at a rapid pace and new fibers have been introduced and Kevlar has become common place in the sailing world. Kevlar is no longer the Worlds leading Grand Prix sail cloth, it is actually the bottom end choice now for Grand Prix sailing. Kevlar is currently the first choice fabric in many One Design classes World wide and is no longer out lawed under any of the Major Handicap Systems. Kevlar is now accepted as the standard fabric that all racing sails should be built from and no longer thought of as Space Age Technology.

There are many advantages to changing the class rules to allow Kevlar fabrics, but when a proposal like this is put forward by the classes leading sailmaker some people get a little suspicious! This possible change has raised many questions and below are some of them with my answers. If you have any other questions about this proposal please feel free to e-mail me and I will do my best to answer you. nigel@od.northsails.com

1) Why do we need to change, the current class sail are working very well?
The strength and longevity advantage of Kevlar sails over the current Pentex sails is so great that it seems short sighted not to allow Kevlar. The costs difference between the fabrics is now so small that the time has come for the class to take advantage of Kevlar. As the Worlds leading Grand Prix Sports Boat we should be using up to date sail fabrics which give increased sail life.

2) I thought Kevlar sails were expensive? Surely the extra cost of the sails will out weigh any advantage?
The switch to allowing Kevlar will add approximately 10-15 percent to the cost of the sails. The sail life will be extended dramatically and they will not suffer in the same way as Pentex after a windy regatta. Personally I think the Jib life will be extended in the same way as when we accepted Jib battens. The cost to have a Kevlar Jib will actually be less than the cost of allowing Jib battens to be fitted!! When you think about it that way it makes good sense. There is no question the Jib battens really helped the life of the sails and Kevlar will do the same.

3) Surely the only reason North want to go Kevlar is so they can build 3DL sails next! This has to be expensive for the class!
Here at North sails we have the ability to build 3DL sails right now in Pentex which confirm 100% to the class rules! We do not need to have the Kevlar rule changed for us to build 3DL. We have taken the decision to not introduce Pentex 3DL into the class at present due to the cost implications. Once we have our small boat 3DL costing to a sensible level we may chose to go that route. Either way we have the Technology to build the sails now and do not require any rule changes to sell 3DL sails.

4) Why not open up the class rule to allow all exotic fibers, Carbon, Spectra, Vectran, Cuban fiber etc........?
We have looked closely at all of the possible fabric options for Melges 24 sailmakers. All of the above fabric style have some serious problems if allowed under our rules. The biggest of these is cost and the second is availability. Only one manufacture produces a decent fabric in most of the above cloth options and they are very expensive. To allow Carbon would add 30% to the cost of the sails for a limited gain. There is no doubting the merits of Cuban fiber but in our own experience this suffers from some shrinkage problems that would not be acceptable to the Melges 24 sailor. The sensible choice is to only allow Kevlar sails because the cost implications are quite small, the fabrics have been on the open market for well over 15 years and they are well proven products. It available in numerous styles from all of the Worlds leading cloth suppliers so no one supplier will have a strangle hold on the price.

5) Once the class rules are change to allow Kevlar surely you will want to allow Carbon in a few years?
We have no plans to introduce other High Tech fabrics into the class, Kevlar is as far as we need to go. David Chivers the class Rules wizard has been talking with ISAF about how we write the rules to make this work. This is not a new problem, there are plenty of other classes in the same position and they do not have a problem with Carbons, Cuban Fiber etc.... Maybe in another ten years we will need to look at this again but personally I feel Kevlar will see us in good shape for many years to come.