Racing Headsails: X-Drive® Silver
UK Sailmakers’ X-Drive® Silver sails made with S-Glass yarns are the smart choice for sailors who want near-carbon performance at a more accessible price. Reinforced with continuous S-Glass fibers, these sails deliver excellent stretch resistance and strength while keeping a clean, classic white appearance. X-Drive Silver can be paired with a range of base laminates and upgraded with ISL (Integrated Structural Luff) technology on new headsails, allowing each sail to be optimized for your racing goals.
S-Glass is heavier and less expensive than carbon fiber, but the differences in stretch resistance and weight are minimal on smaller sails, making S-Glass a great price performing option. UK Sailmakers’ fiber-laying machine deposits up to 11 tapes at once, creating hundreds of continuous load-path fibers across the sail. This near-complete coverage keeps the sail smooth under load and reduces the strength demands on the base laminate.
X-Drive Silver gives the highest performance for one-design class sails where high-tech yarns like Kevlar and carbon are not allowed.
As the chart shows, S-Glass yarns have nearly three times the Modulus (ability to resist stretch) and Tenacity (breaking strength) than those used in woven polyester (Dacron) sails.
Extra Durability With Lite Skin® or Taffeta
To help protect today’s sails and extend their peak performance lives, UK Sailmakers can build all our X-Drive racing sails where one or both sides of the laminate is fully covered with a lightweight finely-woven polyester taffeta. Not only does taffeta protect the film layer from abrasion, but it also prevents cracking of the film and reduces creasing. While taffeta doesn’t add any strength, it does make sails last longer. We also offer the option of putting a layer of taffeta over the X-Drive yarns only on the leech of the sail as shown below.
Lite Skin, is a thin, lightweight sheet of random, non-woven, polyester filaments applied to what will be the outer sides of the sail giving the sail a mat-black or dark grey appearance. Lite Skin is a proprietary product of Dimension-Polyant Sailcloth.
Taffeta is a lightweight, finely woven polyester cloth. Taffeta is slightly heavier than Lite Skin but it is also more rugged. Taffeta is available in white or a medium grey color.
Partial Taffeta Options
The leech of any sail benefits from having extra taffeta protection; when a sail luffs, the leech is the area most exposed to flogging, abrasion, and potential damage. This is particularly the case for boats with overlapping genoas that get dragged across shrouds and the mast in every tack.
UK Sailmakers will work with you to determine the right amount of taffeta to add to your sails based on your boat, the kinds of sailing you do, and your budget. Having both sides covered with taffeta makes a sail more durable, but also would make the sail heavier. UK Sailmakers offers a Partial Taffeta option to save weight and cost.
