Here at Ultimate Sails we've supported the J80 class for many years, owning and racing our own boat (we're on our 5th J80 now!). The J80 is an excellent test bed for our design and development programme. We've produced sails which have finished in the top five at four different World Championships, they've also won seven UK National Championships and numerous Cowes weeks!. We've also developed a range of cost effective club racing sails that are more durable but with the same championship winning shapes.
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The Class mainsail is manufactured using a minimum weight hard finish / coated Dacron which gives a good balance between shape retaining stiffness and the forgiving easy-to trim feel needed to keep the boat going fast across the wind range.
The Club Racing mainsail is made using a softer finish Dacron which uses less resin. It's very stable and deteriorates less with folding / flogging / creasing so overall will hold it's shape better over time.
We have always found good speed in the breeze once fully hiking so our recent developments have focussed on keeping this performance while also making the sail even faster in the light. With this in mind we have made the main 1% deeper for more power and to allow the crew to get up on the side a little earlier. Increased luff curve in the middle also allows more backstay to be used in high winds, helping the sail to retain its exceptional strong wind characteristics.
These design changes both help the mainsail to match the Jib and lead to an increase in the overall efficiency of the upwind sail plan.
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The Class jib is manufactured from our own custom designed Lightwave Black Aramid membrane. The yarn layout has been refined over many seasons to give this sail a performance and durability advantage over conventional panelled designs and other Membranes. It's class minimum weight yet stretches less under load, staying flatter as the wind increases. This allowed us to design the sail fuller for light airs, whilst still maintaining the same flying shape in overpowered conditions
The club racing jib is manufactured using a tr radial mylar laminate with a lightweight taffeta on one side. This is a cost effective way to make a high performance sail with the added durability of the taffeta resulting in many seasons of excellent performance..
This season we have refined the design further reducing the entry angle in the mid-section in order to give better pointing off the line and in big fleets. This sail also utilises three vertical battens (set at a 15˚ angle to maximise their projection) to create a powerful shape which is flat in the exit in order to provide maximum lift and give an even twist profile.
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The Class asymmetric is manufactured from 0.6oz coated nylon which is on the minimum class weight but strong enough to be used in all wind conditions. The club racing asymmetric uses a heavier non coated nylon for added durability and it's available in a wide range of colours, otherwise they're identical.
This is a well proven design which has proved to be consistently fast through a wide wind range. The luff projects well to windward when running deep and it is extremely forgiving to trim. The real secret to the performance of this sail is the non-linear leech twist which forces maximum twist high in the sail allowing the leech to exhaust cleanly behind the mainsail.
Great downwind speed has been a real asset to our team over the years and this Asymmetric is largely responsible for that. Being able to extend on the run when you’re ahead takes the pressure off massively and in a big fleet being able to overtake and turn bad windward mark positions into counters is what will make the difference to your overall result. At championships with large fleets this downwind edge has helped us on many occasions.
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