14/11/11
Following the stepping of a new Southern Spar carbon rig, the 45 metre superyacht “Salperton” returned to Palma to have new Doyle Stratis™ high-performance sails fitted.
With the order only placed in July 2011, it was a very tight schedule to complete the design and production of such a large project, but it was achieved with flying colours.
Following the sail trials, Doyle Palma Director, Quinten “Quinny” Houry said “The mainsail fits perfectly and looks and feels really fast. The Genoa’s have a great shape and will boost performance. The Stratis production system enables us to produce a quality performance sail that we expect to last longer than alternatives”.
Quinny was also very pleased with the success of the innovative furling batten system, a joint development between Doyle Sailmakers and Southern Spars, which works superbly. Small track cars are installed on the luff and these are able to furl around the boom, allowing the sail to be stowed, but still allowing for low friction cars on the mainsail luff.
The new sail programme included mainsail, reacher, jib and purpose built racing blade genoa. This blade genoa was fitted with C-tech air battens. These feature high pressure tubing along the leech. When connected to an air supply the batten pockets are pressurised. This system allows for fast sail changes without having to install, remove or store long battens.
NEW LOFT FOR BIG SAILS ! At the beginning of this year Doyle Palma underwent a large expansion with a new custom designed 1555 m2 sail loft. “We redesigned the facility for projects just like this” states Loft Manager Fiona Bruce, “It has paid off for this order and it’s great to be able to deal so easily with sails this size.”
Salperton is now on her way to the Caribbean for the usual round of spring regattas and is expected to cruise the Pacific in 2012. “I am really looking forward to racing on Salperton in the Spring, and seeing these high performance sails in action” declared Quinny.
STRATIS - EDITORS’ TECHNICAL INFORMATION Doyle’s in-house load and fibre distribution program calculates load paths onto the sail plans. Mapping the yarns from the design process is exact. The production process is fully automated and allows for up to 13 yarns in each pass over the fibre bed. This is faster than a conventional panelled sail can be cut out.
The sail is completed with a laminate applied to each side, using an advanced vacuum system combined with direct pressure. The end result is a pre-shaped Stratis™ high performance sail - a smoother, faster, and significantly lighter sail that can be used for both racing and performance cruising. All of Doyle Palma’s sail technicians have years of practical on the water experience, both racing and cruising.
Contact:
Doyle Palma: info@doylepalma.com
Press: press@strawberrymarketing.com - +44 (0) 1590 645082