Your Mission Your Needs Materials Sail Design Our Mission We feel at home on all waters of the world. We know of wind and weather. The seas and oceans of this world hold no secrets for us. That s why we know that there is an ideal sail for every sailor, every sailboat, every yacht and every wind. Our mission is to make just that sail for you. To be able to do so, we develop new technologies, create modern materials and employ the world s best sail designers. And this is essential for us to be sure that we truly share our sailing passion with you.
Our Mission Your Needs Materials Sail Design Your Mission You like to sail with optimal equipment. Finding the ideal sail is not easy. Elvstrøm Sails helps you review and define the requirements your sails need to satisfy. Elvstrøm Sails are individually tailored, so that no two are alike. Literally thousands of variations are possible starting from a host of materials, sailmaking techniques and sail designs. The sail you want is definitely among them. That is why at Elvstrøm Sails you will not find product lines, type designations or classifications. We build your sail according to your specifications.
Our Mission Your Mission Materials Sail Design Your Needs Sails are not off the peg items. Our sails are made for you, for your boat, for your crew and for your sailing grounds. Particular attention is paid to the following criteria: Ambition What are your sailing goals? Leisure and relaxation, Olympic glory, afternoon excursions or around the world sailing regardless of your objectives, we have the appropriate sailing solution. Waves All sailing grounds have their own wave characteristics, which have an influence on the behaviour of a sailboat and its sails. From smooth waters in inland lakes to Atlantic rollers together, we will define the nature of your sailing grounds and will then design your sail to match those characteristics. Wind Wind is the driving agent, the engine of a sailboat. Sailors must be properly equipped for all wind conditions in their sailing grounds. We check the weather data in your area and adapt the sail design to them. Boat type Whether dinghy or superyacht, every boat size and design requires a specific sail design. The boat type is not only the most important indicator for the necessary sail size, but also for the characteristics of the most appropriate sails Crew size The number of crew members and the existing on-board equipment will influence the sail setting, trimming and striking systems. Elvstrøm Sails has developed sail designs that enable even large sail areas to be handled by just one or only a few crew members.
Our Mission Your Mission Your Needs Sail Design Materials - Yarns Kevlar is stronger than steel and lighter. 4 kinds: Type 29 better in flex than type 49. Type 49 50% better in stretch than 29. Twaron is very similar to type 49. Technora is between 29 and 49, is available in black and gold. Aramid-Kevlar 5 times better stretch than Polyester, double that of Pentex. Aramide yarns can be woven to a tight fabric and bonds well on Mylar. Aramids have only moderate UV resistance, and poor with repeated flex. Technora is somewhat better in both these issues Very light, elastic - good break load. Good against chafe and flex. Therefore ideal for downwind sails Stretch resistance not good enough for upwind sails. UV and moisture reduces its strength Nylon Yarns and fabrics are called Nylon. Brand name of Du Pont, but never copyrighted, therefore used generically for all thermoplastic polyamides. Carbon consists of mainly carbon atoms. Each fibre consists of hundreds to thousands of filaments (tubes) with few micrometer diameter. Different types with almost zero stretch to those with better flexibility. Carbon Extremely low stretch and insensitive to UV. Can use less fibre for same strength saves weight. Production is expensive, poor in flex Dacron/Polyester is very durable, good against UV, and economical. For high performance sails stretch resistance is not good enough Woven Polyester fabrics have been used for more than 60 years as sailcloth Dyneema has extremely long molecular chains, therefore enormous breaking strength. Very strong, and resistant to stretch. Good resistance against UV and material fatigue, very light Under permanent load the fibre tends to elongate, so the sail can change shape under high loads of long duration. Polyester Dyneema 40% less stretch than Polyester, more suitable for sail laminates Needs impregnation with resin for best results, therefore sails can be damaged by poor handling or flogging. Pentex PEN stands for Polyethylene Naphthalene. Pentex is a trade name for this modified Polyester yarn Vectran is based on polyester with aramid type molecular structure to combine the pros of both materials. Vectran is a quasi-polyester. Colour is gold. Vectran Vectran has good stretch resistance and does not deteriorate in use. UV resistance is better than Aramid, suitable for use on performance cruiser with main emphasis on durabilty. Flex resistance is better than Aramid. Not as stretch resistant as Aramid.
Our Mission Your Mission Your Needs Sail Design Materials - Woven Fabrics Nylon Technically, Taffetas are all types of fine, light woven fabric (for example silk). Taffeta for sail production are tight woven polyester as layer on laminates for better resistance against UV, tear, flex and chafe. Very light, good breaking load Good against flex and chafe therefore ideal for downwind sails Stretch resistance not good enough for upwind sails UV and moisture reduce strength Nylon can be woven very tight, fabric is light and strong. Taffeta Laminate A very durable fabric, good against UV, flex and economical Suitable for sails requiring durability. Stretch resistance is not good enough for high performance sails on modern rigs Woven Polyester Woven polyester fabrics are developed to a very high standard. Polyester is the most used sailcloth, known as Dacron, Tetoron, Terylene, Trevira and Diolen too. Laminated cloth contains different yarns, films and taffetas for a fabric with better characteristics then woven cloth. From different combinations these are especially distinguished: DC PolyesterTaffeta Film Polyester Yarn Film PolyesterTaffeta A strong laminate with much better performance than (woven) Polyester FAF (film/film) Film Aramid Yarn Film A very light performance laminate. EPEX This is the most modern and advanced method to produce a laminated sail. EPEX can bond the different layers optimally, and can use all yarn types to make the sail to meet your individual sailing needs.
Our Mission Your Mission Your Needs Materials Sail Design Vacuum Bonding Heat Pressure After many years of development ElvstrØm Sails have succeeded in perfecting the production process of high quality membranes for sails. All the equipment needed for the positioning of the high performance fibres and for activation of the special resins and glues is affixed to the huge vacuum table. The heart of the device is the vacuum bed which optimally and durably cross-links, under great pressure, the individual layers of the composite membrane sail during the EPEX lamination process. This is a global first. EPEX sail membranes are held in position over the whole surface during the entire process by means of a vacuum. In this way a 100% homogenous sail-laminate is produced. The result is a high performance membrane with previously unknown characteristics - EPEX. The art of manufacturing a perfect sail is dependent on three criteria. Design, material and processing. Every sail is designed in house at ElvstrØm Sails with the aid of cutting edge sail design software. However, transformation of all the details into the real world is a critical task. Thanks to EPEX technology, realisation of design specifications is optimised because deviations in processing and materials can almost completely be eliminated. The result is a sail which meets individual requirements to the full.
Our Mission Your Mission Sail Design Your Needs Materials There are innumerable different combinations of materials, material strength, sail cut, size and sailmaking techniques. Finding the ideal combination requires many years of experience and comprehensive know-how. With a development experience spanning more than 50 years, Elvstrøm Sails has acquired more specific knowledge than any other sailmaker in the world. You can therefore rest assured that you will get your ideal sail from us!
Specials Paul Elvstrøm s favourite sail! The fantastic cruising sail with the performance of a gennaker and the handling of a genoa.the FurlStrøm has a flat cut and is characterised by a straight luff for better pointing. The FurlStrøm does not need a heavy spinnaker boom. It comes complete with a high quality furling system. To stow the sail, you simply roll it. It can thus be handled and stowed quickly and safely by just one person. Full control downwind The SpiSock by Elvstrøm Sails enables you easily to set and strike your spinnaker and other downwind sails particularly useful when sailing shorthanded. Made of a lightweight material, with a plastic guide funnel, it substantially facilitates downwind and broad reach sailing. The Elvstrøm Sails SpiSock ensures easy handling, as the up- and downhaul lines are fitted to the funnel and the bag in a manner such that they cannot catch in the mast or rigging during operation.
Specials The best protection for roller furling foresails The FurlCover by Elvstrøm Sails is the best protection for your roller furling foresail and significantly extends the sails life. It protects the sail from damage due to UV light, dirt and rain. The FurlCover is raised with the spinnaker halyard, and the zipper is closed at the same time easy to do, even on your own. Fitted with several furling lines, it can be rolled up very tightly and will not flog even in strong winds. When not in use, it can easily be stowed in the space saving integrated kangaroo bag. FurlCovers can be made for all yachts with roller furling foresails. Roller reefing mainsails in optimal shape with maximum sail area EMS Max - Elvstrøm Mainsail System with maximum leech curve. EMS Max is a further development of the curved surface EMS sail. This sail is available only in laminate cloth and EPEX. A high-end roller furling mainsail for spoilt sailors. No-stress mainsail striking and stowing The Zippack Airflow System replaces your mainsail cover, facilitating striking and stowing your mainsail. The lazy jacks lead the sail into the Zippack bag, and then you just have to zip it up. That s it. The Airflow-Net allows water to run off and air to circulate, so that the sail can breathe. No blocks or metal parts are required. This helps prevent damage to the sail. The Zippack Airflow is perfect for fully battened mainsails, but also suitable for all other types. The continuous vertical carbon top sail battens provide optimal support for the leech, whether the sail is fully deployed or reefed. The short intermediate battens have the same function. When reefing, the optimal profile is maintained by the battens.
Your Aventure In 2004 the Danish singlehand sailor Jan Moeller succeeded in being the first Scandinavian to circumnavigate the globe without stopping underway a tough challenge for the man his equipment. Elvstrom Sails built a complete set of sails for the ultra light canting keel Open 40. The brief was complex: I wanted sails that could last the full distance and I also wanted to be fast, the sails would take punishment that equals more than 20 years of mileage and see higher windspeeds than most said Jan. Around Alone with ElvstrØm Planning for a voyage like this is a really big task a small item forgotten can turn into a big problem later. One of the early conclusions was the there was no space for an extra mainsail. I could only bring replacement battens and cloth for repairs. Finding good storage for several 7 meter long battens was a challenge, It was thought that storing them inside the boom was a very clever idea. It was good that I had several long training trips planned and my second training trip which took up and around the Faroe Islands I found out that placing the spares where it is difficult and dangerous to access was a very bad idea so the spare battens were afterwards lashed to the stanchions. Before the start Jan had sailed more than 11.000 nautical miles alone in the boat. When reading the stories from other singlehand sailors I had always thought it was a bit odd when they started being personal with their vessel and using terms like we about sailor and boat today I am happy to say that I was already at that point before the start, I had really great confidence in that boat we had a great trip. The Open 40 is a smaller sister to the well known Open 60s, sharing the same technology built in carbon and with moveable ballast in the form a canting keel and water ballast. One thing completely absent was comfort in the classic sense no soft bunks or cosy interiors. The circumnavigation started in Copenhagen on September 28th 2003 and was successfully concluded when Jan entered the small harbour inside the greater Copenhagen Port next to the little Mermaid 168 and a half days later having travelled 32400 nautical miles non-stop. The route was the classical old square rigger route: North around Skagen, South through the North Sea and through the English Channel and out into the Bay of Biscay. Due to a large area of high pressure there was very little wind around Denmark at starting day so it took 9 days to cover the relatively short distance between Copenhagen and Brest. It was very stressful due to the vicinity of the shore and the great number of other vessels so I could only sleep for 30 minutes at a time, then I had to go up and have a look around. I was exhausted when we finally could venture out into the Atlantic Ocean away from shore and ships. From there on the route was due South until 35 South, strangely both the Canary Islands and the Cape Verde Islands were in the way for the optimal route. Once at 35 South (that is around the latitude of Buenos Aires) a soft swing to port brought the Open 40 down into the roaring forties. Routeing was primarily done with the help of MaxSea where weather information in the form of GRIB files was downloaded several times daily. But I wanted a second opinion and had made arrangements with C o m m a n d - ers Weather to provide me with a weather forecast every 3rd day. This was especially important in the Southern Ocean as there is not much current weather data available, so I needed someone who had experience with routeing other sailors in this area The rig was a fractional cutter rig, with a mainsail of 80m2, a small staysail of 20 m2 on the inner forestay and high-cut genoa on the forestay. Inn addition to this there was three sails for the bowsprit a Code 0 on a furler and two asymmetrical spinnakers in socks the large spinnaker was 170m2 Spinnakers were not used much in the big South! Instead I found great convenience in the split sailplan. When the wind would
come up it was easy for me to put in a reef (the mainsail had 3 very deep reefs) and furl the genoa in a matter of minutes. Down there it can go from a tranquil 20 knots to 45-50 knots in a few minutes and you need to respond quickly otherwise the boat will suffer. The construction of the sails was done in close cooperation between the Elvstrom design team and Jan. I was surprised and impressed that all the sails fitted straight on the boat no modifications were necessary. I also really liked the details like the pockets for the leechlines and the soft hanks in the staysail A combination of racing design and cruising sailcloth was used. The woven spectra sailcloth proved to be a very solid solution. I had absolutely no damage to the sails, even when the full length battens on the staysail disintegrated due to an operator error I could pull them straight out of the pockets and replace without damaging the sail. In the Indian Ocean Jan suffered a severe knockdown where the boat was nearly inverted for several minutes. I knew it was going to get tough so I had handed in the mainsail and furled the genoa. Everything was lashed down and secured. The only sail up was the bullet-proof staysail. We were in steady 55 knots of wind from the Southwest and the boat trucking along averaging 14 knots I had actually less sail up than normal due to severe crosssea from the Northwest. After 6 hours in these very messy conditions with wave heights up to 14 meters (actual satellite data ) I was lying in my bunk fully dressed and fully asleep the boat was hit square on and knocked down. I woke up when I found myself launched in mid-air, was knocked unconscious when I hit the ceiling and woke up again when I landed on the floor. I was only later that I saw from the damage sustained that the boat had been inverted 150 degrees. The boat sustained some damage, the satellite dome was crushed and the solar panels destroyed. What surprised me most apart from the rig still standing was this Elvstrom staysail it was totally unaffected by the thrashing it had received. Shortly after returning home there was journalist from one of the big sailing magazines on-board, he was to travel with Jan from Copenhagen to the west of Denmark. There was 25 know out of the West, so we were hard on the wind. I remember him looking very closely at the sails and then he would claim Pretty efficient people those Elvstrom guys. I did not understand what he meant, but he kept on: that they have given you a new mainsail here 3 weeks after your homecoming. He was looking at the sail that just had travelled 37.000 nautical miles I guess that is all you need for a testimonial. Thank you Elvstrom Sails. Racing with EPEX EPEX High Tech Sails for Bavaria 39 Cruiser 2008, after a break of 15 years from the regatta lanes, I decided to participate at the Thuesday evening regattas at FA Sejlklub. The Bavaria 39 CR performed well with the standard Dacron furling main and furling genoa, so I felt like returning to racing. With a new crew it took some time before our boat handling was acceptable. Speed on reaching and upwind courses was acceptable, but the boat was heeling. Sailing close-hauled we couldn t keep height at all, the sails were simply too hollow and lost the shape when the wind was blowing. equently, we were listed far down on the ranking lists. TP 52 and ElvstrØm Sails In choosing Elvstrom Sails to build new sails for our racing boats I looked for three key elements 1. An understanding of the latest design and technology 2. The ability to deliver fit for purpose sails at a sensible budget 3. Support both on and off the race track The Elvstrom Sails team have continually managed my expectations and I would not hesitate in recommending them to my fellow competitors. At the boat show in Margrethe Hallen in 2009 I spoke to one of Elvstrøm s salesmen who mentioned the advantages of changing to EMS High Tech sails EPEX Technora with double Taffeta in grey, and in the light hereof I decided to order new sails. I changed all halyards to Dyneema as the old once were of poor quality which wouldn t be optimum conditions for the new sails. The new sails were beyond my expectations, and I have gained more surface with the vertical battens, less heeling, really good height and more speed. The sails simply keep the shape regardless how strong the wind is blowing. Further it is easy to reef till the reef indicators in the sail. As a result we are now among the top at our evening matches, and when participating at the Melfaremarine 2Star Cup Round the Little Belt we won over all in 24-28 knots wind. So any talk about furling mains not being able to compete with conventional sails should cease, at least if the furling sails are built of the best materials. Hans Henrik Hansen Bavaria 39 Cruiser EPEX Technora with double Taffeta in grey Nigel Passmore, X35, J/133 and TP52
Elvstrøm Sails A/S, Paul Elvstrøms Vej 4 DK-6200 Aabenraa, Tel. +45 7362 4800 info@elvstromsails.com www.elvstromsails.com