El barco de sotavento usando un genoa de aramid MatriX y el de barlo con un genoa de Kevlar Tape-Drive
Pedrito Gianotti, un amigo argentino que hace años esta radicado en USA me mandó un reporte con la actualidad de su velería UK Halsey Texas, en dónde estan desarrollando nuevos genoas para J-24 luego de la aprobación por parte de la clase del uso de fibras de aramida (Kevlar para Dupont) para el genoa.
Este es el informe completo original (en inglés)
UK Halsey Texas
J/24 ARAMID GENOA DEVELOPMENT PROGRAM UNDERWAY
UK-Halsey Houston is testing new aramid J/24 genoas throughout the winter so that customers will have the fastest sails possible this spring. The aramid MatriX genoa is on the boat to leeward and the Kevlar Tape-Drive genoa is on the windward boat.
After the International J/24 Class Association voted to allow the use of aramid fibers in the construction of class genoas, UK-Halsey Houston started working on making their fast class genoa's faster yet. Aramid is the generic name for yarns such as Dupont's Kevlar. Since aramid yarns have very little stretch, existing sail designs that compensated for stretch need to be updated. The first major event for which the new sails should be legal is the World Championship in March. UK-Halsey Houston did its first two-boat testing using aramid sails made with UK-Halsey's MatriX and Tape-Drive construction methods.
J/24 ARAMID GENOA DEVELOPMENT PROGRAM UNDERWAY
UK-Halsey Houston is testing new aramid J/24 genoas throughout the winter so that customers will have the fastest sails possible this spring. The aramid MatriX genoa is on the boat to leeward and the Kevlar Tape-Drive genoa is on the windward boat.
After the International J/24 Class Association voted to allow the use of aramid fibers in the construction of class genoas, UK-Halsey Houston started working on making their fast class genoa's faster yet. Aramid is the generic name for yarns such as Dupont's Kevlar. Since aramid yarns have very little stretch, existing sail designs that compensated for stretch need to be updated. The first major event for which the new sails should be legal is the World Championship in March. UK-Halsey Houston did its first two-boat testing using aramid sails made with UK-Halsey's MatriX and Tape-Drive construction methods.
The first round of testing was done at Corpus Christi, Texas, over a weekend in January. On the first day it blew 14-16 knots and on the second day it only blew 5-7 knots. This provided a good range of results. To ensure the veracity of our tests, both boats were tuned equally, drivers were switched and sails where switched from boat to boat. All combinations of boats, drivers and sails were tested to ensure accurate data. After all the testing, it was concluded without any doubt that the aramid sails were faster than the Pentex and Silver-Drive genoas in all the conditions. Sail designer and UK-Halsey Houston loft owner Pedro Gianotti said, "We liked both Kevlar sails very much, although the Tape-Drive Genoa set better for light breeze and the MatriX genoa looks very strong and powerful in heavy winds. We will continue testing other sails during the month of February.
By building and testing different sails, we will make sure that customers are not treated a guinea pigs. They will have the fastest J/24 sails available.” UK-Halsey Houston has been creating fast sails for the J/24 class for years; in fact, in 2008 two UK-powered boats finished in the top three of the competitive Texas Circuit.
Special thanks to Stuart Lindow and his crew (second at the 2008 Texas circuit) for towing his boat from Houston to Corpus Christi and Doug Weakly and his crew (third at the 2008 Texas circuit). Also many thanks to David Herschap for providing his powerboat.
For more information about the J-24 sails contact http://www.uksailstexas.com/J-24.htm
