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Since the debut of Kevlar 29 and Kevlar 49, Du Pont has introduced a number of other Kevlar styles including Kevlar 129, Kevlar 149 and Kevlar 159. While these fibers have terrific stretch resistance, this increase in modulus goes hand-in-hand with even lower flex strength, so that most of these fibers have not been useful for making sails. Basically, it’s interesting to know that these kinds of fibers exist, but unless sailmakers and fabric makers can figure out how to overcome their weaknesses they might never enter the sailmaking realm.

In the loft the sail looked beautiful and we shipped it over to Sardinia for the Maxi-Boat World Championships. I was racing on board as mainsail trimmer, and for the regatta we were fortunate enough to have Ted Hood on board. Ted had long since sold Hood Sails, but he was still active in helping promote the company, and if his schedule allowed it, he would show up for key regattas. We had a practice sail the day before the first race and everything seemed fine. The morning of the first race dawned sparkling bright, and we left the dock early to get ready for the race.

On the other hand, there are some occasions where durability needs outweigh performance, and in these cases a high modulus/low weight combination will not be the driving factor when designing the fabric. For example if you were choosing a fabric for a Dacron No. 5 ounces. On the other hand if you wanted a No. 1 genoa for cruising to Bermuda you might choose an 8-ounce balanced Dacron that would be heavier, but also have the strength and durability you need for an offshore passage. Since Dacron was first introduced in the mid-1950s, there has been a lot of development in both the fiber and the fabric.