Cruising Genoa: Radial Dacron

image asset 1 1 — Radial Dacron Passagemaker roller-furling genoa. The Passagemaker’s standard features are a foam luff for better reefing and furling, reefing reinforcements on the foot and leech and UV covers on the foot and leech.

image 88f23a4b 962b 4864 93cf c61767852c62 — *A dacron roller/furling genoa and full-batten main on a Tartan 38. Robin Ricca photo.*

In an effort to increase the performance of woven polyester sails, commonly called “Dacron,” cloth manufacturers have developed new weaving techniques to make woven polyester fabrics suited for radial paneled sails. The breakthrough was finding a way to weave a cloth with strong, straight warp yarns while all the “crimp” (bending over and under of the weaving process) is in the fill yarns. Cloth that is stronger in the warp direction is called “warp oriented.”

The fully articulated panel layout of a tri-radial mainsail rotates the cloth’s thread line to match the primary load paths between the three corners of the sail. To accomplish this, tri-radial sails are constructed from many narrow panels, where the thread line of the cloth is parallel to the longest edge of the panel. That is why radial sails made with woven polyester sailcloth were not feasible until cloth manufacturers learned how to weave wrap-oriented cloth.

Radial woven polyester sails are a good choice for cruising sailors who need the durability of Dacron, yet who still appreciate the performance of sails that hold their shape better than traditional cross-cut dacron sails.