In the past furling sails were looked upon as only suitable for cruising. This view for sure must change, after the new Hallberg-Rassy 412 wins the Swedish yacht race Tjörn Rundt - equipped with the latest in furling mains: The EPEX FatFurl.

TJORN: An outstanding class victory and an 8th place overall in the 436 boat strong fleet indicate that the 11 ton Hallberg-Rassy cruising yacht has plenty of speed to spare.

With its unique FatFurl mainsails it already proved its capabilities during the first sea-trials. And the positive indications were confirmed this past weekend, when it took line honours and won its class with a 5 minute 57 seconds margin, after a 3 hours and 50 minutes long sprint around the Swedish island Tjorn. Leaving traditional yacht racers like the First 40.7, X-382, X-99, X-37, Melges 24, First 36.7, Sweden Yachts 41 in its wake.

In the overall result the HR412 finished 8th out of 436 participating boats. Only beaten by thoroughbred carbon racers like the First 40. On calculated racing time the HR412 beat all Xp38s, Xp44s, X-50s, Bavaria 42 Match, First 40.7s, Arcona 4004 and other know performance boats.

FatFurl works!

The Hallberg-Rassy 412 is the first boat to be equipped with Elvstrøm’s new furling main, FatFurl.

The sail has an extraordinary large head board – 33 cm – a unique feature which is able to keep shape it the sail’s massive roach, and at the same time is able to furl into the mast.

- Three parameters make the FatFurl unique: The massive head board, the larger sail area, and the sail’s ability to twist, says Key Account Manager Søren Hansen.

Through several years of development with the designers he has developed the sail, that is now proving itself to be competitive with traditional non-furling mains.

- The FatFurl main is one of our top-of-the-line products, and the fact is that we are years ahead of our competitors in the furling segment.  – which is ahead of our competitors by years. To succeed with a sail like this you need the very best materials on the market: The vaccum made EPEX membranes with strong fibres like Technora, says Soren Hansen.

- With the FatFurl sails speed doesn’t come alone. I lighter air the sails’ larger surface areas produce more power, and when the wind is strong the ability to open the leech makes the big difference: The roach opens while optimum shape is maintained, he explains.

New energy to old boats

One can look at the FatFurl sails as the furling main version 5.0. First came the furling mains with negative roach and no battens, followed by sails with short, vertical battens and a straight roach. Version 3 was Elvstrom’s EMS with boom to roach vertical battens, and next EMS Max with boom to roach vertical battens and smaller vertical battens in between.

- This makes FatFurl fifth generation furling mains, and boat-owners changing from first or second generation will experience dramatically improved performance with less heel and higher speeds, says Soren Hansen.

If you are interested in the new FatFurl furling main, now is a good time to save some money. Throughout September all Elvstrom sails are sold with a 15 percent rebate. After that the rebate drops to 10 percent until November 15th. And the remaining month and a half before New Year’s Eve, one gets 5 percent rebate.