Sail Types

It all begins with your overall need and your sailing preference. To us, every sail is unique and must match your sailing adventures and dreams.

Find inspiration to match your dream and sailing preference in our 6 segments.

The main sail is always in use when sailing, meaning it has to cover a wide spectre of wind angles and forces. The shape in the main sail consists of three elements: A designed shape, the stretch of the material and the shape of the mast. Combining these three elements makes the finished product.

Softer (often woven) materials stretch more than laminates or membranes/ EPEX do. This means that softer materials perform better over a larger range of wind condition, where the harder ones are more specific. While sailing, the mainsail is connected to the mast, and usually the boat also has a backstay. A tight backstay will bend the mast and depower the main - good in a heavy breeze, while a straighter mast gives you a deeper and more powerful sail, which comes in handy in lighter conditions.

We have all types of mainsails in our portfolio, from cruising conventional mainsails in crosscut woven materials that are suitable for coastal sailing in different materials and cuts up to our lightest and most stretch resistant racing sails. Mainsails can also furl into the mast or boom. These sail types can be delivered with or without battens. Full battens will improve the boats performance for two main reasons. The battens obviously support a positive roach that result in a larger sail area than if not battens are used.

The other big advantage when using full battens is that these will work as reefing points. When you furl the sail so that the batten is close to the extrusion, the luff will be stretched, and you have a flat and efficient reefed sail.

Multihulls as well as some monohulls are equipped with so called “fat head” or “square head” mainsails. This design adds sail area, and another effect of the wide top is that they are aerodynamically more efficient in most conditions. These designs do however not work unless your boat either does not have a backstay or is equipped with double backstays where the leeward one is loose, so it does not conflict with the leech of the sail.

The headsail(s) is normally used when sailing upwind or at least with apparent wind lower than 90 degrees. These are attached in one or another way to the forestay where the most common one is a furling system, but hooks either of metal or soft hanks in dyneema as well as zipper along the forestay can also be used.

Many racing boats are using a twin groove foil to be able to change sails without having to drop one sail fully before setting another.

Two types of headsails

There are two variations of headsails.

Jib

The jibs are shorter in the foot and sheeted in front of the shrouds or even further forward on a self-tacking track.

Genoa

The genoas are wider, they are passing the shrouds and is sheeted on a genoa track in front of the cockpit. Furling sails are most common, and these sails can be reefed in heavy wind by partly being furled in.

A headsail can also be used on deep angles supported by a pole on the opposite side of the mainsail. The shape of sails comes from 3 elements; the designed shape, stretch of material and the shape of the mast. Soft (often woven) materials will stretch more than laminated or EPEX sails will, and for that reason the low stretch materials will perform better over a larger range of wind conditions.

As for the mainsail, you can tune the shape of the sail by reducing or increasing the sag of the forestay. Less backstay tension result in increased sag which leads to a deeper sail that performs well in light breeze. In heavier conditions more backstay tension will result in a flatter sail. Moving the sheet car backwards will flatten the sail and forward will make the sail deeper.

Downwind sailing with a proper downwind sail is arguably the most comfortable sort of sailing one can do.

Often nicknamed 'champagne sailing', the downwind sailing is just cruising at its prime. The family of sails for downwind use is substantial, and if you are a cruising sailor you should consult your sailmaker to find the best fit for your boat and ambitions.

We also have a whole downwind sailtype dedicated to cabled furling. This is better known as the Furlstrøm. 

This is also a furling sail, but it is furled around an anti-torsion cable from bottom to top.

A Blue Water Runner, on the other hand, is a sail optimized for easy sailing on deep angles. It is a furling sail, which combines the properties of a downwind sail with easy handling as it furls. This also makes the Blue Water Runner a great choice for short or even singlehanded sailing.

The spinnaker is available in two configurations - symmetric and asymmetric.

Symmetric spinnakers are used on a spinnaker pole that you move from one side to the other when gybing. These sails are less commonly used these days, but do offer a wide range when it comes to be used on different wind angles.

Asymmetric spinnakers, often called gennakers, are tacked in the centerline when in use - often on a bowsprit. So when gybing the clew corner is moved to the opposite side of the boat. This sail can be used together with a spisok for easier handling, or also a furling system that furls the sail in from top to bottom.

The gennaker is generally speaking a little step down in power from a traditional spinnaker, but on the other hand, it's less prone to collapse, and it is easier to manage due to the geometry used.

A code sail fills the gap between the headsail and the pure downwind sails. It can be described as a medium between the genoa and a full-blown downwind sail like the asymmetrical spinnakers, as it acts like a narrow and flat type of spinnaker.

The code can “replace” the engine in light breeze and give the boat high speed under effortless sailing on broad reach in medium breeze. The code sail family is a large one. Common for all of them is that they are set while they are furled in, and when they are up you unfurl and sail away. Before dousing, you furl the sail in, and in this way the handling is very easy.

Code sails can be delivered with an Anti-torsion cable in the luff, and some of these sails can be left hoisted if they have a UV-cover. Cable free code sails are also popular, and they cover a larger range of wind angles since they have a positive luff curve that also take them partly in to the asymmetric family of sails. The cable free code sails shall have the luff tight when they are furled in, and slightly eased when sailing.

Code sails can be delivered in various materials, from EPEX via radial laminated to radial woven materials. The higher Apparent Wind Speed they will be exposed for, the more you wish to have material that does not stretch.

So EPEX is the best material for a code sail built to go upwind and on larger boats, at the same time as a woven polyester sail can be the right material for a large cable free code.

The Code Zero-concept is derived from the world of racing as it sits between the handling and effects of a genoa and a spinnaker. They are widely used for racing, and these are available in ratings to suit your local rules of racing, too.

Our qualified Elvstrøm SailPoints will guide you and help you measure your boat if the rig has been changed since the original set-up.