RIGGING & SAILS

MAST

Our catamarans are fitted with 390Gpa High Modulus carbon masts allowing substancial weight savings compared to 245Gpa Standard Modulus masts, themselves hundred of kilos lighter than aluminum masts. 

Masts and booms are supplied by Lorima.

During the last Route du Rhum, the following racing multihulls and monohulls raced with a Lorima carbon mast:

  • Half of the fleet
  • The respective winners in the Ultimate, IMOCA and Multi 50 Classes
  • The first five trimarans in the Ultimate Class

Why a carbon mast?

Lorima explains the benefits of a carbon mast.

A carbon mast brings:

1 – More comfort during navigation  
A carbon mast, stiffer than an aluminum mast enables to simplify the rig. This makes it easier to maneuver the boat, especially with a short crew.
On a multihull, going to carbon enables to get rid off the spreaders and diamond.
Weight gain in the higher part reduces pitching, especially when sailing upwind.
On a monohull, your boat will not heel so much with a carbon mast, as it is lighter than aluminum.

2 – More comfort when mooring
 A carbon mast tube is about 40% to 60% lighter than if it was in aluminum, depending on the fibers used and the fabrication method. The weight gain is also important on the standing rigging as it is sized for lesser loads. This weight improvement reduces rolling when mooring.  The rolling inertia is reduced thanks to the weight gain from a height.
The boat equipped with carbon masts are noticeable on moorings, they’re the ones rolling the less.

3 – Security and reliability.
Carbon is a material with a stronger mechanical resistance than aluminum, resistance to impacts, without corrosion made by stainless steel on aluminum. The structure of a carbon mast will age much better than an aluminum mast. If you wish to have your mast painted, the adherence of the paint will be much more optimized on carbon and the pain will not flake away like it would on aluminum.

4 – Improved performance.
A carbon mast will make your boat more « nervous » and stiffer. The sails will therefore be more efficient and your boat will sail faster.
You will notice less pitching and better performance for your boat, especially upwind with rough sea.
Less heeling will also increase the performance and will delay reefing.
As an example, on a 12 meter boat, weight gain with a carbon mast is about 70 kg. This weight gain allows reducing the weight of the keel and will lead to a stiffer boat during navigation.
You will also save fuel when navigating with an engine: your boat will « dive » less into the waves and will maintain speed.

When on a cruising programme, if one does not see the need for a carbon mast, it’s important to keep in mind that carbon will bring you comfort, security and performance.

www.lorima-carbon-mast.com

BOOM

The boom is made of HR T700 prepreg carbon.

We really like the aesthetic of a V boom but could not accept its additional weight. This is however available as an option.

STANDING RIGGING

A carbon rig deserves better than a full rod standing rigging and we opted for Kevlar stay and shrouds.

A Carbon EC6 or Carbolink standing rigging is available as an option allowing substantial weight savings aloft.

SAILS

Sails are not included.

We can suggest a sails inventory developped with Incidences, larger than the standard inventory on board the average cruising catamaran. Sails are available in Hydranet, Carbon-Vectran or Cuben.

Square Top Mainsail, Solent, Staysail, Storm Jib, Code Zero, Gennaker and Asymetrical Spinnaker, the sail inventory is larger than usually seen on fast cruising cats.

As detailed in our section DESIGN & COMPROMISE, our catamarans are designed to be speed catamarans and we firmly believe that sails are an area where there should be no compromise.

On many cruising catamarans, sails are cut to represent a compromise between upwind in light airs and downwind in medium breeze. While we understand that such sails are perfectly adequate for the cruising catamarans targeting absolute comfort and easy sailing, we took the view they don’t belong onboard high performance cruising catamarans.

We understand that the relationship with a sailmaker is often personal and we welcome the opportunity to work with your local sailmaker with whom you have built a trusted relationship over the years.