New Racing Sails vs Class Rules

Coquine leading T22 legend Doug Patterson’s Tarka at the 2005 T22 N-A Championships.

Spinnaker

The class dimensions are quite easy to understand. Minimum cloth weight is 0.75oz. Maximum leach length is 27 feet and maximum girth is 16 feet. The difficult part is more in the shape. Older spinnaker design, cross cut or tri-radial with 2 or 3 horizontal panels have big round shoulders and the maximum girth placed quite high (usually the top of the highest horizontal panel). This produce a spinnaker that has big projected area when going dead downwind but is a bit difficult to trim on a reach (especially the shoulder area).  Newer spinnaker design, full tri-radial or tri-radial with rocked center panels, are more flat and have their maximum girth set almost at mid height. They are very fast on reaches and work best when you can keep the air flowing across the sail when going downwind. On Coquine we chose a full radial 0.75 oz nylon spinnaker with the maximum girth set right at the seam between the top radial and corner radials. 

Tanzer 22 Genoa

Genoa

The class dimensions for the genoa are 27 feet 6 inches for the luff, 27 feet 6 inches for the leach and 15 feet 3 inches for the foot. The minimum cloth weight is 4oz. This is an area where the class rules can be misleading. You should not ask for a 4oz genoa unless you sail all the time in winds that are less than 10 knots (and you have a good #2 genoa!). A discussion with your sailmaker will help you select the right sail for your boat and for the conditions you sail in. On Coquine, Benoît Charette from Voiles Atlantis recommended a cross cut design Dimension Polyant 4.8oz Polykote HTP+ Dacron (Voiles Atlantis loft is on the shores of Lake of Two-Mountains (where I sail) and Benoît was quite aware of our sailing conditions!). The resin coated Polykote 4.8oz dacron is as strong as the resin infused Contender Polypreg 5.46oz North Sails uses in their T22 genoa but it is lighter. The downside is that a resin coated sail is more fragile and doesn’t like to be folded. This is why I keep my genoa rolled.

Another interesting point is that my genoa is not at maximum dimensions! I asked Benoît to make the leach at 27 feet because I noticed that when you put a lot of rake in your mast you run out of adjustment space on the sheet (the clew is almost touching the block!) with a maximum leach genoa. I also asked for the sail hanks to be placed at 24 inches intervals (and not 28 or 30 inches like other #1 I saw) to better hold the front of the sail. The secret of a good T22 genoa is in the designed draft. A good light air genoa has a full top section and a little flatter bottom section. The fuller top section will help your boat to sail higher in light conditions.

I also asked for a 3 sq. ft. collision window in the lower section and for anti-chafe green coloured patches to be placed at spreader tip height. These patches are very important on a 170% genoa because the sail has to come a long way across the boat when tacking and it rubs against the rigging and mast for a long time especially at spreader level. The green colour was to contrast with the white spreader tip when looking trough the mainsail window (and this colour fits nicely with the rest of the boat!)

Tanzer 22 mainsail

Mainsail

The class dimensions for the mainsail are 23 feet for the luff and 9 feet for the foot. There are also cross girth measurements at headboard, quarter girth, middle girth and three quarter girth. The minimum cloth weight is 5oz.

The T22 mainsail design doesn’t vary much from one sailmaker to the other. The required dimensions are quite simple and it is more a question of adjusting the boom height to the sail (so the mainsail leach doesn’t touch the backstay!). The variations are more in the foot of the sail and the battens area. You have the choice between a standard and a loose footed mainsail. For the battens you have several choices; standard (4 short battens), 2+2 (2 short and 2 full), full battened (4 full).  On Coquine we chose a loose footed cross-cut 5.6oz Polykote HTP+ Dacron 2+2 with 2 full battens at the top and 2 short battens at the bottom. In light air it is very important to have 2 tapered top battens (flexible near the mast and more rigid at the leach) to allow a fair amount of draft in the top section of the mainsail. In heavy air it’s the opposite; you want more rigid battens to reduce the top draft and keep a flat leach. A good mainsail is a versatile one! It should be easy to adjust to the wind conditions and to the desired shape.  It’s easier to adjust the draft in the lower section with a loose footed mainsail.

Another modification I asked for was to put a window near the mast at mid height to see the spreader tip and the genoa leach trough the mainsail when cross sheeting the genoa from the windward side in heavy air. I also asked for tell tales to be placed on the leach (at each batten) and for anti-chafe patches in the mainsail at the spreader tip location.

Conclusion

When you want to buy new sails, it is important to take the time to look at other boats and ask skippers what they think of their sails in your own fleet. You may get as many opinions as there are different sailmakers but you will have a better understanding of what your options are.

Coquine with Atlantis Sails, Chris Campbell’s Shigawac with Quantum Sails and other T22 on Lake of Two-Mountains.

For the past few years, the Class association had a group purchase with North Sails that produced great sails at a good price. Other preferred to buy sails made or imported by local sail loft with some good results. There are many options to choose from.  Personally I chose to buy my sails from a local sail loft because I wanted some features that were not standard with other sailmakers (cloth weight, location of draft, hanks spacing, windows in the mainsail and genoa, etc). The proximity was also a big factor in my decision. Modifications and repairs are usually done in 1 or 2 days (sometimes overnight!) and I wanted to help this type of local business.

2007 T22 North American Champion Phil Wilcox’s NSC Beagle with Kingston Sail Loft sails.

Ken Hodgson’s Sloop du Jour with Rolly Tasker sails from Tack Sails and Tanzer Boat Parts.

As you can see from the photos, you can buy fast sails from different sailmakers! All these boats have won races at North American Championships (so you know they are fast!). Your final decision will be guided by many factors; price, cloth, availability, proximity, design, quality of fabrication and many other.

But remember, new sails are a double edge sword! Your boat speed will surely improve. But you will no longer be able to blame your poor race results on your old sails condition!

Pierre Marois
2005 T22 North American Champion
SLVYRA Chief handicaper