Sails, Rigging & Technology
Sails, rope, kit and new technology
Offshore racing gear changes every season, and most of it is sold on promises. This section tests those promises against what happens at sea.
It starts with sails, because that is where most of the money goes and most of the speed is lost: who really invented the sails you just bought, how to buy new ones without being taken for a ride, and why the sails you already own are probably costing you places. It goes on to rope, rigging and the fibre revolution, whether old knots such as the bowline still hold with new fibres, foul-weather gear, keeping enough power aboard on a long race, and the hydrodynamics and aerodynamics that sit underneath all of it.
Each piece asks the same questions. Does it make the boat faster or safer? Does it still work at three in the morning, in the wet, when the person using it has not slept? And is it worth the money compared with spending the same on preparation or coaching?
Sometimes the answer is yes, and the new thing is a real advance. Often the answer is that the old way still works, provided someone aboard knows how to use it. The crews who gain are the ones who understand what their kit is doing, not the ones with the most of it.
The articles are listed below, newest first. Explore the other subjects in the FirstShift article library, or read the latest articles.
