Sails
2009 Belmont Models
We are excited to release the new models for 2009. The Belmont Model. After the Olympics in October and November 2008, we put a lot of time into developing a new sail that would further increase the range of conditions that our customers could be fast in be fast in more automatically and with ease of use both up and down wind. Power delivery and acceleration were two of the major aspects that were looked at. In recent times there has bee a standard model and Big Boy model. We felt that there has been a missing link for those sailors that sail at between 80kg and 87kg as they are in between the ideal range for a standard and a Big Boy.
We designed and developed the “Model 14” which is a Medium sail. It has the same traits of the standard sail and the Big Boy sails but fits perfectly in the middle. Sailors that are just bordering either end of this weight range should strongly consider the “Model 14” as an option. Especially lighter guys sailing predominantly light conditions and heavier guys sailing in predominantly windy conditions.
The standard sail is now “13S”
Medium sail “14”
Big Boy sail “15BB”
The 2009 model sails are white pentex with black batten pockets. The same style and look used by Glenn Darren in the Beijing Olympics.
Battens
As a sailor we can forget how important battens are in the element of how many gears we can access within a sail. For our Tornado Team we work long and hard in achieving the correct range of battens that will get us through the range, consisting of various percentages of light and heavy sets.
This is certainly a lot of battens and in most cases excessive for A Class sailing though I strongly recommend every sailor has the following within their kit to deal with all weather conditions and for optimum overall sail performance.
Standard Full Set – Is commonly known as our medium set of battens covering the wind range of typically 8 to 18kts.
Top Four Lights – I change to the top 4 light when the wind range is from 2 to 12knots. The light top four enables the sail to power up more by increasing the depth in the top of the sail. It also helps the leech stand up with less sheet tension (good for downwind when just starting to go wild in particularly.)
Top Four Heavy – When you know you are going to have ‘a bit on’ I turn to the top four heavy battens. This is a wind range of usually 16 to 25 knots. This helps keep the head of the sail flat and helps the sail twist naturally which help acceleration and reduces heeling force and drag.
- Standard Fiberfoam Battens $335 (200€)
- Top 4 Light Fiberfoam Battens $168 (100€
- Top 4 Heavy Fiberfoam Battens $182 (110€)
- Ring and Shackles available also $26AUD (16€)