The right cloth and technology?

Whilst I am a big fan of trickle down technology, it sometimes does lend itself to developments that aren't necessarily the best.
I was recently reading a post by a fellow sailmaker who was welcoming the introduction of a high end cruising fabric and pointed out that where many large sailmaking companies were very race orientated and spent vast sums setting up new construction techniques, they would often try and add a bit of "value added" by producing a cruising version of their race product! Often in these cases, the performance would be enhanced as one would expect but at the expense of longevity.
It struck a chord with me!
I have seen some people paying exorbitant prices for the latest construction techniques where at the end of the line it is utilising polyester fibres, basically still a Dacron sail at the price level of a much higher pedigree fibre in terms of both performance and durability! They could have a much better sail at a cheaper price?
Most of the worlds sails are still made from woven material and cover the vast range of boats from blue water cruising right through to club racing.
It must be said there is a huge array of woven fabrics, even Dacron has so many levels of performance and price, then on top of that there are the Hybrid fabrics combining a combination of Dacron with Spectra or Vectran in the weave. Laminated cloths still have there place in this market, particularly if some performance is required and once again this is a varied marketplace. So a very full and complex variety of sailcloth is available to suit most needs and budgets.
So if you are considering new sails for cruising, club racing or both, do the research! Ask the sailmaker, set your priorities of longevity, cost and performance. Don't be sucked into the marketing of the salemakers!

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