The SYZ & CO hydrofoil catamaran team called upon the services of North Sails which supplied its latest generation of composite sails, known as 3Di sails. This catamaran will therefore be the very first boat to use this type of sail in regattas.
The team at North Sails consists essentially of Pierre-Yves Jorand, in charge of project coordination, and Patrick Mazuay, who is responsible for the sail design. Patrick worked throughout the winter with the assistance of the “Flow Membrane System” which permits virtual navigation of the boat and enables a precise evaluation to be made of the way in which power fluctuations of the sails can be managed on the transition of the boat from the Archimedean mode, in which it must advance on full power, to the foil navigation mode in which its power must be cut almost instantaneously.
The 3Di system combines all the qualities sought after in every kind of sailing but more particularly for such a sophisticated boat as the SYZ & CO hydrofoil catamaran. The specifications of the boat were particularly stringent; 3Di sails, at one and the same time malleable in their profile and power, light and stable, were the best suited to this particular project.
The 3Di sails are made of a material which is produced by the same moulding procedure as 3DL. This material makes more efficient use of fiber technology and produces sails which are both stronger and lighter than anything available today. The “i” stands for “interleaved” (woven); however, shapes can be made with the same degree of precision as is the case with 3 DL. North Sails 3Di technology was developed for Alinghi for the 32nd Americas’ Cup.
The mandate was entrusted to North Sails (Switzerland) and more specifically to its “research and development department”, a company based in Cossonnay, and headed by Edouard Kessi, François Mordasini and Gérard Gautier.
| Sails |
Mainsail |
Gennaker |
Genoa |
Jib sail |
| Product |
3Di |
3DL |
3Di |
3Di |
| Sail area |
52m2 |
92m2 |
28m2 |
17m2 |
| Range of use(true wind speed |
0 - 15 then reef |
0 - 22 |
5 - 13 |
12 -18 |
The software used by North Sails for this project were Desman, Spiral/Spine, Flow 2008 and Membrain 2008.
Desman permitted the creation of a complete three-dimensional model of the rigging which was the “backbone” of the project. This digital model contains all the necessary information (such as the moments of inertia and mechanical properties) which enable a structural study of the finished elements to be made using Membrain 2008. This enabled the deformations under load not only of the rigging and sails, but also of each component shown in the model, to be determined (for instance the load and deformation applied to the main body of the sail and halyards).
Spiral then enables the shape of the sails to be defined in three dimensions in the initial state of a “mould”. Apart from the dimensions of the sail, each edge (mast side, trailing edge, foot and header) can be adjusted with minute attention to detail while the body of the sail is defined in both horizontal and vertical sections (distribution of the volumes and radii of curvature...).
