Three tips for changing the sails on your boat

Sails are a bit like the engine in the car, and so changing them can-sometimes-really make a big difference in the performance of the boat. As much in cruising as, of course, in racing. Modern sails can benefit from innovative materials such as Kevlar or carbon, and custom design that takes into account precise simulations and millimeter drawing, take advantage of increasingly powerful and technological machines. Here are three perfect manufacturers, two from Italy and one from Denmark, to change the sails on your boat.

Olympic 470 sailing – Zaoli Sails

Ligurian sailmaker Zaoli Sails is the one that will make-partly for the 2024 edition of the Olympics-the sails for the 470 class. Speaking of the Olympics, here are the first official “convocations” announced by the IVF for the Marseille-Paris races. Returning to sails, Zaoli has a wide range from products for monotypes to sails for racing and cruising boats, as well as those designed for classic boats. Among the latest innovations is Zaoli Wing, the sustainable, high-performance wingfoil.

• Check out the products on the Zaoli Sails page in the Boat Gear pavilion

More than 100 years at sea – Zadro Sails

Established in Trieste in 1917, Zadro Sails today moved to new premises in Torviscosa (in the province of Udine) in order to have even more space for the production of its sails. Manufacturing that relies on innovative systems, using special machinery and software that take advantage of the extreme precision of information technology and innovative materials such as Kevlar, carbon or Dyneema. Italian quality not only in the making of the sails, but also in their inspection and maintenance.

• Check out the products on the Zadro Sails page in the Boat Gear pavilion

The innovative Epex technology – Elvstrøm Sails

Elvstrøm Sail was founded in 1954 by sailor Paul Elvstrøm, the only one (to date) to have won four gold medals in four consecutive Olympics. Sails produced by the Danish sailmaker use modern fibers and traditional flats such as kevlar, carbon, dyneema, nylon, polyester, technora, vectran, and dacron. Among the most innovative materials, however, is one that is even more unique. Elvstrøm can also make its sails, in fact, with Epex technology, a high-performance membrane that in processing mixes the advantages of the vacuum technique (the vacuum) and those of hot lamination.

• Check out the products on the Elvstrøm Sails page in the Boat Gear pavilion