Future Fibres R&D team are on a new mission to optimise a cable design for a gennaker furling system. Top down furling, is a method of furling loose luffed asymmetric spinnakers around a torsional cable. It can offer significantly improved gennaker hoists and drops, however it requires a fundamentally different approach to traditional furling systems.
Top down furling presents some impressive benefits for all markets. On race boats, it has the potential to reduce sail change times, especially for shorthanded endurance sailing. It could also have a positive impact on inshore sailing, removing the need for woolling or packing of spinnakers in-between race legs.
In the superyacht market, the gains are potentially even bigger. As the size of the sail multiplies, so does the level of difficulty and potential dangers in changing and furling. Top down could mean more consistent and far safer gennaker drops and require fewer crew members to operate. Lighter and simpler than bucket systems, this technology would also remove the need for time consuming woolling.
A similar approach has been successfully utilised in the smaller end of the cruising market, however the development required to make top down furling a practical solution for grand prix teams or the largest superyachts, is only now coming to fruition, as Future Fibres' Alex Runciman explains:
"Top down furling is all about torque and speed and we've had to develop a totally different product compared to our existing range of code cables. The design and construction is focused far more on torque rather than cable working load and our reinforcement is more symmetrical as the torque distribution is more uniform along the cable's length."
However, supplying the right cable is just the start. Due to the overall system speed, there is a degree of technique involved to get the system to work effectively and we are actively involved with a few development partners to fine tune the set-up so we are in a position to get our clients up to speed quickly with this high performance product.
