Your wave sail is packed with technology

The 026 wave sail program represents another milestone in SEVERNE’s pursuit of lighter, more responsive equipment. These updates focus on reducing swing weight, enhancing reactivity, and delivering direct power transmission; all while maintaining the durability standards expected from SEVERNE products.

TECHNOLOGY OVERVIEW

SEVERNE continues to lead the way in materials and product design. BladePro and S-1 Pro are built entirely in welded CarbonFusion from sleeve to leech – no stitching means no failure points and significant weight reduction.

This technology now extends to the standard Blade and S-1 models through welded foot panels and carbon load transfer strips. Here’s the full rundown of the tech that makes up your 026 wave sail.

SCOTT MCKERCHER’S ANGLE – 20 PLUS YEARS OF RIDING THE BLADE

One of the most influential figures within the SEVERNE brand, and the evolution of the wave sails, is undoubtadly Scott McKercher, joining just when the brand was getting established. Scott needed a sail that wouldn’t fight his power style: “From the outset of going Severne in 2003 Ben set to make a sail which was more along my style of sailing. Over the years this evolved with different materials and seam changes to make it more manoeuvrable and sensitive yet maintaining it’s basic principles of power driven drive.“

Scott McKercher riding one of the first SEVERNE wave sails in history.

VX2 Leech Panels

The leech panel probably has the most effect on swing weight. If you imagine any weight up on the top of the sail, it’s four metres away from you – anything heavy becomes difficult to manage.

That’s all VX2 material in the leech. The centre panels use the stronger eM3, and the front uses D6 Dacron. What you’ll notice with these sails is there’s a lot of different materials used in each section – there’s a specific material that maximizes the benefit for each part of the sail.

VX2 is a vertically oriented X-Ply featuring increased fibre density for stability and control, reduced film thickness for less weight, and a proven scrim layer for dependable durability. The 2 signifies the film thickness in mil. More stable. More durable. Less weight.

eM3 Core Performance

This is something SEVERNE has had going for quite a while now. SEVERNE was first to develop that style of material, and it’s become just about standard that’s used by nearly everyone. The construction is quite simple – two pieces of polyester film glued with polyester X-ply.

SEVERNE uses 2.5 mil film, which is a little more than most other brands using 2 mil. The advantage is it stretches less, has more long-term durability, and retains its shape for longer.

For SEVERNE, overall sail weight is the critical part. If lighter material on the leech up high reduces swing weight, balanced with stronger materials, but the overall weight is lighter than baseline, then the advantage is clear. That’s the number one thing to achieve.

D6 Dacron Innovation

This Dacron is vastly different to the material used before. It sounds different, feels different – quite a different construction. It’s a stronger material than previously used, but it has beautiful flex and softness that gives early inflation, and it’s quieter than using an X-ply luff panel.

One of the first things you notice is it has this silent glide to the sail, which is quite a noticeable effect. The advantage to using D6 Dacron is that it allows all the materials behind it to be stiffer than the materials in front.

DIRECT CONNECTION TECHNOLOGY

Carbon Insert System

One of the main focuses has been making the sail as direct as possible. Working with welded materials revealed that less holes means instant reaction – as soon as the sail engages with wind, you feel it. As soon as you move the sail, it responds.

SEVERNE has started chasing that level of reactivity throughout the sail. The carbon inserts used at the head and tack minimize flex and get the sail to react much quicker.

Zero-Loss Hardware Integration

This extends to lots of other parts of the sail for 026. All the connection points where the sail connects to any hardware feature carbon strips. That makes it a direct connection from sail to hardware. No loss of load through these sections.

Same with the outhaul connection. Some sails previously had an extension beyond the clew That’s been eliminated. Direct corner construction means all tension comes directly to a specific corner of the sail.

Batten Lock Technology

Every one of the battens is like a piece of hardware attached to the sail. Any movement between batten and sail has been minimized. Little details about the stretch, the way the batten tensioner loads onto the sail – first, the material the batten tensioner connects to has less shear.

Stiffer rope, lower stretch rope transfers load from the batten tensioner onto the sail. Every section where the batten moves into the sail is locked in position. At the front, two rows of stitching minimize space so the batten is restricted to how far it can move.

All these small things add up. Everything is locked in place. It’s a more direct connection between hardware and sail. The benefit is you get a more responsive unit.

Dieter Van der Eyken riding the S-1 in Tiree, Scotland.

EXTENDED RANGE GEOMETRY

Optimized Size Selection

Sizes on the smaller blades have been minimized. More wind range out of each size means fewer sizes needed. Previously 3.0, 3.3, 3.5, and 3.7. The new sizes are 3.7 down to 3.4, then 3.1.

With bigger heads, deeper shapes, more stable sails deliver better high-wind performance without needing so many small sizes to change all the time. For bigger sizes, overlap between the Blade 5.3 and 5.7 made the 5.5 unnecessary. 

Adaptive Head Design

It’s quite interesting how much development is coming from race sail development, and can be applied directly to wave sails. With the Mach 8, one of the changes was much bigger head on the sail – this allows the sail to automatically adjust. The sail does a lot more work than the rider.

As sizes go smaller, the heads get relatively fatter. Downside to fat head is it’s a bit draggy and takes more time to move. On bigger sizes, that’s minimized – smaller head, more responsive. Smaller sails, bigger head, softer, more automatic trim.

CONTROLLED STRETCH ENGINEERING

Forward Flex Philosophy

Stretch in the back half of the sail is minimized. It’s all pushed to the front because if that sail is inflating in front of your front hand, it pulls you forward. If inflating the back half, it’s backhand pressure – that’s when you feel overpowered.

The worst combination is when it inflates in the back half and deflates in the front – flatter in front, deeper in back. That’s when you feel like you have to push away with your front arm. Exactly what needs to be avoided with all this development.

More flexible material in the front half of the sail allows that to inflate in the front section and always pull forward.

Carbon Load Distribution

Nearly 200 kilos of downhaul tension is attached to either end of the sail. Having carbon parts to take all those 200 kilos and distribute that into the sail works much better than flexible, stretchy material. As reinforcing material stretches, there’s less and less tension that makes it all the way into the body of the sail. A lot of the internal loads on the mast sleeve, downhaul, and head now all use carbon laminates.

THE ENGINEERING PHILOSOPHY

The goal with all this development is to control where the sail stretches and inflates and where it doesn’t. With this technology, that’s exactly what’s being achieved at every step. Stretch is minimized in certain areas and pushed to somewhere where stretch is beneficial – where stretch is positive, not negative.

Whatever goes into the sail allows SEVERNE to make the lightest sails possible with the best durability. The best performance. That’s the philosophy that SEVERNE has been chasing for over two decades.

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