Are there any spinnaker sail colors to avoid, perhaps like hot green, or black? I am thinking of the hot green spins used by America One that we falling apart and I can’t seem to remember the details of why that was happening. Also, black may be a little bit hard to see at night. Any thoughts?

The bright, fluorescent colors don't hold up as well in UV according to my loft.

Trey recently had a conversation with Elliot Patterson about black spinnaker cloth - Skip Elliot says that black should see no difference really in life over regular colors.

I think Chip & Barb Short had a flourescent pink spin that lasted two seasons before fading a bit on their N20.

But, you only get about two racing seasons out of a spin anyway....

If you want stealth, go with Haze Gray. You can sneek up on some folks downwind if the conditions are right.

If your going open ocean, I would go with brighter colors just for the sheer visability and safety.

Hey, you know what they say, "Once you go black, you never go back." I now have a black spinnaker for my N20. Skip Elliot said that the chute will be long past its prime before uv has anything to do with it. He did comment that bright colors do see much more effect.
Trey
N20 873
Layline.com

AC Spinnakers fail because they are BIG and made as close to the envelope as they can get away with.

They are built from very similar fabric (usually Contender) to what is used in beach cat spinnakers.

Polyester spin fabric was popular a few years back and wouldn't stretch under load, it would just explode. Coating technology has gotten better and most high quality nylon is urathane coated to keep the bias stretch down.


Chip Buck
www.whirlwindsails.com

Black is "in" with the Spitfires at the moment

D

I've got a bright sort of iluminous, sp?, yellow spin and you can forget being anywhere near it in the summer without sunglasses, even then it seems to make everything look a slightly funny colour after watching it for a while. maybe i just need better sunglasses?

does brighten things up on a dull day though

andy