Far and away the single most important factor in the performance of any sail is the ability of the crew to bend the designed shape into a flying shape that is suitable to the current sailing conditions! (All serious sailmakers know this, but construction methods, and panel layouts are easier to sell. Subtle but significant shape differences are much harder for consumers to differentiate, and for marketeers to market)

The second most important factor is the designed shape itself.

Somewhere, way down the priority list, is the construction method. Cross-cut spinnakers, the most primitive panel layout, are remarkably fast and inexpensive. This makes them extremely popular in many smaller one design classes.

Tri-radial spinnakers are the current J/24 fashion.

All the serious sailmakers offer this type of construction. Some benefits might include; More seams mean more places for tears to stop. The sail may hold its designed shape better when the sail is under extreme loads. There is less distortion out of the corners, and radial sails are much more difficult for the competition to copy.

In my opinion it would be a mistake to choose a spinnaker or any sail solely on the basis of how it is constructed. It is very possible for a sail to be built using extremely expensive technology and still be very slow because they have the wrong shape , or their shape is only suitable for a narrow range of conditions.

Recently my team and I won the Newport regatta in 16-19 knots with plenty of opportunity to surf. Then a week later we won the North Americans with the very same sails in extremely light lake conditions. I attribute these back to back victories to our ability to adjust my sails, rig and tactics to both extremes. I wish I could announce that it was all my new sail innovations, but my crew would probably mutiny. The sails are going fast though...

Eifert who drives Braincramp is very fast with that Haarstik kite. I have a pretty good idea that he would be just as fast with any one of the major brands.

The Haarstik is nice looking. We have been using the Quantum and feel that we have good speed downhill. We felt we stayed with Brain Cramp twice down hill at the NA's (Light air)before he flicked us off upwind with boat speed and brains.

The "Lightning Bolts" of Haarstick Sailmakers spinnakers is no gimmick. It stems from years of research in wind tunnels and on the water. The canting of these panels aligns the directional strength of the cloth with the true loading direction of the sail design. Furthermore, all the spinnakers are seamstuck and sewn.

The "Quilt-Cut" spinnaker is uniquely Haarstick, and is one reason we have many more spinnaker customers than full inventory ones.

We sail something other than a J, but here is a thought. I have a matrix cut UK .75 nylon spinnaker that weighs twice as much as my .6 poly Santa Cruz.
All of those seams add weight. I hope to replace the .75 with a smaller .9 poly high wind spinnaker that should weigh the same as the .6 I ask for the largest panels consistent with proper shaping. All white or light gray lasts longest here.

Some people find the zigzag pattern kind of fun. I think it mostly came into vogue in the eighties when lofts started seperating the horizontals so that the cloth was more aligned with the load. We call these "tipped" panels, although I'm sure every loft has a different name for them. Because it involves extra labor to build a chute with those extra panels, those layouts were not introduced in force to the J24 class until the 90's. There is no doubt that tipped horizontal panels distribute the load more evenly.

Tim's right, though. We discourage those "funky" patterns with colors in the tipped horizontal section for a couple of reasons.

1. You would not believe how much extra time is involved in pulling out a different roll of cloth and cutting a couple of extra special panels. It really does add a lot of labor in to have the designer select the individual panels to be cut and then stop the machine and load up a new color.

2. Most importantly, the weight of the cloth, the stretch/shrink characteristics and the finish on the cloth varies from one roll to the next even within the same color. If you build a completely multicolored chute and then place it on the shelf unused for a year or two, the sail will be no where near the original designed shape when you pull it out again because each different type of cloth involved shrinks at a different rate. The same is true for the cloth's stretch properties. Over time, that multi-colored sail will distort much more than one built of a solid color from the same roll of cloth.

White is the best color by far followed by Blue, Red, Green and Yellow. Beware of the Neon colors. Generally the finish on those sails cracks off early leaving the sail very brittle and subject to tears.

Good luck Taro. Let me know if I can be of any help.

Will Crump

I don't know how often you plan to use this chute or in what conditions, but certainly cost, usage, durability, longevity, and service after the sale are factors that help me decide. One of our local loft spokespersons discouraged our buying a "Multicolored" spinnaker because the panels would stretch and fatigue at different rates. Just shop and chat with venders and other users and make a choice using maximum information.

Tim

I'm thinking of buying a new spinnaker as my current one is 5 years old, and I've noticed that most spinnakers have a broad horizontal band in the middle of the sail. Anybody know why the photos of Brain Cramp's chute show it as more like a verticle zigzag pattern? Different sailmaker? or different design? Are there different designs for reaching vs. running?