Tyra Ply: Revolution? Dimension-Polyant also brings filament technology to cruising sailors

This article is part of a sailing special. The contents:

• How sailcloth is made
• Tyra Ply: Filament technology also for cruising sailors
• The differences between fabric, laminate and membrane
• The different sail cuts
• Which sails you really need
• Proper care and maintenance of sails
• Stow sails correctly
• Small sailmaking encyclopaedia

Anyone who has followed Kieler Woche and the ORC World Championship will have noticed the eye-catching T-Rex in the mainsail of the J/112 "Aquaplay". The predatory dinosaur is the trademark of Tyra Ply, the latest material from sailcloth manufacturer Dimension-Polyant.

Products such as 3Di from North Sails or 4T Forte from One Sails have shown the way: laminates without Mylar foil, also known as film, are lighter, stronger and usually more durable than conventional laminates.

Until now, however, this technology was only available for membranes with corresponding prices. This changes with Tyra Ply. Unlike membrane sails, the material is produced as a roll, like classic laminates, and can be processed by the sailmaker into a radial or horizontal cut sail.

Tyra Ply from Dimension-Polyant to make sails 40 per cent lighter

Tyra Ply is based on wafer-thin, unidirectional fibre bundles, known as tapes, which are impregnated with adhesive by a machine and laid next to each other. In the next work step, a robot arm places further fibre strands on top. The trick here is that the robot can lay the filaments in different directions, enabling the fabric to absorb loads that deviate from the main direction of the fibres.

"From around 30 degrees outside the warp direction, Tyra Ply is clearly superior to conventional laminates such as Carbon Sport," says Morten Nickel from Segelwerkstatt Stade. He was one of the first sailmakers to work with Tyra Ply and also built the sail set for "Aquaplay".

The layers are only one fibre thickness thick and the fibres lie exactly next to each other, resulting in fewer cavities in the laminate. In addition, there are no backing materials and the fine filaments absorb the load more evenly than thicker fibre strands. "This can make the sail around 40 per cent lighter. Our Tyra-Ply main for the J/112 weighs just 14 kilograms and has proven itself excellently at the World Championship, which was characterised by strong winds. The previous regatta sail weighed in at 23 kilos," says Nickel.

Tyra Ply also offers great advantages for cruising yachts

This weight advantage is not only interesting for racing boats. Cruising sailors also benefit from it. After all, a lighter mainsail is much easier to hoist and pack. The lighter sail may even save you having to retrofit an electric winch.

Thanks to series production, Tyra Ply is cheaper than a customised membrane. "Compared to our former D4 membrane, it is around 50 per cent cheaper in terms of material costs," says Dimension Polyant Managing Director Uwe Stein. However, there is also the processing by the sailmaker.

By bonding the fibres directly, the material is said to be at least as durable as conventional laminates, and it even has advantages when joining the panels in the sail. The adhesives commonly used there penetrate the filament structure, making the bond more stable than the surrounding material. Nickel comments: "In practice, Tyra Ply can be bonded better than conventional laminates. This saves labour and time."

For which sailing yachts is Dimension-Polyant's filament technology suitable?

Another advantage relates to water absorption. With classic laminates, moisture can penetrate through pinholes and spread along the fibres. This does not happen with filament sails.

The light versions of Tyra Ply are currently made from aramid. A mixture of aramid and Dyneema is used for the heavier versions. In principle, however, almost all high-strength fibres are possible. "We can process aramid, UHMWPE fibres such as Dyneema, Vectran and carbon as well as combinations of these. The limiting factor is the availability of the filaments," says Stein. "We have been trying to order suitable Vectran filaments for a year now, but the quantities we need are not currently available."

The large selection of fibres and the variable filament density and orientation result in a wide range of applications. According to Stein, it ranges from wings for wind foils to dinghy and tall ship sails to industrial applications. "We are currently concentrating on fibre densities between 5,000 and 15,000 dpi. This means we cover the range from moth sails to yachts of around 45 feet," says Stein.

Price, weight and durability of Tyra Ply in comparison

In addition to the fibre mixture, the adhesive matrix is one of the key factors in the development process. The heavier the laminate, the softer the adhesive must be, otherwise the result is a board-hard material that is difficult to handle and is very loud during manoeuvres.

This is particularly disturbing for the targeted cruising clientele. Stein comments: "In the long term, we see enormous potential for cruising catamarans. They are getting heavier and heavier, which also requires more stable sails. Conventional laminates or even fabrics become extremely heavy in the required material thicknesses and are almost impossible to handle." First, however, the thinner variants are to be perfected. "Every change to the fibre mixture or the adhesive matrix must be tested in practice with sailmakers. A cycle like this takes around six months," says Stein.

As with conventional aramid sails, a Liteskin coating provides the necessary UV protection. A version with more robust tafetta is currently under development. As Tyra Ply has only been on the market for a year, no long-term experience has yet been gained. However, Nickel assumes that a rolled Genoa 3 on a cruising boat will last between three and five years, which corresponds to the service life of a comparable Mylar laminate.

This article is part of a sailing special. The contents:

• How sailcloth is made
• Tyra Ply: Filament technology also for cruising sailors
• The differences between fabric, laminate and membrane
• The different sail cuts
• Which sails you really need
• Proper care and maintenance of sails
• Stowing sails correctly
• Small sailmaking encyclopaediaSailing terms: warp, weft and footshelf - small sailmaking lexicon