New Sails? a Chaotic Hell

[Kestrahl]

Hood used to make Vektron (woven vectran) and good quality dacron in the UK but have since stopped. We didn't see much of this in the southern hemisphere, but there appeared to be different varieties from having a thin line of vectran in the dacron to what looked like 100% vectran. Now they have shut down and Challenge make the Vektron fabric under licence, but it looks like dacron with a token vectran yarn in the weave.... Contender also make a version of woven vectran - I don't know how good or bad it is.
As far as I can see it was Hood who pushed it originally and it doesn't seem common outside the UK.

Exotic wovens still have their place, Laminates still do have problems with mildew, delamination and UV eating the light taffeta, but it is mostly in tropical climates. Your going to get over double the cruising miles out of hydra-net compared to any taffeta laminate. They mite be slightly slower miles 80ft+ have no choice but to have laminates and in Phuket they remove the sail when not in use and store in air conditioning to prevent the above problems.