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    Ask Sail

    Aug 13, 2019 4 minutes

    WHY THE BOMBPROOF MAINS?

    Q: This past winter I did a bareboat charter aboard a 38ft cruising catamaran. I was once again impressed by how heavy and massively built the mainsail was. Why does this always seem to be the case on multihulls? (The headsails seem to be pretty much the same as those on monohulls.) Also, what is it that makes the mainsails on mulithulls so bombproof-seeming? Heavier-weight fabric? Multiple fabric layers? Some other construction technique?

    — Ann Connolly, Chicago, IL

    BRIAN HANCOCK REPLIES

    Multihull sails are built stronger and therefore heavier than a sail for an equivalent length monohull because of one simple fact: multihulls

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