Left - the bowsprit beginning to pull apart under excessive load from the Screecher.

Right - Jib after 5000 miles of use. The blue markers show the extent of the areas that were delaaminating, Around the clew patch the tapes were beginning to break.

The main was in a similar state near the top with the lower panels not so bad (less UV because of using it reefed ?). The yellow and black lines are the kevlar and carbon threads.

Right - the broken bowsprit.

Above - stages of delamination to Calvert load path sails.

1. The tapes begin to come away from the taffeta cloth and in some cases break (15 months use)

2. Large areas of the tapes fall away (18 months)

3. The mainsail rips open in light winds (2 ½ years). As the taffeta has not been aligned along the stress lines it is weaker than a similar sail would be without the mylar tapes.

Right - The jib clew ripped out in a 30 knot squall. The original 4 hole aluminium clew fitting broke into bits (it had corroded over the 2 years of use although this was not obvious until we handled the broken pieces) and because the webbing straps were fitted through different holes the loads were not well distributed.

In retrospect I can see that this type of clew fitting is not going to be as strong as a single ring but if it is used it needs to be a lot stronger than the one Calvert fitted.

Left - the mainsail clew also pulled out a few weeks later in a 10 knot breeze. Looked like something wrong with the stitching.