Most spinnakers are made from woven nylon because it has good tear strength. A few years ago polyester spinnaker fabrics were fashionable but these are only suitable for specialist applications, so we would not recommend them. Nylons come in different generic families ranging from 2.2oz down to 0.4oz but be careful, these numbers do not directly relate to the cloth weight. Ask your Sailmaker for our AIRX Spinnaker Fabric leaflet for a full explanation.

Nylons can also be coated or impregnated and warp or fill orientated, but the important thing is the relationship between stretch, tear strength and weight. Heavier nylons do not always have lower stretch and better tear strength as a high quality light fabric can easily outperform heavy low quality products. Our new AIRX products have just proved this with lighter fabrics having similar properties to other's heavier styles.