Carbon Fiber Sailcloth
Carbon Fiber sails made their mainstream debut in 1992 during the America's Cup races when Il Moro de Venezia used sails made with the material. It is made from an acrylic containing carbon, hydrogen and nitrogen atoms. This mix is heated in three stages to eliminate all but the carbon atoms. This textile has incredibly high modulus but the first variations were not very durable. Crews on both boats in the 1992 Cup races had to be diligent about not creating hard creases when folding the sails. More recently, the flexibility of carbon fiber has improved dramatically! You can now fold carbon fiber sails with out fear of breaking the fibers. Sailcloth manufacturers have also begun pairing carbon fibers with other materials like Kevlar and Spectra to achieve maximum resilience without giving up the low stretch qualities.