Both our standard cut and custom cut asymmetrical spinnakers are made with great attention to quality and details. Explore their main features, such as cloth, seams, number of panels guaranteeing quality and more. (Custom cuts may use a different cloth).
- Benefits
- Specs-cloth-seams
- Panel layout
- Choice of colors
- Dimensions available in feet and meters
- Resources
- Contact us for spinnaker sizing advice
1. Asymmetrical spinnaker design – benefits
What are the benefits of an asymmetrical spinnaker design? The asymmetrical design allow for an easy set up: unlike symmetrical spinnakers, there is no need for a spinnaker pole or extra hardware, and you can set them up forward of the stay or between the forestay and the mast. They are also easy to jibe.
In short, asymmetrical spinnakers are easy to sail and versatile. They are ideal for sailors who want a multi-purpose cruising spinnaker.
You can also use a spinnaker dousing sock for even more simplicity.
If you are considering buying a spinnaker for the first time, check our top tips to choose a spinnaker. We also offer help with spinnaker sizing, often seen as the main question by our customers.
Best wind conditions for an asymmetrical cruising spinnaker are for apparent wind angles between 80 deg. and 155 deg.
As an alternative to an asymmetric spinnaker, you can consider a Cruising Code 0, which has an AWA of 60-140 but can be used with a regular furler and is as easy to use as a genoa.
2. Asymmetrical spinnaker design – specs, cloth, seams
There is no such thing as a (regulated) standard design or practices for spinnaker manufacturing, as you may find in other businesses (such as automobile constructions, building codes, etc.). There are practices that are more or less accepted across the industry, but these will vary depending on the sailmaker and the product they are trying to deliver. Here are details about our cruising asymmetrical spinnakers design for standardized sizes.
Our asymmetrical spinnaker design allows for a range of standard sizes so that one specific size can fit a range of boats. If you prefer, we can build a custom spinnaker specifically designed for your boat, which will maximize its square footage, allow a specific shape and cloth selection for your cruising or racing conditions, provide custom finishes etc.
- Our standardized asymmetrical spinnaker sails have an A2 Tri-Radial cut.
- We use Contender cloth (a Dutch company) as our standard cloth, and also use Challenge (US company) cloth depending on the color needed :
- Nylite or NFS 44 for spinnaker size 00 (291 sq ft) to size 5 (689 sq ft)
- Maxilite or NFS 64 75gr/m2 for spinnaker size 6 (807 sq ft) to size 18 (2851 sq ft)
- Our sails are double taped to ensure the panels are exactly where they need to be, then triple stitched, 50mm wide. Triple stitch allows the seam to stretch with the fabric rather than snap under heavy loads.
- We use webbed rings at the corners, (no pressed rings)
- We design our asymmetrical spinnakers so that our panel size has a maximum width of 40 cm (smaller sails) or 50 cm (larger sails).
- Our sails have radial corner reinforcements with underlying Dacron patches, which distribute the load better than round patches
- The horizontal and vertical seams (between the 3 radial zones) have a width of 25 / 35 /38 mm depending on the sails size
- Clearly labeled head, foot and clew for ease of hoist and packing; you can choose your colors
- Color coded edge tapes; you can choose your colors
- Please see dimensions for each size at the bottom of this page
Details of tack, clew and head finishes
Details of seams
3. asymmetrical Spinnaker – panel layout
Each spinnaker size is cut with a number of panels that ensures a solid “construction”. The number of panels affects the strength of the spinnaker; more panels means better resistance to the stress the sail undergoes when flown. This number of panels is specific to each sailmaker. Our panel size has a maximum width of 40 cm (smaller sails) or 50 cm (larger sails)
As an example, here are the panel layout for 3 sizes of our asymmetrical spinnakers: size 3 (50m2 / 538 sqft), size 8 (94m2 / 1011 sqft) and size 13 (165 m2 / 1775 sqft). A standard asymmetric spinnaker for your boat will have a number of panels which may be different from those shown below, depending on the size you need.
4. asymmetrical spinnaker – Choice of colors
Our standard spinnakers come at the same price for 4 basic choices of colors: tricolor, all blue, all red, or all white. Select “standard asymmetrical spinnakers” in our online store.
You can also create your own color theme. Choose a color for each panel; 13 colors available.
Access our colorizer here and select “custom colors asymmetrical spinnakers” in our online store.
Build your own asymmetrical spinnaker
Choose from 13 colors and personalize your spinnaker
Add a logo!
5. asymmetrical spinnakers – dimensions
Our standard cut symmetrical spinnakers come in 20 pre-defined sizes, from size 00 to size 18.
Custom sizes are available through our “fully custom” option. If you have a bowsprit, or sail a catamaran, you will likely need a custom cut.
For help with the size needed for your boat, visit our “sizing page” or our “find your boat page”.
| Luff (ft) | Leech (ft) | Foot (ft) | Area (sqft) | |
| Asym 00 | 26.9 | 24.5 | 13.5 | 291 |
| Asym 0 | 28.5 | 25.6 | 14.4 | 334 |
| Asym 1 | 30.8 | 27.8 | 16.4 | 398 |
| Asym 2 | 33.1 | 30.2 | 17.6 | 463 |
| Asym 3 | 35.4 | 32.3 | 18.8 | 538 |
| Asym 4 | 37.7 | 34.7 | 20.0 | 613 |
| Asym 5 | 40.4 | 37.1 | 21.4 | 689 |
| Asym 6 | 43.0 | 40.0 | 22.8 | 807 |
| Asym 7 | 45.3 | 42.1 | 24.0 | 893 |
| Asym 8 | 47.9 | 45.0 | 25.4 | 1011 |
| Asym 9 | 50.9 | 47.8 | 27.0 | 1141 |
| Asym 10 | 53.8 | 50.6 | 28.6 | 1270 |
| Asym 11 | 57.1 | 53.7 | 30.3 | 1431 |
| Asym 12 | 60.4 | 56.8 | 31.8 | 1592 |
| Asym 13 | 63.6 | 59.8 | 33.8 | 1775 |
| Asym 14 | 66.9 | 62.9 | 35.5 | 1969 |
| Asym 15 | 70.5 | 66.3 | 37.4 | 2195 |
| Asym 16 | 73.8 | 69.4 | 39.2 | 2399 |
| Asym 17 | 77.1 | 72.5 | 40.9 | 2615 |
| Asym 18 | 80.4 | 75.6 | 42.7 | 2851 |
| Luff (m) | Leech (m) | Foot (m) | Area (m2) | |
| Asym 00 | 8.2 | 7.5 | 4.1 | 27 m2 |
| Asym 0 | 8.7 | 7.8 | 4.4 | 31 m2 |
| Asym 1 | 9.4 | 8.5 | 5.0 | 37 m2 |
| Asym 2 | 10.1 | 9.2 | 5.4 | 43 m2 |
| Asym 3 | 10.8 | 9.8 | 5.7 | 50 m2 |
| Asym 4 | 11.5 | 10.6 | 6.1 | 57 m2 |
| Asym 5 | 12.3 | 11.3 | 6.5 | 64 m2 |
| Asym 6 | 13.1 | 12.2 | 7.0 | 75 m2 |
| Asym 7 | 13.8 | 12.8 | 7.3 | 83 m2 |
| Asym 8 | 14.6 | 13.7 | 7.8 | 94 m2 |
| Asym 9 | 15.5 | 14.6 | 8.2 | 106 m2 |
| Asym 10 | 16.4 | 15.4 | 8.7 | 118 m2 |
| Asym 11 | 17.4 | 16.4 | 9.2 | 133 m2 |
| Asym 12 | 18.4 | 17.3 | 9.7 | 148 m2 |
| Asym 13 | 19.4 | 18.2 | 10.3 | 165 m2 |
| Asym 14 | 20.4 | 19.2 | 10.8 | 183 m2 |
| Asym 15 | 21.5 | 20.2 | 11.4 | 204 m2 |
| Asym 16 | 22.5 | 21.2 | 12.0 | 223 m2 |
| Asym 17 | 23.5 | 22.1 | 12.5 | 243 m2 |
| Asym 18 | 24.5 | 23.0 | 13.0 | 265 m2 |
6. Resources
There are many advice online on how to rig / fly / douse a spinnaker. We particularly like the 4 episodes dedicated to spinnakers from this series issued by YachtingWorld, which each include an article and an embedded video for each episode. Access here (each opens in a new tab):
(Credit: YachtingWorld)