Ultimate 20

Sail Information || Contact U20 Experts || Order U20 Sails

North Ultimate 20 sails on top at 2008 San Diego NOOD   Steve Bowman took delivery of his new-to-him Ultimate 20 a few weeks before the San Diego NOOD and put some sails he bought from us a couple of years ago on it to race against 14 of his fellow class members. After 10 races over three days (including one in which he was scored OCS) Steve and crew Dan Childers and Dixon Smith were the 2008 NOOD and Pacific Coast Champions!   With speed to burn Steve counted every race in the top 5 except for 2 including 4 first place finishes. Conditions for the regatta ranged from about 5 to 22 knots. When the breeze was up Steve sailed with his jib slightly eased to keep his boat flat and driving.   The Ultimate 20 class has a new builder, Columbia Yachts, in Southern California and everyone is excited at the prospect of growing the class. For more information on North Sails for the Ultimate 20 please contact Chris Snow at North Sails One Design or your closest North loft.

Here is our U20 inventory:

AP MAINSAIL

We make this sail from 5.46 firm finished cloth. This cloth makes a sail that is very low stretch and that will hold its shape well throughout the entire range of conditions the boat is sailed in. Cloth selection is important here as this sail has a large roach and it is important to keep the leech of open for good speed. One unique aspect of the Ultimate is that the boat has no backstay and the mast is relatively stiff. To control the shape of the mainsail you need to use the sheet tension on the main. This makes getting the luff curve on the front of the main right critical. We have worked hard to get our luff curve right and the sail takes a nice shape in all conditions.

AP JIB Our AP jib is now made from 5.46 PK firm finish, low stretch Dacron. We have found this to be a nice improvement in performance over our previous cloth which was a softer finish material. These jibs are very high aspect and like to be sheeted quite hard so a lower stretch cloth is a big advantage. It also looks like this cloth with last longer as well. Our AP jib comes with two, maximum length vertical battens, luff and leech telltales, vision window, leech line and roll bag.

AP SPINNAKER

Designing a spinnaker for this boat is a real challenge. Because you can use only one spinnaker, the shape of the sail needs to right in the lightest drifter and strongest wild, planning reach. This requires a number of compromises and the choices are not easy. Luckily we have a lot of experience with boats like this. Our sails have won 4 Melges 24 World Championships and in the spinnaker department the boats are relatively similar.

For more information on Ultimate 20 sails, contact the North Ultimate20 experts.