The question everyone is asking.

What's the difference between the Turbo and the Powerhead 

 

My normal answer to this is $10 bucks. followed by laughing! 

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There is a difference between the two. But first, there is a belief out there that DF sails are all the same. The fact they are single panel sail means there's not much between them all.

I'll let you be the judge of that. 

By now you may have seen THE System page on this website and have an understanding there are ways to help a single panel sail create a 3D shape, by how you rig and adjust your sails. Luff curve and reinforcement areas and battens. All create small changes that can change the characteristics.

This is why we have ended up with 2 production sails the Powerhead and the Turbo.  We also have the D-max and the New Vortex these are concept sails which will be available in April.

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The Powerhead:

This is the first production sail design by Bergan Sails. We set out wanting to design a sail that was a good allrounder. Light airs through to the heavy stuff. also, must work on both Df65&DF95.

 

Trying a few ideas and watching how the sail was behaving. I realised that the head needed to be grounded at the same time able to lay off with breeze. The only way we could control this was to give the leech a fulcrum point.

 

At the same time, we needed to be able control the Luff of the main as we needed it be consistent in all breezes. By stiffening the luff, I was able to design a shape that allows the leech to lay off while still being stiff enough on the luff to have little to no luff tension.  The sail worked so well we had comments; like why do have more power.  After a few weeks the nickname The Powerhead was born. 

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Looking at every part of the sail we only added what was needed. This meant not all battens were full size, nor was the reinforcement patches and fingers. I looked at shape and curve. We also wanted the sail to be close maximum in size as we could. This made manufacture a little hard because slight angle of a blade meant you added a bit of sail area that could be over size. We have tamed this a little from the earlier days. 

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The powerhead uses lightweight fiberglass battens at various sizes. I want to keep the sail as pliable as possible. The System was being developed with the powerhead in an attempt to create more shape. The sail today has many victories at club, State and national levels. the Powerhead has proven itself to be the all-rounder and the first choice of many sailors.  

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The Turbo:

The turbo came about out of an experiment on the Df 65 using a 75-micron sail. Twice the weight of the norm.  Testing a 75-micron sail against a standard 35micron powerhead we found some interesting results. I want to mention that the control boat was sailed by none other than Mike Jeffreys, 2023 National champion.  I had to have something that was fast enough to catch him. 

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The 75micron sail was extremely fast too windward. Tact on dime in heavy wind and looked great. Until you headed down wind. We tried everything but the extra weight on the rig and sail meant it was sluggish off the breeze. So, in an attempt of correct this behavior of the boat off the breeze. I start to look at many different sail designs for the head of the sail. 

 

This led me to trying slots in the head to help control the layoff. Hoping it would lay off and open up the leech. I was videoing the boat when i noticed the exact opposite was happening. The head was actually cupping inwards creating more shape in the head of the main. 

 

For days i was thinking what if we could create a head shape that inverts at certain breeze adding more shape at the same time create a stiffness that adds power. That would be a game changer. After a few trials and designs the Turbo was born.  

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The turbo rightly named, comes alive when the wind is enough to invert the sail head around 8km. the sail is fast in light airs and fast off breeze. It's a proven design with Mike Jeffreys winning the 2023 National titles with a turbo in light airs. 

The only downside of the turbo is at the top end its harder to De-power than the Powerhead making the sweet spot harder to find. 

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Just like the powerhead, I created a package, using carbon fiber battens and different configuration for the patches allowing shape in different areas of the sail. 

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So which ones for you? Try both you can't wrong with either. 

My advice is if your club sailing and want a good allrounder, Buy powerhead. If you're a bit more serious and understand setting up your boat and sail in mostly light to medium conditions, buy a Turbo head. Buy one for a friend too!

 

Both designs have be proven on DF65 and DF 95 boats.

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What sail weight should you use? I used to always go for 50 microns, its only lately I have been using 35 microns.  There is little between the two. 35 is better on light stuff, and 50 micron is better in the heavy stuff. Plus, the 50micron is more durable.

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I hope this helps you choose what sail to order. Enjoy your sailing. Bergan sails wants be part of your journey. 

 

  

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