The Ullman Sails Expedition Series is the pinnacle of high latitude equipment for serious offshore explorers and adventurers. These sails have been proven to withstand winds over 60 knots, sub-zero temperatures, and high U.V. environments over tens of thousands of miles. Engineered with five-time circumnavigator and Brand Ambassador – Skip Novak, Ullman Sails’ Head of Technical Development – Brad Stephens, and Ullman Sails South Africa loft team in Cape Town, Ullman Sails has created the reliable solution for the world’s most extreme sailors who have zero margin for error.
The Ullman Sails Expedition Series is the pinnacle of high latitude equipment for serious offshore explorers and adventurers.
Engineering for Extreme Environments
All Expedition Series sails are custom projects, constructed and designed with excruciating attention to detail to ensure durability and safety. The demands on crews in extreme cold, high winds, and big seas mean they must trust their gear. These sails allow crews to better manage high wind, sub-zero environments where mistakes quickly compound, and physical and mental responsiveness is impaired. High winds can cause the boat to heel substantially – risking the mainsail getting pulled into the water and potentially resulting in significant damage. Necessary sail changes can be a dangerous practice as well. The Expedition Series offers solutions that help reduce, or in some cases eliminate, the challenges that extreme environments pose – helping prepare you for the unknown.
Expedition Series Sail Options
- FiberPath Expedition: The sails of choice for Skip Novak. These FiberPath sails feature higher denier, increased fibre density, and greater sail film and taffeta weights.
- Expedition Radial: These sails utilise a premium blend of woven spectra and dyneema cloth in a radial construction. The material, which features a polyester rip-stop weave, results in a fabric with a high-tear strength compared to other woven polyesters.
- Expedition XC: These crosscut sails are built using heavy-duty, high-weight woven Dacron. Expedition XC sails are the sails of choice for the Barba Expedition team – taking them thousands of miles in the Arctic Circle, as far North as 81 degrees latitude.
Expedition Series Sail Design
Sail design for the Expedition Series is different. All Expedition Series sails are designed by the Ullman Sails Advanced Design Team, who consult with our Head of Technical Development and Skip Novak to address all the required standards. High clew heights in headsails offer increased visibility; mainsail reef heights that rise at the leech keep the boom clear of the water in breeze; and additional fibre placement in high-load areas of the sail offer more durability in extreme conditions. These and other design details improve sail handling and add safety to the boat and crew.
Standard Specifications
All Expedition Series sails are built to our highest standards. Moreover, every expedition project is unique and we have several options available to customise your sails to meet your sailing needs. The Expedition Series finishing details are upgraded from the Voyager Series.
- Four reefs standard with webbing handles, reef blocks, and low friction rings
- Color-coded mainsail luff reefs to ensure the correct reef is engaged
- Mainsail luff furling reef system
- Gore® Tenara® thread for all UV covers and seaming
- Covered seaming for maximum UV and chafe protection
- Multi-layer batten pockets with external webbing for chafe protection
- Double leech and foot tapes
- Dual overhead leechlines
- External stainless steel rings webbed on
- Rope luff pads on headsails
- Spectra/Dyneema webbings
- Extra wide seams with extra rows of triple-step stitching
- U.V. covers standard
Available Upgrades
- Upgraded luff systems
- Foot slides
- Full-length battens (recommended for slab reef sails)
- Anti-mildew treatment
- 100% Gore® Tenara® thread
- Leather finishing on corners