{"id":161877,"date":"2026-01-29T06:11:58","date_gmt":"2026-01-29T06:11:58","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.yachtingworld.com\/?p=161877"},"modified":"2026-01-29T09:10:57","modified_gmt":"2026-01-29T09:10:57","slug":"the-batman-sail-is-onesails-new-multi-tradewind-the-ultimate-all-in-one","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.yachtingworld.com\/yachts-and-gear\/the-batman-sail-is-onesails-new-multi-tradewind-the-ultimate-all-in-one-161877","title":{"rendered":"The ‘Batman sail\u2019: Is OneSails\u2019 new multi tradewind the ultimate all-in-one?"},"content":"A transatlantic tradewind crossing from the Canary Islands to the Caribbean is on many a sailor\u2019s bucket list. Endless sunny days of running before the wind followed by nights under a sky full of stars with dolphins playing alongside...\r\n\r\nThe tradewinds are the driving force for sailing across the Atlantic<\/a> and with the clockwise circulation of air around the Azores High, it appears quite obvious which way we should go \u2013 skirt the high without getting too close and losing the wind. With today\u2019s good forecasts and communications this should be easy enough, however reality shows that the day-to-day weather can be quite different from the climatological averages.\r\n\r\nHow far north or south the Azores High is established, and where any low pressure over Africa is, will determine just where the band of strongest winds will be found. There are large initial gains to be made if we can head on a direct route at the beginning of the passage, but at some stage we will have to make a dive south to stay in the tradewinds.\r\n

In phase with the shift<\/strong><\/h3>\r\nThe gains made by heading west first are that it is in phase with the expected wind swing. We start in a more northerly wind that will tend to veer towards the east as we progress. Going west first helps avoid a dead run all the way. But sailing and weather is not that simple; the wind shadows and acceleration zones can extend a long way from the Canary Islands.\r\n\r\nMy rule of thumb is to get at least 100 miles south of Tenerife but we have to get clear of the Gran Canaria wind shadow first. If we can slip through during the afternoon, when the wind shadow is at a minimum, gains can be made but there is a risk of getting caught in light wind.\r\n\r\nArticle continues below...<\/em>\r\n\r\n
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\r\n\r\nWe may also find a band of stronger wind along the African coast where a heat low increases the pressure gradient. Heading south in this wind band can give some great speeds, but on port gybe in a veering wind gybe angles can be large.\r\n\r\nThere are other considerations to be taken into account; often in November there will be the tail end of a cold front splitting the Azores High. This can give a band of light and variable wind, and with the trades generally steadier to the south, a dive south may be called for.\r\n\r\nIt is often said that a more northerly route following the great circle is faster but has a greater chance of beating or encountering some strong wind. If you are racing across, it may well be worth the risk, but at times it has proved to be punishing.\r\n\r\nOver the last few years the record for the ARC<\/a> has been broken a number of times and interestingly the fastest routes have been both to the north and the more traditional southern route, which just goes to prove that the weather is not quite as settled as averages show.\r\n\r\nThe majority of yachts follow the traditional route heading towards the Cape Verde Islands before tracking west. There are a number of good reasons for this: it\u2019s the most well trodden path and gives a good average, while staying as far away from the tiresome swell created by North Atlantic storms. It is therefore considered a more comfortable route with consistent tradewinds at the cost of a few extra miles.\r\n\r\n[caption id=\"attachment_124349\" align=\"alignnone\" width=\"1149\"]\"sailing-across-the-atlantic-tradewinds-explained\" With the Azores High well established to the north there were strong tradewinds through the Canary Islands for the 2015 ARC (left). In 2016 (right) the pattern was completely different.[\/caption]\r\n\r\nThe last time I sailed the ARC was in 2015. It was a pretty straightforward year; a fast start and a rhumbline course for the first week, then a dive south to avoid light winds. We were downwind the whole way with a poled out headsail for about 70 per cent of the time and spinnaker the rest.\r\n\r\nWe were lucky and had a fast passage of 16 days. In 2016 the wind gods were not so kind and it was a year of either going way south or following a northerly course. The middle route was particularly slow.\r\n\r\nHaving been forecasting for yachts in the ARC for over 15 years I have seen a great deal of variability. Following the traditional route will usually give a very pleasant sail, however for the racing division and more performance orientated crews, a more northerly option may be faster (but not always).\r\n\r\nOn a long passage, extended forecasts are useful, but look for consistency in weather routing solutions<\/a>. It is easy to be tempted to take an extreme route only to find that the forecast changes radically over time.\r\n

Stick or twist?<\/strong><\/h3>\r\nSome sailors will choose a route well ahead of time and stick to it. However, large gains can be made by using the available forecasts and being more flexible. For me, this is a large part of an ocean passage but over 15-20 days at sea many may feel there is no harm in an extra day or so of great sailing!\r\n

\"Chris-Tibbs-BW\"About the author<\/strong><\/h3>\r\nChris Tibbs is a meteorologist and weather router, as well as a professional sailor and navigator, forecasting for Olympic teams and the ARC rally.\r\n\r\nFirst publish in the December 2017 edition of Yachting World.<\/em>","excerpt":{"rendered":"

What would be your ideal tradewind sail setup? Keep things simple with a poled-out genoa, go more specialist with a Parasailor, or fly a combination of options? We have just seen the conclusion of the annual Atlantic Rally for Cruisers (ARC), where hundreds of yachts set off across the pond, so it seems a good time to have learned of this promising new, versatile solution from OneSails. Its IFS Multi Tradewind Sail is based on the age-old \u2018wing on\/and wing\u2019 or \u2018twins\u2019 headsail setup, but using modern asymmetric spinnaker technology rather than headsails\/genoas to make it potentially easier to handle, more versatile and performance oriented. It uses two gennakers connected at the centre, offering two sails in one piece of cloth with multiple functionality. Where it differs from previous designs like this, such as Elvstrom\u2019s Blue Water Runner or North Sails\u2019 TradeWind, is that OneSails has incorporated modern structured luff technology, or IFS (Integrated Furling Structure), which means it doesn\u2019t need a heavy anti-torsion cable sewn in. Nominated for a DAME award (full report on that next month), the IFS Multi Tradewind was developed by OneSails Palma, and we spoke with CEO Peter Bresnan following their successful first trials. Their new system was nicknamed the \u2018Batman sail\u2019 after the noticeably large black prototype was tested on a Privilege 510 and the video was shared on YouTube. The potential advantages look far-reaching. Principally, by incorporating two structured luff gennakers on a single furling unit, this setup offers the benefits of a reaching gennaker and a large downwind spinnaker, both of which can quickly be doused fuss-free (in theory) using a furler. For reaching\/sailing higher angles, the sails can be set on the same side by connecting both clews to the same sheet. This allows them to function as a gennaker for reaching angles up to 90\u00b0 to the true wind. The IFS Multi Tradewind is also suitable for use on both monohulls and multihulls, and with or without spinnaker poles. Structured luff benefits The use of structured luff sails means heavy anti-torsion cables are not required, saving weight aloft. It also means the luff is soft and easy to manage, so the sails can be quickly dropped and stowed in a spinnaker bag when not in use. Article continues below… Bresnan explains there are more advantages to using IFS, and its high modulus lens, \u201cwhich has such good shapeholding when using the sail at tighter reaching angles\u201d. The positive curvature of this luff creates a good entry angle for reaching. These fibres also resist deformation and stretch incredibly well, making the sail \u201cvery efficient at tighter reaching angles because the driving force is improved through better shapeholding of the luff.\u201d \u201cThe flying shape of the sail resembles more a genoa than a spinnaker on reaching angles,\u201d adds Bresnan. For those more intent on downwinding, there are additional benefits of the wing-on-wing Batman mode too, which include the larger, more powerful sail area it provides compared to twin headsails or a spinnaker. …Continue reading »<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":450,"featured_media":161884,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[159],"tags":[24,1633],"review_manufacturer":[],"acf":[],"introduction":null,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.yachtingworld.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/161877"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.yachtingworld.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.yachtingworld.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.yachtingworld.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/450"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.yachtingworld.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=161877"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/www.yachtingworld.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/161877\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":161886,"href":"https:\/\/www.yachtingworld.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/161877\/revisions\/161886"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.yachtingworld.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/161884"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.yachtingworld.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=161877"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.yachtingworld.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=161877"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.yachtingworld.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=161877"},{"taxonomy":"review_manufacturer","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.yachtingworld.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review_manufacturer?post=161877"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}