Parasailor®

Next generation spinnaker

Developed and manufactured in Germany by ISTEC The Downwind Company, this revolutionary sail addresses all the traditional constraints of spinnaker sailing to deliver a highly innovative sail design.  Inspired by paragliding wing and its alveoli, the Parasailor® is both more stable and safer that traditional spinnakers, making it the ideal downwind companion for single-handed sailors.

. No pole required
. Greater stability
. Designed for single-handed spinnaker sailing
. Safe to use with autopilot
. Easily collapsible using alveoli halyard
. Effective from 70° to 180° Apparent Wind Angle
. Ideal for catamaran sailing
. Relaxed downwind sailing
. More sailing enjoyment

Sailing rope

Top quality European sailing ropes

Sourced from a family-owned, European rope manufacturer with 90 years experience in the marine cordage industry, our range of top quality sailing ropes covers all modern sailors’ needs, from durable, chaffing and UV-resistant double-braided polyester rope to zero-stretch, ultra-light high performance HMPE double and single braids. Woven in the EU to the highest marine industry standards, certified and affordably priced.

Price list

Product Core Jacket / Sheath Ø (mm) Break load (kg) Density kg/100m HK$/m
Double-braided PES Polyester Polyester  8  1,700 5.1 10.71
Double-braided PES Polyester Polyester 10  2,550 7.5 14.79
Double-braided PES Polyester Polyester 12  3,350 12.3 23.70
Double-braided PES Polyester Polyester 14 4,700 16.2 30.60
Performance Double-braided PES Polyester Polyester 8 1,700 5.1 11.46
Performance Double-braided PES Polyester Polyester 10 2,550 7.5 16.05
Performance Double-braided PES Polyester Polyester 12 3,350 12.3 25.74
Performance Double-braided PES Polyester Polyester 14 4,700 16.2 33.15
Double-braided HMPE core HMPE Polyester 8 3,810 4.1 35.19
Double-braided HMPE core HMPE Polyester 10 5,050 6.9 65.71
Double-braided HMPE core HMPE Polyester 12 7,220 9.8 93.72
Double-braided HMPE core HMPE Polyester 14 9,540 13.5 113.97

Other high-performance options such as Vectran®, Prisma® SK78 and Technora® cores, as well as hybrid jackets (HMPE and Polyester) and single-braided HMPE are also available.

Double-braided polyester

Also referred to as PET or PES, polyester’s strength, low-stretch and durability make it a perfect core material for double-braided cordage. Easy to handle, chaff-proof and UV resistant, it is also ideally  suited to sheathing purposes. Those qualities explain why more than 90% of all sailing ropes sold in the world today are double-braided polyester, which is turn explains why it is the most affordable sailing rope on the market. Whereas core properties remain relatively constant across brands and products, the main differences lie in the quality of the braiding of the ropes’ outer layer: salt, self-tailing winches, chaffing and tropical sunlight will exert a cruel toll on a sailing rope’s jacket. Tougher and tighter outer braids make for more durable and resistant cordage.

HMPE & other high performance fibers

High-Modulus Polyethylene (HMPE), also called Ultra-High-Molecular-Weight Polyethylene (UHMW), was developed in the 1950s but made its first appearance in the sailing world in the late seventies with DSM’s Dyneema® (Holland) and Honeywell’s Spectra® (USA). They were soon followed by other high-tech fibers with similar characteristics, such as DuPont’s Kevlar® (USA),  Kuraray’s Vectran® (Japan) and Teijin’s Technora® and Twaron®  (Japan). These fibers all have in common high tensile strength, extremely low stretch, remarkable lightness, self-lubrication and abrasion resistance, which makes them ideally suited to performance sailing. Produced under exclusive industrial patents, they are up to five times more expensive than polyester. Typically, single braided HMPE will replace steel wire in standing rigging while double braids are used for  high performance halyards and sheets, sheathed in polyester or hybrid jackets for ease of handling and UV protection.