Do you get confused with the myriad of rope manufacturers and dinghy ropes available? Read this quick recommendation of what dinghy rope to use in which application.
With just a few different dinghy ropes from leading performance rope makers, Gottifredi Maffioli, most dinghy sailors will have everything they need to optimise their sail control systems.
Types of Dinghy Ropes
Compact 78 - General purpose lashings, strops and control lines
Compact 78 is a single braid, polyurethane coated, Dyneema rope which is lightweight, low stretch and water repellent with excellent abrasion resistance. It is easy to splice and stays tight and firm even if bent around hard corners. It comes in sizes from 1.5 – 6 mm with 5 standard colours and can be used for a whole variety of purposes e.g. purchase systems, control lines, loop connections and general lashings.
Ultra 78 – Single braid halyards and high performance strops
Ultra 78 is a super-lightweight single braid, polyurethane coated, Dyneema 78. With a relatively long braid angle and excellent construction quality, Ultra 78 is much stiffer and keeps its firm feel for longer than most other Dyneema single braids. Used mainly for jib or main halyards (where no cover is needed), but also for high performance strops, loops and lashings. It is available in a large range of diameters from 2mm upwards.
Superswift – Performance Sheets
Superswift is the most popular main, kite and jib sheet material on performance dinghy ropes. It is a double braid line designed specifically for tapered sheets. Its Compact 78 core (see above) ensures it has minimum weight / stretch and is easy to splice and taper. The Dyneema® + non-slip fibre braided cover gives excellent abrasion resistance with comfortable, consistent handling. It is popular dinghy rope on boats with high sheet loads where perfect grip is needed. There are four standard sizes: 5 mm, 6.5 mm, 8 mm and 9.5 mm, which are suitable for most dinghy ropes and small keelboat sheets, for example: 470, 29er, 49er, 505`s, Nacra 17, J70/80, Dragon, Melges 24 etc.
Swiftcord – Non-tapered sheets and control lines
Swiftcord is a single braid Dyneema rope which might just be the most copied rope design ever! It was invented by Luigi Maffioli, in the 1990`s, and is still the best performing rope of its kind. The Dyneema® has been blended with a mix of non-slip fibres to improve its handling and grip. It has been specifically designed for any line adjusted frequently by hand, including control lines or non-tapered main, jib and spinnaker sheets. It is not the stiffest line on the market but due to its fantastic handling it is an excellent all-round line which is available in diameters from 3 – 10 mm.
Olympicstar 78 – Halyards, kite sheets and precision control lines
Olympicstar is a high quality double braid rope specifically developed, by Gottifredi Maffioli, for the teams at the 2008 Qingdao Olympics. The core is Dyneema 78 with a very tight braided cover made of Dyneema® plus Cordura® non-slip fibres. The core provides excellent stiffness and the cover gives very good handling but has been designed to improve grip and abrasion resistance in high load cleats. It is most commonly used for halyards, kite sheets and precision control lines and is available in 4, 5, 6 and 8 mm diameters.
Summary on dinghy ropes
If you are in any doubt about dinghy ropes and your needs, you will not go far wrong with the following combination:
- Lashings and strops Compact 78
- General control lines Swiftcord
- Sheets Superswift
- Halyards Ultra 78 (no cover) / Olympicstar 78 (with cover)
If you have any questions about dinghy ropes, please feel free to email us at [email protected], or click the link below to see our full range:
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Performance dinghy ropes explained