Sails of Silver now sported the same line-up that had brought it to the height of its success, "Sails of Silver" has often been seen as embodying a different spirit from their classic albums of the 1970s. Prior to "Sails of Silver", the band had always performed songs written by other people, predominantly traditional songs, but also a few 20th century pieces, such as the two Brecht songs on "Storm Force Ten". But on this album they included several songs they had written themselves, including "Let Her Go Down" and "Senior Service". This was the beginning of a trend that continues down to
Polytarp sails 14 or 14 x 14. Increasingly, white polytarp is used to construct mainsails, jibs, and mizzens, while the lightweight polytarp materials are reserved for making spinnakers. Polysail is the term given to any sail made of polytarp material and not just the white polytarp material. Polytarp is used to construct nearly every type of sail. However, the material is best for traditional sail types such as sprits, lugs, gaffs, gunters, lateens, junk sails, and jib-headed sprits. They are not suitable for sails that depend upon being highly tensioned, such as the marconi or Bermuda types of triangular sails. Polytarp sails