Making Cruising Sails

The dying art of making cruising sails the old fashioned way.

Sails for racing have long ago gone the high tech way using computers to not only design but cutting the cloth and in some case assembly. Cruising sails in most lofts are now made in a similar same way. What has happened though is there are fewer people out there that know how to loft (design and build) a sail without the use of a computer and a giant plotter/cutter.

We at Velas de Baja learned the old fashioned way over 13 years ago from a real master sail maker that had been lofting sails this way even when race sails were made the old way. Ed Fracker who first showed myself and Ricardo (Rico) Rodriguez  how to “loft” sails using mathematical calculations and drawings helped pass on to us what is becoming a dying art.

We not only just used pencil and paper to design the cruising sails but when it came to actually cutting the cloth we use a long wooden batten to help cut the curves necessary in making the sails. The process of not just designing, cutting the panels and sewing them

More Below...

Our sails must be built to withstand not only high winds, salt and sun but the doldrums (weather condition when there is no wind) as well. In these conditions many sailors will keep their sails up for any breath of air that may pass, for shade and while motoring to steady the boat. Funny enough it is these times that chafe or the wearing through of fabrics and breakdown of hardware happens a lot of times. The boat may seem almost motionless but especially in mono hulls as they gentle rock back and forth the sail “slats” back and forth while baking in the sun. This “slating” can cause great damage and requires reinforcements to be installed on the cruising sails.

We use extra webbing to reinforce grommets, oversized patches, extra heavy UV resistant threads, extra seams and double tapes along the leech (trailing edge of sail) in some cases. All of this is to assure the sailor that they’re going to make the next port whether it be through storms or doldrums. Possibly a little slower than a lighter higher tech sail might but then the higher tech sails won’t last as well on long passages or around the world as many of ours have now done.
 

 together but then putting fair curves on all three sides of the sail is truly an art form. It is because these curves that we put into the cuts and final edges of the sail are where the sail gets its shape.

The basic trick to making the shape is when you sew a straight edge to a slight curved edge you will have put shape or 3 dimensional curves into the resulting sail. The oldest of sails did not put any shape in the seams between the panels but only along the outer edges of the sails. This is still done on some simple sails such as for the world famous sailfish and sunfish sailing dinghies.

While fabrics have changed a great deal over the years even for cruising sails, the art of lofting the sail has remained pretty much the same for many decades unless you go the way of high technology. The cloths for basic cruising sails are of Dacron with a lot of different types of resins (plastics) impregnated into the cloth during the manufacturing. The newer cloths have greater stability (less stretch) and can be used to hold the given shape for many more years than the older simpler sail cloths.

When I opened Velas de Baja (Baja Sails) in the fall of 1992 there was not enough of a market to go the high tech way. Plus, I figured we were to be more of a repair shop than an actual production loft. Well I was wrong. Soon after opening we were getting requests for new cruising sails, but since they are almost always built of Dacron and are of the cross cut design (a simple design with panels sewn parallel and horizontally across the sail) we could do it. In fact, thanks to Ed Fracker and the many years of experience since, we have learned to truly loft some excellent cruising sails

See the biggest concern for most cruisers if they are well schooled is that their sails must be durable foremost. It is more important than performance. In fact performance is a little difficult to achieve with a lot of cruising sailboats in general as they are loaded down with all the cruisers household goods. That is not say performance doesn’t matter but when we bend (install) a sail on a boat and it leaves the next day south for the Marquesas and on to the South Pacific these sails are up day and night for weeks at a time. Durability becomes key in creating a good product.

Velas de Baja having repaired so many sails over the years we have seen what works and what doesn’t. Many times the gimmicks that man is always trying to come up with are better to stay away from as they only create more parts to break and are harder to repair or improvise a repair when broken and the sailor is out at sea.

I remember a client years ago getting upset that we had hand sewn a small cleat that holds the leech line on to his sail. He had asked for it to be riveted on. I explained that it can be done of course but the less metal in your sail the better, plus re-stitching a little hand sewing is no big deal if you are like most sailors and carry some thread, needles and a palm (leather reinforcement held in the palm to push the needle through). In fact, we have removed many shackles, blocks (pulleys) and systems from sails and replaced them with webbing and or rings as it is easier to repair, chafes less and many times it also makes easier to hoist and handle the sail.

There are many other great tricks we have learned from Ed and several other sail makers that have come through Velas de Baja through the years. I have really enjoyed my years as a sail maker in La Paz. It felt really good to put out a product that is part art and part tech. By using the old methods and the new fabrics and hardware we have been able to create something that is becoming rare in the world.

I have had many great sail makers and sail designers come through Velas de Baja over the years and say “Hell, I don’t even know how to do that. If I didn’t have my computer I would be lost”. Well it is not rocket science as they know but what they are referring to is the feel and intuition that we have learned from using the old ways. Plus it really helps us re-cut and rebuild sails that many would say are not worth repairing. The fact is most of our clients are on budgets and we need to help them keep sailing as cheaply yet safely as possible.

If you are planning to cruise, whether to Mexico or far beyond, we would like to build your sails. Plan on making a two week stop to refit in La Paz or store your boat here out of season and we will custom tailor cruising sails for your vessel. We recommend you place your pre-order now, as time slots fill up quickly in the fall.

La Paz offers many advantages to the cruiser, including several very reputable yards, marine stores, diesel services and fine marinas. Additionally of course, La Paz is a captivatingly friendly place to visit.