A sail loft

Cut for your boat.

Cruising sails made in a loft on the quay, measured on the water and finished by hand.

We measure on the water.

A sail is cut to the rig it will live on, so we come to the boat, take the dimensions and watch how the mast bends before anything is drawn.

Dacron for cruising and laminate for racing, in a weight chosen for the wind you actually sail in rather than the wind you would like to.

A torn panel, a blown batten pocket, a leech that has gone soft. In on a Monday is usually back on the boat by the Friday.

The maker's initials and the date go on the tack patch, so in twenty years you know exactly who to blame.

The loft

A loft is mostly an empty room. The floor is the largest tool in it and everything else is arranged around keeping it clear.

How a sail is made

Nothing here is quick. The parts that look like waiting are the parts that decide whether the sail sets.

We come to the boat, take the rig dimensions and watch how the mast bends under load.

The sail is designed flat, then given its curve by the broadseam, which is where the loft gets its name.

Panels are plotted and cut out on the floor, which is why a loft is a big empty room and not a workshop.

Seams, then corner patches, then the leech, on a machine that has been doing it far longer than we have.

It goes up on your rig before you pay, and anything not sitting right comes back down and is recut.

Enquire

Tell us the boat, which sail you are after and roughly where you sail. We reply with a cloth, a weight and a price.