Bull Sails. Sailmakers

                                                                                            A few years back we began to hear of a ship being built down Warrnambool way inspired by the famous mysterious "Mahogany Ship". It turned out to be an authentic Caravel crafted by Graeme and Felicite Wylie. Having a strong and passionate interest in maritime history fuelled by family The  sail took up our entire small loft association I was very excited to be approached to make the sails for the "Notorious" as the vessel was to be known.  The original set we made from standard 8oz cruise Dacron and they did years and miles of service. Interesting the UV breakdown seemed to be retarded by Graeme painting the pristine white sails in a deep tan colour. We followed the voyages of the "Notorious" with interest and admired the vessel when

Cataloguing your settings A lot can happen when we are sailing around a race course. I don’t think I have ever sailed a race where the adjustments of sails, trim and crew placement have not been adjusted on scores of occasions. But a lot of necessary performance orientated adjustments are often overlooked with the hurley burley of the race going on around you. I am a big fan of having a set routine for a crew to adjust the sails and trim for different conditions. Due to the likelihood of some aspects of this being overlooked it is imperative these changes need to be catalogued and accessible. It can be invaluable for a new crew or to act as a simple refresher for existing crew.  Even the experts When you step on even a brand new racing boat, you will nearly always see a chart stuck somewhere in the cockpit with the relative speed, angle and VMG (Velocity Made Good) for that particular boat. These numbers are often supplied by the designer and act as a guide of what the crew sho

The first of three designated weekends for winter training for the International Cadet Class was held at Royal Geelong Yacht club. Day 1 We had a great turnout of 16 boats, it was great to see such a concerted effort to attend. Some boats were unavailable for both days but chose to do one which was fantastic commitment. The weather was very fickle with little zephyrs appearing and then disappearing, it was felt it was best to keep the sailors ashore for the morning. The sailors were split up into two groups based on experience and aspirations. Alanna field took the less experienced group and gave a talk on sail controls with particular emphasis on being able to de-power your boat to a manageable level in fresher conditions. Your scribe took the other group to talk about the value of training and looking after the little things like tacking and gybing etc. Shave 1 second off each manoeuvre and it is worth a lot more than a new jib or shiny fashionable sailing jac

Back in the seventies it wasn't just all about  bushy hair and bad fashion. Actually it was! But in the sailmaking world, it was the realm of the mitre cut. When I began sailmaking in the late 70's at Brooke Sails, under the tutelage of Noel Brooke, every headsail we made was a mitre cut sail. The reason was pretty simple, the Dacron sailcloth we used was pretty crappy compared to todays woven cloths and Carbon was something that was left over on the grill after a BBQ! Sail Design was a lot harder back then as the Sail-maker had to think of not only shape but cloth stretch as well. The cloth was very spongy and stretched a lot, particularly in the warp direction along the roll and even more so on the bias. It was marginally more stable on the Fill or Weft direction. I can remember the late Ben Lexcen (or Bob Miller as he was then) telling me that they had to cut their 12 metre class mains 9" (230mm) short on the leech to allow for stretch as the mainsail was sheeted on.

As I was finishing our most recent batch of cadet sails I began to muse on how we as sailmakers and myself personally have been involved in the Cadet class for many years as a sailmaker and more recently as a coach. Our cadet sails began over 25 years ago in a small tin shed on the waterfront, the sails were hand cut on a bench and assembled, one of our very early sets went on to win the Australian Championship that year. Our sails now are designed on the latest Smar Azure software ( the same software that was used in the design of the wing sail for Oracle in the Americas Cup) and computer cut for assembly by us. These sails have been constantly evolving and had much success at World, National, State and Regional level. After a break from the hands on role with the cadets whilst I did some big boat sailing. I decided to help out with the coaching at Royal Geelong Yacht Club ( mainly to avoid getting press ganged to one the various committees, it must be said).  This has led to some

I have found a lot of cruising yachties are often looking for a cruise spinnaker with-out breaking the budget. We have come up with a viable option. The Pacific range is a line of economical asymmetric or symmetric spinnakers aimed at the cruiser who wants a bit of extra horsepower when the breeze goes aft without breaking the bank. Floor-cut in the old fashioned way using skills honed from over 30 years ago working for Brooke Sails. They are made from 1st grade Nylon Spinnaker cloth with a Radial Head and Crosscut bottom panels. These sails provide a realistic option to second hand sails. For larger boats or more performance orientated roles we recommend a full radial panel layout.