How Do Sailmakers Make Sails?

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The art of sailmakers has become more scientific since the nineties. Advances in computers, programs, materials and understand mean that the customer benefits are significant. Read on to learn what heights the industry process has reached. If you would like to read the full article www.sailmakers.com

Geometry 

In order to make a sail of course you need to measure the area that the cloth will take up. Naturally you must also understand the relationship between how the cloth responds to the wind, but that comes later! So you can either measure using a tape onboard or use an accurate scale model. This will give you the workable area for the cloth.

Analysis 

When you have your coordinates they are programmed into three dimensional modeling software. The information of most relevance are the percentage chord depth, the maximum draft depth and the angle of entry / exit of the wind.

Obstacles 

Most pleasure yachts are designed backwards in terms of generating optimum speed through wind power. The reason for this is that the rigging, spreaders and deck components are designed before the sails. This is a tough draw for the sailmakers, as the obstacles present on deck interfere with the best sail design.

Wind Tunnel 

The wind tunnel is used to predict the amnount of drag and lift the sails generate for the hull in the water. This process leads to a back and forth from drawing board to tunnel. When the adjustments are made then the process moves on to material properties.

Material Properties  

As we know cloth selection depends on several things. The type of sail ie size, shape, use etc, whether it's a racing or cruising sail and so on. These factors and more contribute to the stress and load distribution on the cloth. Sail cloth only gives in one direction, this characteristics is called non isotropic. So some predication modeling is required to determine the direction of the cloth fibers to make sure the sail does not rip. Graphs are normally used load V sail cloth.

Shape And Cutting 

The result is a pre stressed shape which is brought on to the final stages. Essentially the process of design has taken place in three dimensions. So a technique called Geodesics is used to bring that shape in to the two dimensions. The equation used measures the curved distance between two points and then calculates the cut required in order to represent the image on the screen. Cutting the finished product is done using a laser to achieve precision. Once the panels are cut they are then sewn to provide strength and fidelity.

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