New Blog 2: Sailmakers

Sunday 11 November 2012

Sailmakers

A sailmaker makes and repairs sails for sailboats, kites, hang gliders, wind art, architectural sails,[1] or other structures using sails. A sailmaker typically works on shore in a sail loft. The sail loft has other sailmakers. Large ocean-going sailing ships often had sailmakers in the crew. The sailmaker maintained and repaired sails. This required knowledge of the sailmaker's craft and the tools of the sailmakers loft on shore.[2]

Today, one of a sailmaker's important jobs is to teach people how to set and trim their sails to get the most out of them.[3] Sometimes a sailmaker will accompany the client out on the water and adjust the sails.[4] The modern sailmaker uses computer-aided design and manufacturing tools. Computer graphics allow the sailmaker to produce a "lines drawing" of the sail.[5] Once the design is complete, the sailmaker can now use a low-power laser to cut the material to the exact shape.[6]The shape or depth of a sail is put into the sail by the sailmaker though the use of curved seams or 'broadseams'.A simple way of describing this is if you lay two pieces of paper next to each other with one overlapping the other by a fixed amount and stick them together, the result will be a larger flat piece of paper. However, if you cut a curve into one or both of the edges and maintain the same overlap, the result will be a curved surface.