January 22, 2026 This is the time of year for planning next season’s special voyage. This may be a trip up the coast, across the lake, or multi week sail to the islands or a favorite anchorage. We love to think that we can just jump on the boat and sail over the horizon when…
May 22, 2025 Last issue Part 1 looked at the initial stages of developing a sail. Next time, choosing cloth, finishing the design getting ready to cut panels. The structural meshing begins and cloth is chosen to be tested for how much load deformation should be expected. FEA is commonly used in industries where physical…
May 8, 2025 By Keven Piper There are as many ways to design a sail as there are sail designers in the world. In the old days, sailmakers would start either with the measurements of an existing sail that worked on the boat or a blueprint of the sailplan of the boat. These 2D methods…
Feb 27, 2025 By Keven Piper, Bay Sails Introduction The Lake Ontario Short Handed Racing Series (LOSHRS) is a very well attended series for single and double handed crews, and the Great Lakes Single Handed Society promotes other similar series all over the Great Lakes. The challenge of longer navigation style races and less crew…
Sept 12, 2024 By Keven Piper News of NTG (North Technology Group) buying Quantum Sails and Doyle Sails has lots of sailors talking about sail lofts lately. Talking with some colleagues in the industry even those working under those banners were surprised, but not really surprised by the news. Some commented that they haven’t had…
Mar 20, 2024 By Keven Piper, Bay Sails Part 1 takes a look at triradial vs crosscut mains. Part 2 considers speed, longevity and cost. In most one design classes like Stars or Etchells, where intense effort is made by sail designers to make the fastest sails, a very high proportion of the sail shape…
Dec 13, 2023 Part 1 here: sailingincanada.ca/tech/guide-to-keel-maintenance-part-1/ By William Souter, Custom Keel Sales & Design, MarsKeel Technology Keel maintenance is like any other maintenance on the boat; it is a matter of keeping an eye out for any tell-tale signs of water, or corrosion or wear. If you can stay ahead of it, it is extremely…
Nov 29, 2023 By William Souter, Custom Keel Sales & Design, MarsKeel Technology Keel maintenance is like any other maintenance on the boat; it is a matter of keeping an eye out for any tell-tale signs of water, or corrosion or wear. If you can stay ahead of it, it is extremely unlikely that major…
Mar 6, 2024 I had a very interesting conversation with a client just yesterday. They have a popular one design class that limits mainsail cloth to woven polyester (PET – polyethylene terephthalate) in a minimum weight of 300g/m2. The client also believed that the class mandated crosscut panel cuts because “all of the other sailmakers”…
Nov 1, 2023 I’m going to let you all in on my secret fall sailboat maintenance list. This is the time to get prepared for Spring launch, and you won’t be waiting for sail repairs, delivery of new sails, new impellers or replacement anodes. 1 – Check your cradle, stands or trailer. Grease the threads…
Club Racing has evolved over the years, from primarily racer/cruisers flying spinnakers, to a fairly serious level of non-spinnaker racers. A quick look at race registrations around the Great Lakes shows most clubs having more NFS (Non-Flying Sails = no spinnakers) racers than Flying Sails racers.
At the beginning of every season, I get large numbers of sailors calling and dropping by the loft to get replacement battens. Most of these batten losses are preventable if the sail is getting serviced regularly and the battens are installed correctly.
When the wind builds waves also build creating large choppy waves and gradually increasing swells. These waves slow down your boat when you are trying to make windward progress. Every wave is like climbing a hill or punching through a wall, especially when the wind gets over 25 knots.
At the sail loft, we are always busy repairing and maintaining sails. Much of the damage we are fixing can be prevented with some simple sail handling tips.
Most sailors just don’t have practice sailing in really windy conditions. Club racers don’t go out if it is more than 25 knots (nor will the race committee). When doing a long-distance cruise or race, you don’t have much option if a squall runs at you.
If you sail on the Great Lakes long enough, you are going to need to deal with summertime squalls. Because of the landlocked humid continental climate, we see very hot summer temperatures that lead to convective weather events.
