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To cut sails nowadays, you simply have to have a large space, a modern plotter and one or more design programs. Making sails without a plotter leads to a great deal of wasted time, and the results are not worth it.
Before starting with the design, we check the measurements of the boat for which the sails are to be made. The data are entered in the design program, and a flat design appears on the display.
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We start to fill in the details: we stretch out the leech as far as possible, we round out the luff, following the shape of the mast, and we gave the base the right slant. To distribute the roaches, we view the sail in 3D on our monitor (naturally we use carefully defined parameters for the forms).
Once we’ve double-checked all the measures, we proceed with the cutting.
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We lay out the fabric on the cutting table, we turn on the vacuum pumps that keep the fabric flat and we start up the plotter.
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The plotter! This fabulous invention cuts in every direction, while the pen marks the portion to be overlapped during the gluing. To produce a forty-foot sail, you have to do three runs with the plotter. My sail-shop has a cutting table that measures 18.50 m in length and 2.70 m in width.
We move right on to the gluing of the panels. They are put together and sewn up, if the sails are white. Reinforcement patches are applied, the entire edge is given its border, and the eyelets are installed.
The all-important finishing touches give the sail solidity, keeping the shape unaltered and optimising the overall performance.
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