So you might have a 70/30 weave or 60/40 weave or no, still 50/50 depending upon the sail but we changed the way that the cloth is used with the Dacron polyester fibre. Today, we really mix the weave construction mix. It used to be, when Ted Hood pioneered this back in the late 50’s, it was a cross cut, XY axis type of weaving and the same fibre was on the X axis as was on the Y axis. It’s a lot of different weights, lots of different styles, and lots of different weaves. We’ve used it forever, there had been lots of advances and it’s been a more engineered product in the last 10, 15 years than it has been. Within the cloth and we’ll have lots of different types of cloth but the basic fibres we use, and the fibre is what’s going to dictate how strong the cloth is, we’re going to have Dacron or polyester, this has been tried and true. With that in mind, I’m going like try and think about, what does it take, what goes in to making a good sail? What do we have to think about? The foundation of any good sail is going to start with sail fibre, the cloth. So it really makes a difference in how we approach the sail we’re going to build. So all these things factor into, as a sail maker, things that I consider when I build an offshore sail versus when I build a sail for someone who is bay cruising or even sometimes coastal cruising. The sails get a lot more demands on them a lot of wear and tear, a lot of weathering, a lot more chafe, even just the acts of putting a reef in has a lot of wear and tear, takes a lot of life out of sails. You don’t get to choose what sea state or what wave, or what wind conditions you sail in. You’re making a long passage, all of a sudden your sails shift from being used in good conditions or fair conditions to now you’re going to have periods of extended times in UV extended wear and tear. Your choices or things are dictated to you more. When you go off shore, your bringing all these in here. With that, offshore sailing, what does it mean to me as a sail maker? As I mentioned, it’s a very different approach and basically, when you’re on the bay, you’re using your sails but you get to pick and choose when you go out, you get to pick and choose the conditions you sail in, it’s very different. But we’re going to try and really address offshore sails and what you need to think about, what you need to start preparing for and how using sails offshore is very different from maybe how you’ve been using them currently. So it’s going to be an overview, I’ll be here after the break, I’ll stay for lunch, I’ve got samples to show people for different cloths. Welcome everybody, I appreciate you having me here, we’re going to cover a lot of ground in a very short period today. So I’ll leave it to him to talk about off shore sails and sail making, thank you Chuck.Ĭhuck O'Malley: Thanks Andy. So they do a lot of stuff over at the loft year round and Chuck is a great guy to work with and really knows his stuff. I’ll let him explain that but we do a bunch of events over at Chesapeake Sailmakers as well, if you do in Delmarva, the Delmarva seminar is going to be over at the loft as will some of the parties and stuff we have around that. We blew up our old mainsail and it got done in two weeks, we picked it up in Saint Martin and it is just fantastic and he’s going to talk a little bit about specifically the sail we got made and why we got it made with certain features specific to blue water sailing. Just recently, Chuck built a brand new mainsail for our Swan 48 Isbjörn and it was amazing. I’ve known Chuck for the last 10 years and he’s worked on my sails, my dad’s boat and some other stuff I’ve done. Andy Schell: Chuck O’Malley is with Chesapeake Sailmakers here in Annapolis.
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