Encyclopedia of Sails

UK Sailmakers is happy to make this encyclopedia on sailmaking available to our customers. The first half should be used as a reference tool or as a way to…

Buying a new sail should be a pleasure, not a terrifying, difficult or mysterious experience. If you’re a bit concerned about this, we’d like to explain the…

Before we actually start building, we’ll need some very specific measurements. If your boat is near one of our lofts, we’ll come over and measure; if not…

Until the 1980s, woven polyester (better know as Dacron — Dupont’s tradename for their polyester yarn) was the only sailcloth in use. Today’s cloths include…

Every sailmaker designs sails on a computer, but the trick is building a sail that will keep its intended shape. UK Sailmakers can offer the option of building…

Since 1985, UK Sailmakers has been dedicated to improving and refining the Tape-Drive® sail construction system — the original continuous loadpath sail…

There is occasionally some confusion with respect to mainsail area. Most sailmakers, including us, compute mainsail area as if the sail were a right triangle…

You’ll notice that some of the jibs on certain price lists include a percentage figure in their name and some do not. Examples are “150% No. 1 Genoa” and…

The curved sides of a spinnaker make the computation of area a complicated process. It is therefore an almost universal practice in the sail-making industry to…

For most sailors, asymmetric spinnakers are specialty sails that fill in the performance gap between genoas and spinnakers. On the growing new breed of…

The Cruising Spinnaker is an asymmetrical pole-less spinnaker that combines the ease of handling a jib or genoa with the pulling power of a spinnaker. Because…

The simplicity of the UK Sailmakers cruising spinnaker is further enhanced by the addition of the UK Stasher. The UK Stasher is a sleeve that gives you…

The term “staysail” denotes any one of a large variety of what might be called auxiliary or supple-mentary sails. Cruising sailors are most apt to carry a…

A Drifter is a full-draft, lightweight nylon No. 1 genoa that does away with the frustration and aggravation of sailing in light air. Drifters are a hybrid…

The Jib Topsail is a reaching genoa that is a must for distance racing. Its draft is noticeably greater than a genoa and is positioned forward since the sail…

UK Sailmakers builds storm sails to the requirements World Sailing’s Offshore Special Regulations. The Offshore Special Regulations require racers to carry…

Mainsails must perform over a wide variety of sailing conditions. This required versatility is achieved by adjustment and trimming.

The major characteristics of genoa, or jib shape, are the amount and location of draft, and the angle of entry. The shape of the jib is controlled by the fore…

No indicator has been developed that approaches the sensitivity and effectiveness of telltales along the luff of the jib. These yarns or “ticklers” monitor the…

The steps in preparing to set a spinnaker and their most efficient sequence varies depending upon the boat, the crew and the conditions. The basic steps and…

Perhaps no sailing maneuver calls for better crew coordination than the spinnaker jibe. There are two basic jibing techniques for symmetrical spinnakers:

The lazy guy takedown uses the idle guy on the leeward side to insure getting the spinnaker into the mainsail’s blanket zone. The lazy guy is led forward and…

The Flasher ® is UK’s trademark for an asym-metrical pole-less cruising spinnaker. The Flasher ® requires little in the way of equipment. Be sure, however…

The Flasher ® can be flown just as you would a spinnaker, with the wind anywhere from about 75 degrees off the bow to dead-downwind.

Jibing is easy when you follow a few tips;

The first objective in tuning a rig is to get the mast centered in the boat and standing straight. Once this is achieved, refinement of the tuning will improve…

As sailmakers, we are acutely aware of the cost of sails as part of the total investment in owning and operating a sailboat. Experience has also shown us that…

All new Mylar-based genoas either come with spreader patches in place or with spreader patch material to be applied. The patches are sticky-back Dacron…