sailworks design and production process
Sailworks is based in the small town of Hood River, Oregon, USA within the windy corridors of the Columbia River Gorge. A 4,600 sq. foot R+D loft is the creative laboratory for Bruce Peterson’s sail designs. From this facility all the Sailworks design prototypes are built and pre-tested. The Sailworks loft is staffed with a crew of talented sail makers, every one a hard-core windsurfer.
The Sailworks design ethos is rooted in a philosophy of incremental improvement to proven designs. We’re a product driven sail company that takes our customers windsurfing experience and satisfaction very seriously. We also like to keep the choices simple but effective for your windsurfing passion.
Here’s a brief tour of our design and production process.
The backbone of the Sailworks designs comes from Bruce Peterson’s 21 years of sail making experience. Bruce is a meticulous record keeper and maintains a design database dating back to his first original sail made in 1983. Each Sailworks sail design is based upon a successful set of proven geometric attributes. Sailworks has been automated with CAD/CAM technology using an Autometrix cutting table since 1993.

We created our own sail design software linking the graphical precision of AutoCad® to the numerical precision of an Excel® spreadsheet. We track over 350 data points that accurately define the geometry of a sail. Once a new design is ready to cut, the sail panels are “nested” to ensure optimum material efficiency. The cut-ready layout is then outputted to a flatbed cutting table that first marks reference points, then cuts the panels using a small carbide rotary blade. The sailcloth is held firmly in place with vacuum pressure during the cutting process.
The cut panels are then expertly joined using adhesive seam tape. This is the most important step of the sail assembly where the predetermined three-dimensional profile of the sail is created (called broadseaming). We use three different methods of broadseaming depending upon the profile that is required and the location on the sail.

The small patch pieces are prepped and pre-assembled, ready for application to the sail body. Every patch and reinforcing piece is taped into place before stitching. The adhesive bonding of the sail cloth is an integral part of the strength and structure of the sail. To streamline the assembly process and make the sewing easier, the panels and seams are pre-stitched wherever possible.

Sewing the seams on a large sail takes a skilled operator and a LOT of table space. We use purpose built forced air tables to help “float” the sails during the sewing operations.
Laying and sewing the batten pockets requires precision and patience. You know your sailmaker’s got it going on if they can keep the batten pocket stitching straight on a 12.5 sail!

Attaching the mast sleeve to the body of the sail is perhaps the most critical seam. This seam contains a large portion of the shaping elements of the sail and also interfaces with the mast for tension control. Again, everything is firmly stuck in place to ensure accurate assembly.
Corner finishing details, such as tack pulleys, handles, ties buttons and grommets complete the assembly process to the body of the sail.

Building the batten set is the last crucial step in the sail construction. We have seven types of batten to choose from and each with a multitude of unique tapering profiles. We choose the exact batten profile and stiffness that is required to pressure and support each section of the sail.
The final step is the proud application of the Sailworks name and logo.

Depending upon the size and type of the sail it takes between 12 and 20 man-hours to build a Sailworks prototype sail from start to finish. The finished sail is rigged and “table checked” for shaping and tension profile accuracy.

Next comes the best part of all. The newly finished prototype sails heads to the beach for its first session and a shake-down water test.

Often we make small adjustments or re-cuts to the prototype sails to refine their shape or tension balance. These changes are meticulously recording and entered back into the design geometry for the next iteration of the design.
Advancement of the sail design comes from careful testing by professional sailors in controlled environments to isolate and define performance differences. Sometimes the development goals are subjective, for example the rider’s feel of the handling response. Other times the goals are very objective – does the sail point higher? Testing and monitoring the intuitive usability and function of our sails with recreational and novice sailors is also vital to our sail development. All of the performance feedback is consolidated and condensed to plot the future development.

The sail development process is continually advancing. The pace of sail development has slowed as we refine the small details of each sail. In many cases the changes are individually imperceptible, but a collective set of many small improvements makes a superior sail design.

Once a year we finalize the design of each sail and create master templates for mass production of the sail at our factory in China. Sailworks is in the unique position of operating its own sail factory where no other sail brands but Sailworks are made. This gives us complete control over every aspect of the sail production.
The production factory produces the sails in the same manner as described here, except for the material cutting, which is stack-cut by hand and rotary knife. The increased volume of production changes the way some sail assembly operations are broken down to ensure that good work flow, and continuity is maintained throughout the production line. Essentially the sail factory operates as a small custom sail loft. In peak season we employ over 40 highly skilled sail makers.