If you’re bringing your sails into the loft for service or storage using a drawstring sail bag, you may be staring at that gold UK Sailmakers bag that’s been stashed below deck for months, or even years, wondering how your sail will ever fit. Trust us: over the years, our lofts have seen some very creative folding techniques! Getting your sails serviced before the spring sailing season is key to keeping them performing at their best, and catching small maintenance issues early can help prevent costly repairs down the road. Your local UK Sailmakers loft can inspect, repair, or clean your sails, and if you’re thinking about a new one, this is the perfect time to plan for spring delivery. We can help you create a multi-year plan to suit your needs, budget, and sailing goals. Some UK Sailmakers lofts also offer collection and installation services to make it easy to bring your sails in for repair, winter storage, or return. But if you’re dropping your sails off yourself and are wondering how to fit them into a standard drawstring bag, follow this step-by-step guide—it will save you time and make your sailmaker’s job easier. Step 1: Remove any battens and sheets from the sail and lay it out on a clean, flat surface—like a dock finger, sailing club lawn, or other smooth area. Avoid dragging the sail across rough concrete or other hard, abrasive surfaces. Step 2: Flatten about an arm span’s width of the foot, keeping the remainder of the sail neatly piled beside it without twists. Step 3: Grip the foot of the sail while holding the section for your first fold taut. Keep the height of your drawstring bag in mind and make folds slightly narrower than your sail bag’s height to ensure a good fit. Step 4: Continue flaking the sail back and forth, staying between the tack and clew, all the way to the head. You don’t need to stack the luff like you would for a racing sail “sausage bag,” though you can if you prefer. Step 5: Fold over the tack edge over, then roll the sail toward the clew. Step 6: Secure the rolled sail with sail ties and slide it into your drawstring bag. Done!

Soulmates has many custom touches, but the interior one that’s unique is the gimbled stove. The stove and oven are part of a unit that includes pot lockers on either side. The stove/oven/pot locker unit has a circular bottom that rides on halyard sheeves. Not only does the stove stay level, but the tops of the pot lockers on both sides of the stove stay level too. When the boat is heeling, the tops of the pot lockers become level surfaces that the cook can use for pouring a cup of coffee or plating dinner. I have never seen a set up like this on any other boat.

Watch Bill Henson’s JPK 45 SIRENE flying downwind with their UK Sailmakers asymmetrical spinnaker in the 2024 Rolex Sydney to Hobart Yacht Race! Making an incredible debut, SIRENE was crowned IRC Corinthian Division Champion, took 2nd place in IRC Division 2, and finished 15th overall in IRC out of 104 starters—only 74 of which crossed the finish line. Representing Fremantle Sailing Club and equipped with an expertly crafted sail inventory from UK Sailmakers Fremantle, SIRENE showcased the perfect balance of versatility and performance that defines this racer-cruiser. The sails were designed and built by UK Sailmakers, with upwind sails developed by Pat Considine (UK Sailmakers Chicago) and asymmetrical spinnakers by Geoff Bishop (UK Sailmakers Fremantle). SIRENE’s inventory included: • X-Drive mainsail with three reefs • X-Drive J2 race jib, reefable to J3 • Heavy-weather J4 staysail on a furler • Code Zero, A2, A3, A4, and a reaching jib top • Storm jib for safety compliance The sail wardrobe was meticulously planned, combining local expertise with UK Sailmakers' cutting-edge Fluid–Structure Interaction (FSI) modeling—an advanced analytical tool that simulates the interaction between sails and surrounding airflow to optimize performance. The initial sail plan was developed in collaboration with Geoff Bishop of UK Sailmakers and a local rigger, with support from FSI modeling by UK Sailmakers' lead designer, Pat Considine. This resulted in a highly effective combination of a jib with a reef and a furling staysail, minimizing jib sail changes while providing a versatile downwind staysail. Video clip provided by Bill Henson.

Paul Exner who leads who runs the Modern Geographic Sailing Academy takes students step-by-step to go anywhere by sail. He teaches sailors the skills they need to sail in the ocean with confidence. This video shows him on a heavy air passage across Hawaii’s Alenuihaha Channel between Maui and Big Island in heavy weather aboard his Cape George Cutter 31, SOLSTICE. He has sailed hard for 40 years before he'd been in conditions that required a storm trysail and storm headsails. His students on this expedition had signed up for sailing in storm sailing conditions. Paul writes, “Bluewater sailing is a ‘practice’ — the same as any professional discipline like law, medicine, engineering, or business … you must practice your ‘art’ under the circumstances you’d expect in the real-world. Before a sailor can grow, they must surround themselves with bluewater conditions to establish a base-line from which mastery grows. “During the MOD GEO expedition you’ll grow as a sailor through hands-on practice on routes that you plan, influenced by weather forecasts you interpret — while you manage an ocean-ready sailing vessel to encounter a complete range of offshore and coastal conditions thrown at you in real time. You’ll learn proven seamanship methods and actionable-info to accelerate the pace and confidence by which you reach your sailing dream.” Paul’s not kidding you with these firm statements — many sailors have learned from Paul Exner how to complete their own Earth circumnavigation, sail multi-year voyages aboard their own boat — OR, become a trusted professional in the marine industry. Paul is a very experienced sailor and he knows how to teach seamanship. He also knows that an ocean-going boat needs dependable equipment. That is why his boat is powered by UK Sailmakers’ bluewater standard dacron cruising sails. In fact, he is just replacing his 18-year-old genoa. That’s a lot of years, especially when most of those miles were done on the ocean.

UK Sailmakers Turkey put together this terrific compilation video of our sails and sailmakers in action.

Fast spinnaker sailing on the 2022 Newport to Bermuda on the J/44 Kenai

This video was shot on Stefan Voss’ Archambault 35 OM ripping along into the darkest night on the Round Skagen Race 2022. That night they sped through the fleet keeping up with 50 and 55-footers. The finish of the 510-mile race was much less excited as they picked their way from catspaw to catspaw to keep moving in the lightest of breezes.

UK Sailmakers Denmark has a new panel layout for their 2022 OK Dinghy sail. Bo Petersen used it to win the 2022 European Championship.

Those who restore classic yachts help maintain sailing history – from wooden schooners and meter boats to one-designs. Now, a more modern classic has been restored. George Radley Jr. of Cobh, Ireland, has owned the Ron Holland-designed IMP since the ’90s and has just done a major restoration of this famous 1970s IOR winner. Over the decades, the boat has kept her distinctive look with her topsides painted in a rainbow horizontal green bands going from light green to dark green at the waterline. Originally built for San Francisco sailor David Allen in 1977, the boat was a radical design that turned out to be a breakthrough on the IOR scene. Here is a video of IMP sailing off Cork, Ireland, with her new set of UK Sailmakers X-Drive carbon sails.

Throwing the Lifesling to an MOB instead of towing it.

Some video clips take during the shake down sail of an ORC 50 catamaran in Lorient, France. In it the shows off her new UK Sailmakers Titanium carbon sails.

Hanse 400 with X-Drive performance cruising sails

UK Sailmakers’ Head Sail Designer Pat Considine uses BSG Development’s FSI sail analysis program to help fine-tune his sail designs. The FSI program works like a virtual wind tunnel allowing Pat to make sure no section of the sail becomes overloaded, allows him to see how the flying shape changes with trim, mast bend, rig tune across a range of wind speeds. The program analyses how all the components of the boat’s rig and sails work together. In this video Pat talks about how he used the program to advance his sail designs for square top mainsails. At the end of the video analyzing the mainsail shape on the Mark Mills designed Cape 31, Pat said, “Anyone who got a square top mainsail design this year benefited from the Cape 31 study. It helped improve the group’s designs for square top mainsails.” This is just one more example of the technical tools UK Sailmakers uses to ensure our customers get the fastest sails possible.

Cruising code zero on a Lagoon 52 catamaran

Showing the Ewincher 2 electric winch handle raising 320 pounds of steel weights.

Jeanneau Sun Odyssey 509 Scarlet Fever reaching with her Code Zero.

Bo Petersen, top-ranked OK Dinghy sailor, explains how he got to be faster than all others in the OK Dinghy class.

The Fast 40+ Christopher Dragon sailing downwind in the Round The Island Race.

This video shot by www.droneproject.eu shows tight action at a windward mark during the RC44 Cup in Marstrand, Sweden the first weekend of July 2021. The lead boat RUS 21 shows great down-speed boat handling. She does several quick tacks in succession and luffs around the windward mark, all the while staying in front of the fleet. The question is: did RUS 21 pull off a slick move to round the windward mark first or should she get the flick for breaking a rule. Things to think about: When RUS 10 originally tacked from port to starboard, was she in the zone? Does 18.3 apply RUS 21 got room from RUS 10, was RUS 21 entitled to luff after rounding the mark. Watch the video and draw your own conclusions. The answer is on the UK Sailmakers.com site in the Rules Quiz section. V

Action on the Europe Dinghy racing circuit.