Kingston Sail Loft

Kingston Sail Loft Sail manufacturing and repair Now owned and operated by Steve Yates, Sue Fraser and Ali Meller

A Laser II spinnaker we built for a camp, part way through completing it. We built it with a radial head so the sail wo...
05/24/2026

A Laser II spinnaker we built for a camp, part way through completing it. We built it with a radial head so the sail would hold its shape (not deform from stretching on the bias at the leeches) longer despite years of use.

505 Sail Development With and Without Sail Design SoftwareWhile our full triradial 505 spinnaker is being used by some O...
05/24/2026

505 Sail Development With and Without Sail Design Software

While our full triradial 505 spinnaker is being used by some Ontario 505 racers, we are still working on the main and jib. After lots of testing and photographs of the first prototypes and discussions with our designer, second generation prototypes of the main and jib are being built. We have added luff curve to both sails. We hope to be testing these sails in a few weeks. That is the way most new sails are designed today. They are designed on a computer using sophisticated sail design software, then a file that the cutter/plotter can read is exported and sent to a cutter/plotter. The sailcloth is unrolled onto the cutter/plotter table, the panels are cut and marked, then the sail is assembled and sewn. I think of it as sailmaking as math and production using sophisticated tools and equipment.

In the meantime we are also building another design 505 jib on our floor; this is more of the sailmaking as a craft approach.
We had a particular shape in mind, based on what we thought would be fast. We wanted a large radial clew, but stayed with crosscut panels above that, as we were not using sail design software to calculate panel curves. Experienced sailmakers can usually develop the shapes they want with crosscut panels, based on previous experience. The panel shapes for triradial and briradial sails are best calculated using sail design software.

We drew panels on Tyvek, drew the seam taper we thought we wanted, and taped the panels together with seam tape. So we had a Tyvek prototype. We put some masking tape draft stripes on it, photographed it, then on the images, drew straight lines from luff to leech at each draft stripe and determined the fullness and shape distribution at each draft stripe.

We were close, but wanted more fullness near the bottom of the sail, so opened up the seams of some of the bottom panels, altered the edge curves, and then stuck it back together again.

Now we had what we wanted for shape.

Based on the panel edge curves of that Tyvek prototype we laid out panels in Dacron. We moved the mitre seam up a bit, but were able to use the panel curves as on the Tyvek version.

We had considered using a warp oriented cloth for the radial panels and a balanced high aspect ratio cloth for the crosscut panels, but decided on a single balanced racing cloth, Contender Fibercon Pro RSQ Polykote, as it would work well for both radial and crosscut panels. We chose the 4.05 oz as it is balanced (thread counts in warp and weft), coated (reducing bias stretch) and was sturdy enough that it could withstand being restitched if we wanted to open up a seam and change the shape after initial testing.

The images illustrate the above process.

Checking the shape of the radial head on a dinghy spinnaker
05/01/2026

Checking the shape of the radial head on a dinghy spinnaker

A KSL customer has a nearly new asymmetrical spinnaker for a Hunter 376 for sale. The sail comes with a snuffer.The ima...
04/21/2026

A KSL customer has a nearly new asymmetrical spinnaker for a Hunter 376 for sale. The sail comes with a snuffer.

The image shows the spinnaker in use on a larger boat.
Luff 45' 2"
Leach 4' 8"
Girth 23' 8"

A prototype 505 rudder bag. 505s now use high aspect ratio rudders and centreboards.
04/13/2026

A prototype 505 rudder bag. 505s now use high aspect ratio rudders and centreboards.

Repairs to an Abbott 33 Genoa: Mylar creases and can eventually crack where it is folded or repeatedly bent. Stress con...
03/26/2026

Repairs to an Abbott 33 Genoa:
Mylar creases and can eventually crack where it is folded or repeatedly bent. Stress concentrations (and bending) often happen where cloth layers in a sail go from two layers to one layer, such as on the edge of a clew patch, or just inboard of the leech tape on a Genoa. We call this a hinge ...

When this sail was built, John Clark had run Insignia tape up one side of the leech, inside the leech tape, to prevent that hinge from happening on the edge of the leech tape. That was very successful, but over time the hinge effect started to happen on the inboard edge of the Insignia tape.

Our repair was to remove the leech tape, run wider Insignia tape up the other side of the sail, and sew a new lightweight leech tape back on. The new layer of Insignia will stop the sail bending where it was bending and had creased, and weakened.

The clew had already been repaired once, with narrow Dacron tape sewn across the "hinge" where the clew cover patch ended, and the fabric layers went from two to one.

Our repair was to stick on wider (6 inch) Dacron tape on the other side, then run Insignia tape over the edges of the Dacron tape so we would not create a hinge at the edge of the Dacron tape. That was sewn down.

Despite being far from new, this reinforced laminate sail is ready to back on the race course.

Mylar will weaken and possibly crack where it is creased or repeatedly bent. Try to avoid using the same folds over time, put the folds in different places when flaking the sail. Or roll it if you can avoid folding/flaking.

Stop the leech of a Genoa from fluttering by pulling on just enough leech line to stop the flutter.

Sewing the radial panels on the head of a reaching spinnaker/code 0 for a Wētā trimaran, using our triple stitch sewing ...
03/24/2026

Sewing the radial panels on the head of a reaching spinnaker/code 0 for a Wētā trimaran, using our triple stitch sewing machine. The customer wants a fuller spinnaker/code 0 so he can sail a bit lower downwind in light air.

I may sometimes suggest that any sail can be repaired, though in some cases it may not be worth it, as the repair may co...
03/17/2026

I may sometimes suggest that any sail can be repaired, though in some cases it may not be worth it, as the repair may cost close to, or perhaps more, than what a new sail would cost.

This sail is not worth repairing ...

Sue and Ali were in Western Australia where Ali borrowed a 505 and raced the Australian 505 Championship out of Fremantl...
02/03/2026

Sue and Ali were in Western Australia where Ali borrowed a 505 and raced the Australian 505 Championship out of Fremantle Sailing Club while Sue ran three days of Waszp clinics at Royal Freshwater Bay YC.

We are currently touring New Zealand; we’ll be in Auckland for the next SailGP event.

Bob C. is at KSL some of the time. Please all ahead to ensure someone is there before driving over.

Address

774 Baker Crescent, Unit 2 (in Back)
Kingston, ON
K7M6P6

Opening Hours

Monday 9am - 4pm
Tuesday 9am - 4pm
Wednesday 9am - 4pm
Thursday 9am - 4pm
Friday 9am - 4pm

Telephone

6135319373

Website

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