Building Sails For The Royal Canadian Navy

Darryl, CEO of Precision Sails and creator of I Dream Of Dinghy, documented the process of measuring, designing, and installing new sails on two Bavaria C45 sailboats that the Canadian Navy purchased for their training program. Watch the process on the latest episode of I Dream Of Dinghy!

Measurements

First, Darryl and Jeremy took a dinghy ride across the Straight of Georgia, from Sidney to Vancouver, so that they could see the brand new boats first hand and take measurements before they were able to begin the design process. While taking measurements, it was important that they measured both of the boats, even though they are the exact same make and model. This is a crucial step because there will always be slight differences, and those differences can change the sails performance in a major way!

These two Bavaria C45s are brand new and have never had sails on them before and the Royal Canadian Navy wants to make sure they are covered for any wind condition while racing. To help with that, we will be measuring and building:

Head sails
Mainsails
Code Zeros

Before Darryl and Jeremy wrapped up for the day with measurements, they made sure to take photos of the sail boats and rigging. This is a very important step when gathering measurements so that your designer can have a visual reference on how your specific boat is set up.

Design

Once the measurement process was complete, the team was able to move into designing the custom sails. As these will be used for racing, we wanted to make sure that we use a performance laminate sailcloth in order to reduce as much weight as possible. During the design process is where we place any custom graphics, sail numbers, and insignia in order to make the sails look their best!

Production

Once the design process is complete, reviewed, and signed off; the sails are sent into production. Production timelines are currently taking 6-8 weeks to complete so if you are getting sails for your sailboat, it’s important to begin the process early and account for the time in production!

Installation

After the sails were produced, they go through the quality control process before the Precision Sails team brought them to the Navy base and installed the sails.