Endorsed by RINA , Materials , Sail Design & Sailmaking , Sails ,

Sailmaking

Sailmaking is a trade mainly learned through practice and experience. The learning process is often long, and only sometimes junior sailmakers are lucky enough to have a mentor to teach them. Within this course, you will find reunited in a single source knowledge and guidance previously difficult to find or simply unavailable. The instructor uses many examples and photos to make you feel like you are in a sail loft doing the things that are taught. By the end of the course, you will have a good understanding of sails, types and geometry, materials, sail lofts, sewing machines, and sail manufacturing.

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Dario Motta

Welcome!

Welcome to the Sailmaking course!

Sailmaking is a trade. The only way to become a skilled sailmaker is through practice and field experience. However, the process is often long; it takes years to become a real sailmaker, and not always junior sailmakers have a mentor who can teach them step by step all that is necessary.

This course aims to fill this gap by providing a detailed overview of all aspects of sailmaking so that for those deciding to become sailmakers, many aspects and tricks of the job will be already familiar.

What will you learn?

This course provides a good head start on the trade of sailmaking and is addressed to a great variety of people:

Those who want to become sailmakers;
Those who want to know more about how the sails are done;
Those who feel drawn into and are interested in this fascinating world.

During the course, the instructor will use many examples and photos from his personal experience to make you feel like you are in a sail loft doing the things that are taught.

The course starts with the history of sailmaking, the different types of rigs, and the geometry of sails. All to have clear all the terminology that is needed in sailmaking. Then, it moves to sail materials, the parameters of interest in clothes, the type of fibers, their properties, the common sail clothes, and their construction methods. Then, it dedicates lessons to the sewing machines, which are usually heavy industrial machines very different from those used at home.

At this point, the course moves to the proper aspects of sailmaking. First, it provides an overview of the phases of sail manufacturing, from the specification cards to the finishing details and quality checks. Then, it looks more in detail at all the phases and discusses how panels are joined, how the edges are faired, the role and applications of the patches, corner reinforcements, the boltrope, leech line application and choices, the luff hardware, batten finishing, and finishing details on the sails.

By the end of the course, you will have a good understanding of sails, materials, sewing machines, and sail production.

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Students coming from the Sail Design 1 course

This course’s “Geometry” and “Cloth Materials” modules are very important as they discuss many technical terms and details that will be used throughout the course. These modules offer the same content as those under the same name in the Sail Design 1 course. Students coming from the Sail Design 1 course can skip these two modules, although it is recommended to re-listen to them again, as a refresh never hurts. Also, Students coming from Sail Design 1 or enrolling simultaneously in both Sailmaking and Sail Design 1 will get a 10% discount on one of the courses. This discount will be automatically applied when checking out.

Languages

Video lessons in English.
Subtitles in English and Italian.
Documentation in English and Italian.

Course organization

The course is video-based and on-demand and can be followed at your own pace.

It contains videos, quizzes, and downloadable documents and gives you access to the course’s virtual private classroom, where you can interact with the instructor and fellow students.

Students completing the course will obtain the Course Certificate. To obtain the Course Certificate, Students must finish all the lessons, pass the quizzes, and approve the Course Assignment.

– Resources:

Video lessons in English.
Video captions in English and Italian.
Course documentation in English and Italian: 265 pages and 422 figures!
Quizzes.
Assignments.
Course Certificate.

– Classroom:

Once enrolled, you will have access to the virtual classroom, where you can interact with the course instructor and fellow students.

– Prerequisites:

To follow the course, it is not necessary to have any prior knowledge of sails or sailmaking. However, a technical background can be helpful.

A minimum Navalapp membership level of “Subscriber” (free membership) is required to enroll in this course.

RINA Endorsement

The Royal Institution of Naval Architects Endorsement

After a thorough evaluation, the Royal Institution of Naval Architects (RINA) has found that Navalapp’s course Sailmaking meets the Institution’s requirements for Continuing Professional Development (CPD). Therefore, RINA has considered that the course warrants recognition and has issued a Certificate of Endorsement.

During the evaluation, RINA studied different aspects of the course, such as learning aims, content and structure, whether the information is up-to-date and factually correct, students’ evaluations of the course, the supporting information and materials, the instructor’s expertise, the method by which the students are evaluated, and Navalapp’s organization standards.