In this sail loft we use hand-sewn rings. Either brass or rope grommets. We can use a LOT of them and we are not the only sailmakers to do this. We do make our own liners. I don't know if others do, but we do and it is time consuming, but worth it. And here is why. I have found that liners often crack, or are very thin OR are too thick. Sometimes the liner can actually cut the stitching around the ring. Here we have "liner man" and he is VERY important. Thanks "liner man"! A plug for Port Townsend Foundry. BEST BEST BEST stuff you can get anywhere. Not to mention Pete and Cathy are super nice people. http://www.porttownsendfoundry.com/ Check them out.

I love my job. I love hearing other people say they love their jobs. How did we get so lucky? Hopefully I will be a sailmaker for the rest of my life. A biggish cotton square sail, with all the "traditional" stuff is in the works. Handsewn boltropes and beckets and rope grommets. It is warm on my lap(the wind chill in Maine is -18 today), folds up small and it smells good. Because it is so cold I am not heating the sailloft so it is in my living room and that is a bonus. Life is good.

30 years..........

Well this year I will have been a sailmaker for 30 years. In a way that is exciting in another I am shocked. How can I be that old? Sailmaking has changed so much in the time that I have been a sailmaker. The fabrics are so interesting and the hardware is amazing. We don't use much in the more "new and innovated" fabrics here, but I love to learn about it. Once in a while I get a repair that uses some fabric I don't recognize and I call the vendors and find out who makes it and get some in. That is so fun for us. I am grateful for the time I have had as a sailmaker and hope to continue on. Sadly there are fewer of us and more leave the industry every year. On the floor is some repairs and a funky mizzen that a customer has designed(you know who you are). A blue drifter will start shortly. Blue is only bad luck on fishing boats, so I am okay with doing this for him. I found a unfinished oceanus genoa in my pile of sails. I think we will finish it up and find a home. So this year of turning 30 in the business. I am okay with it. My hair may be grey, but the body is holding up.