Design

The Ullman Sails Design Team is our network of highly qualified sail designers with responsibility for FiberPath sail design, racing sail design, and the Ullman Sails design philosophy and development.

For our premier sails, both during the design process and subsequent commissioning and tuning stages, our Design Team holds collaborative meetings with project managers, yacht designers, boat builders, spar makers, our sailmakers and sailors from around the world to ensure goals are met.

Ullman Sails’ work with yacht designers increasingly sees the use of 3D models that can be directly imported into our sail design software but, where necessary, our designers make a considerable effort to generate 3D coordinates based on the sail plans and deck plans and will validate deck fitting positions with boat builders and rig dimensions, rakes and so on with spar makers. Mast bend is measured out increasingly and spar makers are able to provide detailed information on mast bend under various load conditions.

All this critical data is utilized by our sail designers to create superior sails using the award-winning technology contained in the software from SMAR Azure. Our best sail designers are expert users of the software suite and closely linked to the engineers and software developers at SMAR Azure who are responsive to our requirements.

From a design perspective, our sailmakers consider the range of sail shapes required to achieve the best performance across the whole sailing spectrum. We sail in an infinitely variable environment that results in both smooth and rough water conditions in both light and heavy winds. This variable environment requires a smooth transition in sail shapes together with an underlying structural strength to maximize sail usage ranges without the weight penalty.

Ultimately, the sails must fit the yacht, be durable for the purpose and have fast shapes. Ullman Sails’ team of sail designers and sailmakers work together closely to ensure that this happens.