Welcome to The Sailmaker's Series
(offered for sale circa 2014)

Introduction

This series was once fully accredited, and there are still Sailrite customers today who sign their names with the rarified "M.S.A." suffix. These Master Sailmakers worked through all 15 course lessons and then were tested in their skills and knowledge. There was a great deal of correspondence and writing involved, as this was a seriously in-depth process. To complete their journey, some students ultimately traveled to Sailrite to build a sail completing the course and earning their accreditation. Others finished the course entirely by mail.

Old Sailrite catalog Ad

Note that the first 10 lessons earned an "Apprentice Sailmakers Certificate" — The next "Journeyman's Certificate" was earned by building sails — The "Master Sailmaker's Certificate" was five lessons on the business of sailmaking — essentially creating a business plan.

Sailrite is now offering the course materials for FREE on Good Old Boat. These lessons have not been published since 2014. The information is still valid and will train anyone in the art of traditional sailmaking. But the estimates of costs should not be used as prices have certainly changed over the years. Also, any references to sailcloth may be older, and many specific examples are likely not available today. And please don't expect the one-on-one training and evaluation that Jim Grant, Ph.D., M.S.A. (author) provided during the introduction of this course. The course is being offered as an historical account of how traditional sailmaking was taught before computer design.

Later in the life of the course, as Sailrite grew, it became necessary to make it "self-study". Below is an ad for the course from the 2013 Sailrite Catalog, the last catalog ad for this item.

Since the series is no longer sold the list of included items may need to be sourced in other ways:

The Sailmaker's Library is still sold today (purchase here).
Supplies like the SeaReady seamstick basting tape, sailmakers 3" edging tape and thread are all sold on the sailrite website.

Enjoy this! Sailrite confidently states that there is nothing more complete or detailed to learn about the art of sailmaking. The skills and knowledge acquired will make any sailor more informed when it comes to either making their own sails, working with modern computer aided approaches, or even just in quality communication with a professional sailmaker.

Sailing Theory and Practice book cover — This is what the course looked like when last sold