British Sailmakers was founded by Charles "Buster" Ulmer on New York City Island in 1946, named Charles Ulmer, Inc., and is one of the oldest sailing loft groups in the world. WindCheck Magazine interviewed Charles “Butch” Ulmer (above) to discuss his father’s establishment of the company named after him and its development. After the first part of the interview, here is the second half:

So, you started working full-time at Charles Ulmer, Inc. in 1965... Yes. I worked during the summer vacation of high school, and when I left the Navy and went home, I went back to work on the floor where I left off.

Who is the design team? My father, and my brother-in-law Chuck Willie. At that time, the transition from cotton to synthetic fibers had begun. Cotton to Orlon, then Orlon to Dacron. Dacron's early sails were mainly luff curves, while in the case of mainsails, it was foot curves. There are almost no wide seams, most of which are leeches or feet tightened to prevent these edges from flapping in the breeze. The design of the sail largely depends on familiarity with the behavior of the material used under load and how to prevent it from stretching too far from its intended shape.

In 1958, the Colombian team defended the America's Cup. Columbia was built by Nevins on City Island, and she used Ratsey sails (Ratsey loft adjacent to Nevins). However, Vim, which was 12 meters before the war, almost defeated Colombia in the test. She is sailed by Bus Mosbacher, and she has Hood sails. This was the beginning of Ted's rule of the sailing industry. He achieved this goal by designing his fabrics and perfecting his fabric weaving methods. He is still shaping the sails on the edges, but he spent more time analyzing how the sails are loaded and therefore how the cloth should be woven. The early polyester was great because it was polyester! This yarn is much stronger than natural fibers and more resistant to stretching. But the knitting is only square knitting (the number of yarns in the warp and weft is the same), and the tension on the yarn is very small.

The story is that Ted’s father knows the textile industry very well, so Ted’s fabrics have different mainsails and Genoa thread counts. The yarns are tightened during weaving, making the weaving more "tighter". As we all know, Ted's father's "professor" also uses an 18-inch loom, which makes the Hood sail significantly different from the standard 36-inch fabric. – Full report

Tags: Butch Ulmer, British sail manufacturer, WindCheck

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