UK at SA

We’re pleased to have UK Sailmakers join us kooks here at SA as our newest advertiser. We thought it would be of interest to provide a little historical perspective on who they are, what they have done, and where they are going.

Incredibly enough, they were founded way back in 1946 by Charles Ulmer, Sr. In 1983 Ulmer Sails changed its name to Ulmer/Kolius when John Koliuis, owner of the Texas Franchise, became a partner with Charlie "Butch" Ulmer. Three years later Kolius left sailmaking and the company shortened its name to UK Sailmakers. “Sorry for any confusion with the United Kingdom — they are a great ally,” says Butch.

In the early '70s, UK became known as one of the better places to buy spinnakers, as they were one of the first lofts to perfect the radial-head construction technique. Not being able to produce spinnakers fast enough, UK branched out with independently owned franchises. In fact some of you may remember that a number of Horizon lofts became UK lofts back in the ‘80’s. The computer programs UK developed for sail design and construction helped ensure that sailors across the country could buy the same sails from any UK loft. UK still puts a premium on leading edge software; the design program they use was written just for their group of nearly 40 lofts around the world and it is being constantly updated.

For more than a decade UK Sailmakers has been building sails with patented load-path technology, i.e. Tape-Drive and now Ultra. Tape-Drive is a reinforcing system of high-strength, low-stretch tapes that are glued to a sail. Through constant improvement in the execution, Tape-Drive sails are a good way to get a light and strong sail at a reasonable price.

Ultra, recently introduced, represents their next step in the evolution of the Tape-Drive concept. Instead of applying the load path structural members to a pre-made sail membrane, they fabricate the sail skin and load path structure as one integral product, similar in concept to 3DL, D4 and Genesis. In its early development, UK Ultra is intended as a grand prix product with the expectation of making performance sails lighter yet and less elastic.

But leading edge technology and sails mean little without being able to service sailors around the world. I know, I was in the sales and service end of the business for ten years, and I know for a fact that UK here in San Diego has a guy named John Bennett who understands this idea completely. Service is extremely important, and UK appears to have strong presence in the major markets to reach as many sailors as possible. So join us in welcoming UK to the happy house of horror, Sailing Anarchy!

06/01/2003