With the turn of the millennium, a new era began for Sailloft Hamburg. While we were previously a custom-made sail workshop, we launched our first “small series” with two sail lines in 2000. Today, we are entering the 18th generation of sails and produce eight sail lines with over 50 different models. Small series are a thing of the past.
Today, Sailloft Hamburg is an established sail brand that sells high-tech sails across Europe and worldwide. While we used to create every production template by hand, we now work with professional CAD programs. The data is sent online to the sail production facility in Sri Lanka, where it is cut by fully automated cutters with precise accuracy down to the tenth of a millimeter.
Philosophy
Sailloft sails are known in the surfing community for their top quality and durability. Whether for hobby surfers or pros who push their sails to the extreme, for example, in the waves. For us, the philosophy of perfection is the only way to build sails.
We don’t build our sails in an ivory tower; instead, we immediately and thoroughly test every new cut or material change ourselves! This way, Sailloft sails are always sails made by surfers, for surfers.
We are especially passionate about the mast compatibility of our sails. For years, we’ve implemented the “Minimum Mast Concept” in our developments. We even go a step further and ensure that Sailloft sails harmonize with masts from many different mast manufacturers. Being able to use one mast for many sails is, for us, the best way to enjoy the sport. Goodbye to material wars.
As sailmakers who have learned our craft from the ground up, we now live a fascinating mix of traditional sailmaker values like quality, durability, and craftsmanship, along with values like innovation and forward thinking. Things that complement each other extremely well.
The latest Sailloft sail generations demonstrate this in an impressive way
Pics: olivermaier.com
Development
After 16 years and over 2,500 handcrafted custom-made sails, as well as countless conversations with surfers of all skill levels and preferences, it is unmistakably clear that, for surfers, everything revolves around two essential points: 1a glide and top handling.
With this clear briefing, we continuously develop new ideas and implement large or small optimizations. These are things you might not always notice at first glance, but when combined with many other thoughtful details, they reveal their true power on the water.
Whether Freestyle, Wave, or Race – surf sails are exposed to high stress. To make our latest developments even better, our team tests both prototypes and finished pre-production sails in continuous use, exactly where they will be used. Their judgments and experiences, as well as the practical feedback from many customers who reach out to us via email, phone, or in person, flow into our work and every sail we make year after year.
The motto is always: Only what is truly good can convince and will be taken into series production. To the benefit of all Sailloft fans!
Interestingly, Sailloft is led by two sailmakers, Gerrit and Olaf, who are physically quite different: Gerrit is slim, Olaf is stronger. “When we develop sails together that we both like, they also suit over 90% of our customers.” This results in sails with large ranges of use, so you don’t need so many different sizes!
The creation of a sail is always exciting for us: the design is created on the computer via CAD, plotted out, and then handcrafted by us in Hamburg as a prototype. Extensive tests follow. Once the design is perfect, the sail is built in the pre-production stage at our production facility in Sri Lanka, sent back to Germany, and tested again thoroughly. Only then does the sail go into final production—and into sales!
Pics: olivermaier.com