Will sailmaking return to the USA?

by Craig Leweck, Scuttlebutt Sailing News
I began making racing sails in 1983, and did so for the next 12 years. I had no previous skills, but I made fast sails. Looking back, I was lucky, as sail production has moved to Asia, and domestic sailmakers are a dying breed.

But I was still stunned a few years back when a new sail for my 8-foot Sabot, bought from a local sailmaker, included a shipping charge. It was built in Asia, and I was angry at myself for not knowing. Such a small sail that I had once made? Geez!

After reading a New York Times story titled, How Tariffs Could Make Americans’ Hobbies More Expensive, maybe sail production – and jobs – will return to the USA:

Since October, Frank Vaughan has been fixing up a 1990 Catalina 18 sailboat at his home in Cedar Creek, Texas. By early this year, the boat was just about lake-ready. All it needed was some sails.

So in February, Mr. Vaughan, 66, ordered two new Dacron sails from a Chinese company. He got an estimate that each would cost $400. Then he got an update email, and another in the weeks that followed. Because of tariffs, the price would be about $1,200 each.

Then in early March, he asked a Canadian company about getting sails from it instead. But that company sourced from China, too, and the sails would cost 50 percent more than he had hoped to pay. An American company quoted him closer to $800 each — its sailcloths are from China, too — and there was a waiting period of six to eight months.

Finally, at the end of last month, he found a set of used sails for $236 each. “They will do for a while,” Mr. Vaughan said, though the sails weren’t as crisp and shiny as new ones. He bought his boat for a couple of thousand dollars. “I’m not willing to spend multiples of that just for sails for it,” he said, describing the whole situation as “very frustrating.” – Full report