When Jim Cullen started as a sailmaker in 1971, his workshop looked much the same as sail lofts had 100 years before.

The sailcloth was laid out, cut and sewn on a bare, often–untidy 50–foot–by–60–foot floor. Everything was done by hand, from drawing the plans to cutting and stitching the sailcloth. There weren't any sewing machines,or the recessed floor–pits so common today, in which sailmakers sit to keep the sailcloth lying flat as they sew.

ART PINEA stitcher pulls sailcloth toward the sewing machine.

"When you wanted to work on another part of the sail, you had to wrestle it into place," Cullen says.

Not anymore. These days, Cullen, 57, is a designer for North Sails, and both the surroundings and the sailmaker's craft have been transformed into a 21st–century, high–technology process that almost certainly would leave even sailmakers of the 1970s agog.

Today Cullen does his designing using sophisticated computer graphics that enable him to draw a precise three–dimensional model of a sail on his monitor and turn it to any position he wants so he can see how it changes shape under different conditions. On the left side of the screen, the computer displays measurements that translate the drawing into design specifications. The fabric is cut by computer–controlled lasers that are far more accurate than a pair of scissors could be.

The sail–building process takes place in a well–organized, hangar–sized factory whose spotless layout floor is ringed with work tables. Stitching is done on industrial sewing machines that do the job with consistency and added strength. And workers sit in recessed cubicles that enable them to pull the sailcloth easily across the layout floor and keep the material level with the sewing machine needle.

Even the fabric has been upgraded. Higher–end racing sails are usually composites–laminates that contain Kevlar, Mylar and carbon–fiber components. Even the traditional Dacron fabric, still used for low– and medium–cost cruising sails, is more tightly–woven and better–made than it used to be. And custom sails often are made from a single piece of fabric, positioned to give its weave maximum strength and endurance.

ART PINESailmakers at North Sails swing from the ceiling Peter Pan style to work on sails. "It's light–years ahead of what it was when I started out," Cullen says. "You'd never recognize it as the same business."

A REVOLUTION IN SAILMAKING

To be sure, not every sail loft in the U.S. is as sophisticated as Cullen's current shop. North and its big–name high–tech competitors, Doyle Sailmakers and U.K.–Halsey, have garnered the lion's share of the U.S. and global markets. There still are hundreds of smaller independent sail lofts across the U.S. that offer well–built sails for racers and cruisers who don't need or want computer–precise high–tech composites. Their prices–and quality–vary widely, and so does their service, which can range from personalized to persnickety.

But the large firms have engineered a revolution in sailmaking, changing it from a seafarer's art to a true manufacturing process–almost certainly for the better, as far as both high– and low–end sailboat owners are concerned.

For one thing, the sailcloth and materials now being used are far stronger and more durable than the canvas or the early Dacron used 40 years ago. During the early 1990s, sailmakers began turning to Kevlar and Mylar to make higher–end cruising and racing sails, enabling them to build sails that were far lighter and that stretched less than Dacron. Dacron itself is now so well made that it is virtually pre–stretched before the cloth is woven, says Jonathan Bartlett of North Sails' Annapolis office.

Computerization has also revolutionized sailmaking, even among smaller, mom–and–pop lofts. Today's sails not only are designed, cut and fitted more precisely, but computers have made it possible for sailmakers to move away from old–fashioned cross–cut panels in producing sails to tri–radial designs and, more recently, composite three–dimensional laminated sails that are lighter and stronger yet, hold their shape longer and can add several knots to your boat speed. (Today's long–distance racing sailboats often top 20 knots under sail.)

"It's turned sailing around," Bartlett says.

Indeed, North's high–end production facility in Minden, Nev., which exclusively builds its carbon and Aramid–a material similar to DuPont's Mylar–3DL racing and cruising sails in a hangar–sized assembly plant, looks more like a high–tech factory than a sail loft. Computer–controlled robotic arms fit sailcloth and attachments on giant molds, while highly skilled workers–suspended from harnesses that carry them prone, Peter–Pan–style, over the sail and its mold–position and compress the laminate. When the laminate has cured, experienced stitchers attach corner reinforcements, batten pockets, bolt ropes and protective patches.

For an industry steeped in tradition, the changes are hard to overstate.

Besides its Minden plant, North also maintains three other finishing facilities in North America–one in Stevensville, Md., where Cullen works, and others in Milford, Conn., and Toronto, Ontario. It also maintains its own loft in Sri Lanka that primarily builds low–end sails. Sailcloth and materials are stored at the Milford plant and shipped out to the other facilities. North styles itself as the world's largest and "most advanced" sailmaker.

ART PINEJim Cullen calls up design specification on his computer at the North Sails facility in Stevensville, Md.

The two other finishing plants aren't quite as high–tech as the Minden facility, but they're still a long way from what sail lofts used to be. The Stevensville loft is essentially a huge floor on which the sails are placed, ringed by a dozen or so workbenches for specialty operations. While Stevensville doesn't have the state–of–the–art robotics that Minden has, it takes advantage of enough new technology to complete work on all but the top–of–the–line 3DL sails. Like other North plants, it has a full team of designers to handle boaters' requirements.

CHOOSING A SAIL

As Bartlett concedes, most boaters don't need high–end sails. The majority can do well with Dacron, with either cross–cut or radial panels.

What you need depends upon how you sail–how many days a year you go out, and in what kind of seas and weather. The new saail cloths are so well-made that occasional daysailors who get under way only a few times a year can easily get by with lower–end sails, Bartlett says.

North offers its customers five basic grades: a basic model in which boat owners provide the measurements themselves and the sails are made at a North–owned production facility; a higher–grade Dacron in which North staffers measure and design the sails, which are manufactured by the company's plants in North America; and three high–end categories that employ Aramid, Mylar and other laminates. For a mainsail on a 29–foot boat, the cost can range from $2,200 to $3,800, depending on the grade and add–ons.

NORTH SAILSComputer-aided designs allow sailmakers to see how sails will react in varying conditions. If you can, buy your sails in the fall, Bartlett and other sailmakers advise. With most boats out of the water then, that's the slack season for the boating industry, and companies usually are willing to offer discounts so they can keep their factory crews working and avoid a backlog in the spring.

What's important in buying a sail? Here's the advice that Bartlett gives customers at North's Annapolis office:

Know how you intend to use your boat. How often will you sail? In what kind of weather? Will you race or cruise? Will you be sailing with an experienced crew, or primarily with guests who aren't sailors?

Where will your sails be built, and where will the materials come from? Ordering your sails from a foreign country may seem cheaper, but the quality can vary widely (Bartlett says North owns the plant it operates in Sri Lanka and maintains U.S. standards there.)

What's the sailmaker's reputation? Ask around your marina and get other customers' views on everything from the quality of the sails to how the company deals with its customers. There's no reason to deal with sailmakers who are overpriced or difficult to deal with.

Don't overbuy. If you use your boat only occasionally, and as a daysailer, you don't need sailcloth that's heavier than 7.8 ounces per square yard, Bartlett says. For heavier and more–frequent use–such as sailing up the coast or going out into the ocean–go up to 8.8 ounces and stronger construction. Unless you're racing or into heavy cruising, don't bother getting laminated sails.

Don't buy from a sailmaker you don't trust. The sailmaker you choose should be one who not only builds quality sails but listens to your needs, asks questions about how you sail and is willing to explain things. Make sure you get the estimate down on paper–including expected delivery date and cost. At the same time, pay attention to what your sailmaker has–and hasn't–promised. If a company says it can have your sails in six weeks, don't expect to see them in three.

Art Pine is a veteran journalist who has served as a Washington correspondent for the Baltimore Sun, the Washington Post, the Wall Street Journal, and the Los Angeles Times. He is a longtime Chesapeake Bay sailor and a Coast Guard-licensed captain.