Local Sailor is a Sail Maker
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(MyBayCity Photo by Janel Ruhland)
How many sail makers do you know? Where does a sailboat owner take a sail to be made or repaired?
If you have never hoisted a jib or know what a spinnaker is than chances are you probably never heard of the sailboat Dolphin or Pat Ruhland.
If your only exposure to sailing has been a short ride on the Appledore or enjoying the view from shore of wind filled sails that gave you a sense of serenity on the Saginaw Bay, then chances are you probably have seen the Dolphin and most likely you have seen one of Pat's sails.
You see, Pat basically grew up on a sailboat and since 1984 has called Dolphin his home away from home.
Dolphin is a 1972 custom built boat out of City Island New York that his father, Captain Larry Ruhland purchased in the fall of 1984.
(MyBayCity Photo by Janel Ruhland)
As stated on the Dolphin's website, www.dolphinusa77.com, "For nearly 35 years, the Dolphin has been sailing around the fresh water of the great lakes and has felt the salty air of the Atlantic while racing the SORC in the early 70's. Gary Mull designed this 54 footer weighing in just under 20 tons. She now sails mostly in Lakes Huron and Michigan and her home port is in Bay City, Michigan. This year's Mac race crew has a combined total of nearly 300 years of Mac race experience!"
You see in the sailing world or more appropriately the Great Lakes sail-racing world the yacht Dolphin and its crew is an admired bunch with a sort of folk-hero status.
Despite her 35 years, this one-off Mull 54 has finished in the money 11 out of the last 18 Bayview Macs (Port Huron to Mackinaw) amongst many others.
Some yacht's are made to race some are not, Dolphin was not a born racer. "It was a dog," said Pat recently during an interview at his sail factory. "We refined and replaced all the deck hardware, I made better sails and our crew is always striving to be better," added Pat.
Striving to be better is an addiction to the Dolphin crew, they take her out three times a week religiously rain or shine to keep their skills sharp and to experience the open wind. "Dolphins main sail is 2500 square foot and I made it," said Pat.
(MyBayCity Photo by Kevin Leahy)
Whether racing or just cruising are considerations when selecting the appropriate sail to be used.
"Price depends on whatever the owner wants to accomplish, it basically comes down to materials used from nylon to carbon fiber. Durability over performance is most common, I can use a heavier less expensive fabric where as the inverse is true, performance is more pricey and lighter," said Pat as he was cutting out and applying numbers on a $5000.00 sail for a client with a 35-foot boat.
"I make sails for everything from sail boards to 54-footers, repairs keep me real busy from February to April but I would like to see more sailors get me their stuff at the end of the season. Storage mishaps are usually the culprit when they pull them out in the spring, mice can do serious damage to sails," said pat as he was introducing me to his three cats he calls the inspectors at the factory, "that's why I have the cats, you cannot have mice in a sail factory and I haven't seen one in eight years of being here."
Most people would think a sail is a flat triangle piece of fabric when in reality they are three-dimensional and Pat uses a broad seaming technique where a curved edge meets a straight edge in order to give the sail its fill.
Some sails have over twenty sections that are designed on a computer and cut out then Pat assembles them with UV protected threading, edgetape, grommets, head clue and tack patch's (corner reinforcements), leech cords and numbers.
(MyBayCity Photo by Kevin Leahy)
"The whole process from the initial call to hoisting the sail takes about a month," said Pat. You would think at the tender age of 41 Ruhland the sailmaker couldn't have the experience of an old sailor, yet he is considered an old goat in sail speak, literally that is.
He was recently honored and included into a small faction of sailors labeled "Old Goats," from the Detroit Bay View Yacht Club for racing in the Port Huron to Mackinaw race for 25 or more years, Pat has raced it 27 times.
(MyBayCity Photo by Kevin Leahy)
Barring any unforeseen calamity, Pat will become an honored Grand Ram (fifty years of races) in the year 2031.
If you would like to know more about sailing or what sail would be best for your boat, Pat is the one to talk to, he has a website at http://www.ruhlandsailmaker.com or can be reached by phone at 989-737-3608.
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Kevin Leahy |
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