Logos And Graphics On Sails

Gone are the days of plain white sails. These days yacht owners demand sails that render their yachts instantly recognisable from afar. The reasons for this vary, from owners wanting their boats to be clearly unique in all respects, to racing and charter yachts needing to promote their sponsors or business. Logos can be simple and distinctive symbols, such as the “X” on this spinnaker in the finishing loft, or complex works of art.

Here, at Quantum, we are able to satisfy owners’ wishes for an almost infinite range of designs on almost any material. In most cases logos are outsourced for screen printing but some logos may be sewn as an integral part of the sail.

For Sail

Article reprinted with permission from The Property Magazine
Words Anne Schauffer Photograph Angela Buckland
Percy Pillay has been involved in the sailmaking industry for over 23 years. Today, he’s production manager at the Durban branch of Quantum Sails South Africa, where he and his team have an output in the region of 60 sails a month. It’s precision work, and every man knows his place and function in the orderly production line.

Racing sails for a 100 footer

Having sailed many thousands of miles with a suit of cruising sails from Quantum Cape Town the owner of a 100 foot sloop has decided to expand her inventory and increase her racing performance with a suite of high tech Fusion M sails. With the new furling membrane headsail almost complete the following images show some of the stages in producing the enormous in-boom furling mainsail. The picture below shows the sections stacked on top of each other ready for joining. Covering a large section of the Production Loft floor the scale of the individual panels can be gauged by one of the machinists, Keith, working on a Gunboat 48 Cuben fibre headsail in the left background. The materials chosen for this sail are Carbon / Vectran set on a Twaron scrim and laminated between two layers of film.

The 28th Heineken Regatta: Sailing Festival of the Caribbean

By: Jake Martin
On certain Caribbean islands; Heineken means more then just a drink to the people. It is a high-light of the year. Racing yachts plow through azure seas. Onlookers stand on white sand beaches, and observe hundreds of sails seemingly glide across the bay (which on closer inspection turns out to be a frantic jockeying for position among the adrenaline fueled crews). Crowds are mesmerized by dozens of boats performing synchronized spinnaker hoists as they round the mark, a spectacle which many captains soon learn can put their crews in a trance, without constant reminder to “ignore the spinnakers and focus on the sail trim”. It is this event that brings yachts ranging from the top USA and UK racing fleets to the chartered bare boats every March, when the tiny island of St. Maarten/Martin hosts a fleet of ardent partygoers and serious racers; out to prove the regatta’s motto of “serious fun”.

A week of Mega Yacht Sails

This week has seen a spate of mega yacht sails being made in Quantum’s Cape Town loft. All departments were kept busy at various times by these enormous sails, culminating, at the end of the week, in the fitting of the sails on Southern Wind’s latest 100 footer, Acaia Four.

Henley Midmar 9hr Endurance Race 2008

On Saturday 01 March 2008 we held the annual Quantum 9hr event at Midmar. This event has been going for 14 years and this is the second year in a row that we have been the title sponsor.

Seaquest Yachts Wins Maktoum Sailing Trophy

A Morning In The Racing Sails Loft

Any given morning in the Quantum racing sails loft will find the team there hard at work on a wide variety of sails. The racing sails loft might more correctly be called the laminate sails loft, as more and more cruising yachts are also turning to these types of sails. The accompanying images illustrate the point.

Advanced sail for the Fireball Class

Quantum Sails in Cape Town have developed a new main for the Fireball Class.
The sail is a Mylar membrane mainsail with polyester scrim and a combination of polyester and Technora warp fibres.

This technologically advanced sail will hold its shape better in offers superior performance in a wider range of wind conditions, with improved durability and performance.

The sail is class legal and is for those that want no compromise performance out of their equipment.

Foils to foil the mid-ocean calms

Quantum Sail Design Group are very proud and delighted to once again be part of the Clipper Around the World Race, in developing and supplying the sails for the fleet of ten yachts, each representing some of the world's great cities, in a race around the globe.

Galloping Gollywobblers! Flying the Flag in St Tropez.

Once a year there occurs the ultimate Concourse d' Elegance of sailing, the epitome of what the sport is in terms of style, along with a pinch of understated affluence, maritime tradition, plus keen sailing, in St Tropez, France.

Shosholoza trimmer is raring to stay

Former Shosholoza main-trimmer, David Rae, has joined Quantum Sail Design to head up our racing sails division, and will be based at the Cape Town racing sails loft. .

Succesful Launch of Leopard 46

Quantum Sail Design are delighted to congratulate Cape boatyard Robertson and Caine on the outstanding success of their recently-launched Leopard 46, and in addition their appointment as official catamaran suppliers to the well-known international charter group Sunsail.

Chieften Wins Fastnet with Quantum Fusion Sails

Chieftain capped off another extraordinary year by clearly winning the overall Fastnet trophy in very testing conditions and against very tough competition. Chieftain have always had Quantum Sails and this year there sails have been put through their paces where they came 4th in the Nordbank Transatlantic race, 1st in IMS and were 2nd in Antigua before going one better in the Fastnet offshore classic.