In today’s global market, you can often buy sails cheaper from big brand makers than from Lidgard Sails.

However, there is a good reason for the difference. Unlike many competitors, we build every sail here in New Zealand.

At Lidgard, your sails are made by experienced sailmakers who actually go sailing — not by low-cost labour following a template.

If you want a sail that performs the way you expect, it needs to be made by someone who understands how you and your crew sail your boat. A yacht preparing for a circumnavigation requires something very different from one used for weekend racing.

Understanding your specific sailing goals is a big part of the service we provide.

After all, we’re not just sailmakers, we’re sailors too.

When you tighten your outhaul, you expect it to flatten the sail. When you reef, you expect the reefing points to hold. With a sail built by Lidgard Sails, everything works the way it should, every time.

We build sails right, and we build them strong. We know what we would want from a sail, and we apply that knowledge to every design. Because we understand the loads your sail will face, we build with the strength and precision needed to handle them.

As always, shape remained the key to performance. No matter the fabric, a sail that loses its shape cannot deliver results.

Our lead sail designer and yachtsman, Grant Ewing, spent a week on board ADIX. He measured every detail, collaborated with the captain, and listened to how the crew wanted the boat to drive. By understanding both the yacht and the people sailing her, Grant created designs that kept ADIX fast, stable, and responsive.

The outcome speaks for itself: ADIX has gone on to win race after race and regatta after regatta, proving that traditional style and modern performance can coexist.

Membranes look impressive and represent the leading edge of sail technology. We love selling them and seeing them on the water. However, we believe in being straight with you, and that means giving you the facts so you can make an informed decision.

Membrane sails are usually made from two films with fibres glued between them. These are shaped into three or four sections, which are then joined to form a complete sail. If you’re after the latest technology and the cool factor you can’t go past a membrane sail.

That said, a sail’s performance depends on two things: shape and stability. While membrane sails now achieve excellent stability, their shape, due to the way they are constructed, still lags behind radial sails made from laminates.

Many will claim that membrane sails are lighter. In reality, that’s often not the case. To achieve stability, most membrane sails end up heavier than a laminate sail. This happens because membrane production does not allow as much resin to be removed as with pre-produced factory laminate fabric.

More resin makes the fabric stiffer, more rigid, and heavier, but also more prone to breakage.

Laminates are pre-produced fabrics made from layers of film and fibres that are glued together and pressed through industrial rollers. This process squeezes out excess resin and creates a continuous fabric, which can then be cut into segments to build a sail.

One of the key advantages of laminates is the wide variety of fibres available, each offering different properties to suit yachts of every size. At Lidgard Sails, we only use quality laminates produced in Germany by Dimension Polyant.

Compared to woven products, laminates hold their shape far longer and, thanks to their manufacturing process, are generally stronger than membranes. They strike an excellent compromise between outright performance and long-term durability.

Laminate technology has advanced rapidly in recent years. With innovations such as GPL Light Skin Sport, the yacht sail market has shifted. Sailors now demand the toughness and value of a laminate while also enjoying the clean aesthetic of a membrane.

Wovens, which are individual fibres woven together to form a continuous fabric can be cut into segments to make a sail.

When looking for longevity woven materials will out last any other and can easily be repaired no matter where in the world you are.

A woven fabric’s downfall is that it will strecth and gradually loose it’s shape, where as a membrane or laminate will fall apart instead. A woven spectra, like hydranet is far stonger than a woven polyester such as dacron.

When crusing around the world there’s no opton better than Hydranet because of it’s shear toughness and servicablity.

If budget if your biggest concern then a tried and true dacron can’t be beaten.