The Loft
The Machines
We have three primary sailmaking machines and two canvas straight stitch machines
triple stitch - We have two servo driven triple stitch sewing machines. A 12" arm and 28" long arm. Used for all panel seaming and varies from heavy cruising cloth to ultralight spinnakers. Also used for all light duty and dinghy patching.
Zig Zag - Solent 366 HA - Our 32"x11" high arm machine used for heavy patching, batten pockets, and edge finishing. This machine includes a full pneumatic system as well. The puller behind the needle is a 3" wide driven belt that keeps our seams straight and tight. Also pneumatically tuned are the puller pressure, foot pressure, foot lift, and various coolers.
The Floor
Making the Perfect Sail
A 40' x 38' section of our floor is raised to match the height of all of our sewing machines. This gives us a completely flat workspace to build a sail. Which keeps the sails cleaner as they are entirely built on the floor and not removed until they are packed in their bag.
The layout of the machines in the lofted floor gives us room to work on up to four sails at a time. Meaning we can be building a new sail while also completing repairs, and plotting another; getting new sails completed quicker and repairs back on the water sooner.
Attached to the east edge of the floor is our 28' plotter. The plotter uses our sail design program to turn rolls of fabric into precisely cut panels ready to be sewn into sails.
We have an additional 1500sqft workshop behind the lofted floor that serves as our "dirty room" where we store, inspect, and repair winter covers and their frames for local boats. This area also has all of our fabric, rigging, parts, and tools storage.
Beau Seibel
Owner / Sailmaker
Beau has always been keen on design and began building model and radio controlled airplanes at a young age. This quickly shifted to building model boats as the theory and techniques were very similar. In high school Beau began to dive into advanced 3d modeling, becoming proficient at CFD, FSI, and FEA. This led to him designing his own boats, to hopefully some day be built. He also became highly skilled in CNC Machining, production, and shop operations at the same time. This relayed well with his summer job of running maintenance on the sailing schools fleet of boats, which gave him hands on boat work experience. All of this led Beau to attend Old Dominion University to both sail and study aerospace engineering, with the goal of becoming a yacht designer. He quickly realized the engineering world was not for him and switched to majoring in Maritime Supply Chain Management. When Aj one of the founders of ACS came to him with the opportunity to purchase the loft it seemed like the perfect combination of all his studies. Running the loft perfectly meshes engineering, design, manufacturing, and operations all into one, while getting the opportunity to play with boats day in and day out.
Beau began sailing at the local sailing program at 8 and like most opti kids despised being on the water. But his views changed as he got older and began racing in the 420 and ILCA classes. Around the same time Beau's dad bought a Beneteau First 301 that they spent the next three years refitting and modifying to race around the lake. This kicked off the itch for racing and helped Beau to end up at Old Dominion University to sail with a high level program. During his time in college Beau sailed on any boat he could get his hands on. He was commonly found at Hampton Yacht Club on Wednesdays and Saturdays racing on viper 640s, Melges 24s and 32s, J/110s, and his favorite the Custom Neslon Marek 30, Cowboy. During one college summer Beau had the opportunity to live on Maryland's Eastern Shore to coach sailing. There he learned the tradition of the Log Canoes and thanks to a gracious offer found himself being a regular on Billie P. Hall. Beau remarked that the log canoes are some of the fastest and most technical boats he's ever sailed on. After a morning race win and an afternoon capsize things began to click and Beau discovered the balance all boats have between the sails, hull, and crew. This balance is what Beau strives to create with each sail he builds.
Now Beau can be found racing around the Great Lakes
and beyond, still hopping on any boat that is in need of
another crew. Or buzzing around Erie on an
MC Scow or Moth.
Other boats Beau has competed with include the Beneteau 36.7, C&C 110, C&C 30 OD, C&C 42, J/22, J/80, J/105, J/109, J/111, J/120, Flying tiger 7.5, Hobie 33, Mumm 30, soverel 33, Windmill class, and custom 1/2 tonner.
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