Massive pedigree
A calm, simple and positive approach characterises the international sailmaking business that has carried the Ullman name for over 50 years…
Since its foundation in Newport Beach, California in 1967 Ullman Sails has always gone about its business in a slightly different way, blending core knowledge with local talent to inspire a global network. It is a glowing testament to the vision of Dave Ullman that the sailmaking company he founded over 50 years ago continues to thrive and succeed with pretty much the same structure he created. Comparisons with the laidback, chilled-out west coast vibe of the time would be entirely accurate. This is an organisation that is driven by an all-consuming passion for sailing, one that nurtures talent, takes great pride in its successes and learns from its occasional failures too. The current management has kept Dave’s organic structure because it’s responsive, proactive and delivers pathways to innovation, so Ullman Sails is still about competing, creating, sharing knowledge, learning, improving – and having fun – as a global community of sailmakers. ‘Ullman Sails is essentially different,’ explains head of design Bruce Hollis. ‘It’s an amalgamation
66 SEAHORSE
of very skilled independent sailmakers who aren’t always operating big lofts, but who have developed skills in their particular niche and sail at a really good level. They love the spontaneity, the creative freedom and responsibility our structure gives them.
‘We use a central design office to provide a skilled and knowledgeable point through which these lofts can interact. This connects the ideas and experience of a very large group of hands-on sailmakers to form a giant organic sail design brain. The range of conditions and customer expectations that this covers is amazing, and also brings together skills that inform the group across what a club racer in a dinghy might want, or a cruising multihull in Singapore, an iceboat racer in Russia or a skiff sailor in Europe. ‘Having the technical skills of modern computer design, enhanced and informed by this very direct connection of real world sailors with an interactive, supportive design office, works bottom up not top down. Ullman Sails International’s role is to support those local guys and give them the tools to do their
Cool boat, cool sails… very cool
location. Paul Mitchellsʼ appropriately named Grainger Livewire 28 Ullman Sails on the way to winning the multihull racer division at 2017 Airlie Beach Race Week. The Livewire 28 is little known outside Australia but is a very powerful boat for its size; with plenty of freeboard and reserve buoyancy forward this is a relatively ʻsafeʼ design to push hard
jobs as well as possible.’ ‘All the sail design needs to come through a central position, but it’s not driven by it. That’s the beauty of it – it stems from those loose Californian roots with Dave. I go back to 1995, but when Dave started up in 1967 it was rarely Dave dictating, it was what evolved from the discussion. That’s the ethos. There’s been a lot of change lately, a lot of expansion, but that essence of Ullman is still there.’ So how does that ethos manifest itself as a structure? How does this network of lofts actually operate? ‘Rolled goods sails, membrane sails and accessories are made in a central manufacturing facility in Cape Town, with most local lofts also making rolled goods sails,’ says Brad Stephens, head of technical development. ‘The four principal sail designers work under the umbrella of the Ullman Sails design team,’ he continues, ‘with the head of design, Bruce Hollis, in Sydney and the other members in Denmark, the UK and the USA. ‘With a globally distributed design team, a central manufacturing facility and various in-house sail
JUDY MITCHEL
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