Searching for a Sail
28 February 2011 | Phuket, Thailand
Nancy and Burger Zapf
On our quest for a new mainsail to replace our aging one, we stopped by the Rolly Tasker Sailloft to check it out. The famous Mr. Tasker himself greeted us at the entrance. At 85 he's tall and slim, in great shape except for skin ravages of a life in the sun. He proudly gave us a tour of the huge loft (see photos). He's been making sails for over sixty years, having begun his career in Hong Kong after WW II. Not one to sit idle in retirement, he started the Phuket operation in the mid 1990's when he was nearly 70.
While Burger chatted with Rolly about the merit of his sails, I studied the photo gallery. Mr. Tasker was an accomplished Olympic yacht racer from Australia. His biography, Sailing to the Moon, is for sale in the sailloft chandlery: it's so named because he sailed enough miles to take him the moon. I spotted Prince Charles crewing for him in one photo.
But alas, Burger was disappointed with his sails. Not one to mince words, he let Rolly know that the quality wasn't up to his standards. The lack of UV cover on the webbing was dismissed as "not pretty enough." When asked whether they sewed using a composite zigzag stitch, Mr. Tasker said they had the six-point machine needed for it, but hadn't yet taught their workers how to use it. Our 18 -year old mainsail was made on such a machine, so it's hardly new technology, and is, in fact, the industry standard. "That's a deal-breaker," said Burger.
Sailors come to SE Asia to take advantage of cheap labor, but the quote we were given for a mainsail wasn't competitive with recent quotes we got from sailmakers in the States. We could have a mainsail with composite stitching, shipped in by Leesails of Hong Kong or by Doyle produced in the Philippines, for a third less that Tasker's price. Oh well, so much for having a new mainsail made while we're here in Phuket.
Photo: Burger with Rolly Tasker at his impressive loft in Phuket
See more photos of the loft in our Photo Gallery.