Welcome to Bullet Sails
Bullet Sails is the home of David Sample, the premier custom sailmaker in
Little Rock, Arkansas. Dave has been building sails since 1990, and he's been
repairing and recutting sails since 1983 (back in the twentieth century!).
Bullet Sails power a number of boats, both at the Grande Maumelle Sailing Club (GMSC)
and elsewhere.
He's currently (September '09) working on a massive mainsail for Warner Schwarz's
custom-built K-30,
using D4 Loadpath fabric from Dimension Polyant. (You can
see pictures of that sail on the workbench on the
materials
page.) The list of boats flying Bullet Sails includes such boats as
- J-22
- J-24
- J-80
- S2 7.9
- Flying Scot
- Corsair 28
- Alerion 28
- Impulse 21
- Prindle 19
and a couple of custom-designed and built 30 footers.
Buying Sails
You won't find a handy page for placing orders here. Bullet Sails are designed
and built with in-depth consultation with you, the buyer, and with relevant measurements
of your boat's mast. You can buy sails elsewhere with a
few mouse clicks and a credit card, but you won't get sails that meet your needs
without the interaction Bullet Sails insists on. That interaction doesn't stop
when your sails are delivered. Dave will work with you to tune the sails on your
boat so you can realize their full potential. Instead of filling out a nice
looking order form, just
call or email us
and we'll figure out together how to meet your needs.
Not Just a Sailmaker
Dave recently finished a 3-year stint serving as the Race Committee Chair at
GMSC in Little Rock, staging 3 and even 4 races on
many days. He's taken on that role again for the winter series.
Dave can often be found at the club giving tips and advice to any sailor
with a question.
Over the years he's given a number of seminars and coaching sessions.
In August this year Dave volunteered an afternoon
with the Flying Scot fleet at GMSC. He emphasized rounding the weather mark using heel
and mainsheet rather than the rudder. Dumping the mainsheet at the
mark, combined with keeping crew weight on the rail to induce enough weather
heel, allows the boat to fall off around the mark with little braking effect from the rudder.
Don't forget to approach the mark leaving enough room to leeward to allow dumping
the main without hitting the mark with the boom, especially in a boat with a
boom as long as the Flying Scot's.
Take a look through the site. You'll find pictures and advice and whatever else
happens to get thrown in here!
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