If you want to produce sturdy sails for daysailing and cruising, built of low-tech materials you can repair with a few simple tools, The Sailmaker's Apprentice can show you how. Emphasizing the handwork that distinguishes the highest-quality, most durable sails, sail pro Emiliano Marino tells you how to select a rig, introduces you to sail shape and theory, and then shows you -- step by step, with the help of over 700 detailed illustrations -- how to sew patches, hand sew rings, fix tears or frayed edges, and stitch seams, not to mention how to make your own sails, canvas sailcovers, and sailbags from scratch.

A visual feast for the sailor as well as an indispensable guide for the mariner comprehensive apprenticeship, this hands-on reference is an illustrated tour of the world's rig and sail types, contemporary and historical.

"A clearly illustrated, superb step-by-step guide."--Cruising World

More than a how-to guide to designing, making, repairing, and improving sails, The Sailmaker's Apprentice combines 700 detailed drawings with a witty, wise, and philosophically probing commentary that is as much about living a life of self-reliance and harmony as it is about making sails. Here you will find a visual feast for the sailor as well as an indispensable guide for the mariner.

"The basics of traditional sailmaking . . . are artfully, lavishly, even passionately elaborated and enriched. . . . The author has created not just a new standard reference . . . but a virtual epic poem. . . . The best and most comprehensive book on sailmaking and sail repair to be published in a long time."--WoodenBoat

"Reveals true mastery."--Northern Mariner

"The accepted standard volume on sailmaking."--Ensign

Marino, Emiliano

Emiliano Marino is a lifelong sailor and has been making sails since 1974. He has written about sailmaking and sail care in Small Boat Journal and WoodenBoat.

Christine Erikson, also a sailmaker, illustrates for Threads, among other magazines.