How To Use Our Website to Buy Sails Online
Thanks for choosing 180sails.com powered by Evolution Sails – Chicago to make your sail purchase online.
We are the first ever to introduce the concept of selling a sail completely online (or purchasing your sails directly online instead of through an in person sailmaker).
We think it is about time, as you can buy a car, a custom suit, or even a house online these days. We asked ourselves why can’t you buy sails online, from the comfort of our home, without having to talk with a sailmaker?
It took over a year to gather the data and design a system using computer logic and artificial intelligence to accomplish this, but we have done it. The result is sailmaker knowledge at your fingertips.
Here is how to use your newfound knowledge and online sail building tools:
Step 1
Choose your sail – Choose the type of sail you want to build from our homepage. Right now, you can choose from building mainsails, headsails (jibs, staysails, and genoas), or spinnakers (symmetrical or asymmetrical). Just click the link of the sail you are looking for to go to its respective builder page.
Step 2
Information gathering – Now it is time to gather some information so our system can make recommendations for you.
Dropdowns
We need to know your boats manufacturer and model, which you can choose from the dropdowns.
Sailing Area
We need to where you sail, as each place and type of sailing has its own build requirements. If you mostly sail on flat water and calm inland lakes, choose “Inshore“; if you day sail on the Great Lakes or large bays such as Chesapeake Bay, or if you sail on the ocean within sight of land during daylight only, select “Coastal“; if you regularly sail overnight trips, there is a chance of encountering heavy wind or storms, or participate in overnight or offshore races you should select “Offshore“; if you are doing extended bluewater cruising, ocean racing, or ocean crossings, you should choose the final option, “Ocean.”
Sliders
We have identified 4 major decision making areas which influence most sail purchasing recommendations and decisions. Adjust the sliders to the percentage of relevance of each to you, with 1 being least important and 100 being most important.
Cruise vs Race Slider – example, if you cruise with your family but also do Wednesday night and weekend PHRF races, you may want to move this slider to 50. If you are a Grand Prix racer, move the Cruise vs Race slider to 100. If you only cruise and could care less about passing other boats, move this slider to 1. For everything in between, just move it to what feels right for you, that is all our system needs.
Budget Slider – This is also on a 1 – 100 percent importance scale. If money is tight and you are looking for the most economical option possible, choose 1. If money is no object and you want the absolute best materials money can buy, choose 100. You can choose any number in between based on how you feel. If the sail quoted to you is too much, adjust the slider lower and try again.
Durability Slider – This is also on a 1 – 100 percent importance scale. If you want your sails to last forever or sail many miles far offshore choose 100 for durability. If you cycle out your sails as part of a grand prix racing program choose 1. If you are a normal weekend sailor you will fall somewhere in between.
Performance Slider – Again on a 1-100 percent scale. If you are logging your polars and hope to win the Bermuda race on a TP52 you are 100% performance! If you just want a big white thingy to unfurl from the front while you float around on a sunny afternoon with some cold ones, you are a 1 on this scale. Once again, you will likely fall in between, so choose a number that feels right to you.
Other Options – There may be some other things we need to know to make an accurate quote and sail design for you. We sometimes require you choose more options, such as if your sail is roller furling or not to help our system find the right design options and materials.
Step 3
Building a sail – Click the submit button and our system will begin processing all of your information to determine the right sail size, materials, cut, finish type, battens, options etc. for you.
Please give the website a few moments to run all the options. It takes a bit of cloud computing power to crunch all the numbers and potential possibilities, so please give this a moment to run its course. It should take 30 seconds to 2 minutes maximum. If you think it is stuck or can not find a solution, contact us and our sailmaker will help you.
Step 4
Select, Confirm, Adjust – Once your sail is built you can choose to add it to your cart and apply any discount codes to see the final price. If not, you can adjust the sliders and try again for another quote. By changing the inputs and clicking submit again, the system will generate a new quote, possibly with different materials and options to suit your liking.
If you can not find a sail configuration you like, you may want click the “Advanced Sail Builder” link. This will allow you to custom enter measurements and select your own options and sail materials as you wish.
Add as many sails as you wish to the shopping cart. Check the final prices with any discounts, shipping, and taxes. Later, you can edit or delete each quote as you wish. Adding a sail to the shopping cart does not commit you to it’s purchase, it just saves the configuration for you.
Generate as many sail quotes as you wish.
Step 5
Order Your Sail – When you have finished using the system and have found a sail configuration that suits your needs at a price you like, you can delete all of the unwanted items from the shopping cart.
Follow the checkout, payment and shipping process online to complete your order.
Step 6
Order Confirmation, Processing, and Shipment – after you click submit to complete your order, it still isn’t 100% ready. There is one more final step before we start building and ship your sail. We will contact you to confirm all of your order information and your boats measurements.
The normal processing and build time for your sail will be 4-6 weeks after order confirmation. If this changes we will let you know.
As soon as your sail ships via the requested method we will provide you with tracking information. If you have requested pickup at our sail loft or on boat installation and delivery we will contact you when it is ready for you.
After the sail arrives, we will contact you to confirm the fit and finish of the sail is correct and answer any questions about installation and sail trim. If something is wrong our Warranty covers you and we will replace or modify the sail with no hassle to you to ensure it fits correctly and you are a happy customer!
