I first met Skip in 1970. I was in college and had finished my first Trans Pac in the summer of 1969. During my second year I was running short on money so needed to find a part time job. I was sailing a lot, on the college sailing team, and thought if I had to work it would be fun to know more about sails. Frank Rice Sailmakers was just down the street so I went in and applied and got my first job in the sailmaking industry.

Skip started his sailmaking in 1961 with a part time job at Sails by Schock. From there he went on to work for North Sails in Seal Beach and then on to being the designer at Hanna Sails in Costa Mesa. By 1970 Frank Rice had one of the biggest production sail lofts around and besides doing that they had a good business in custom sails. Skip was the production manager and ran the custom sail division. I on the other hand in my first job was solely cutting out production sails off of big mylar patterns, but when I did get a bit of spare time I would hang out in the custom loft and watch how sails were actually made in those days. I came back from Hawaii after the 1971 Trans Pac to find out I didn't have a job any more. The production business was going down and I was out with it.

For Skip that was a real opportunity. That Fall he left Frank Rice Sailmakers and started his own company, Skip Elliott Sailmakers. Needing a job I went to talk to Rick Taylor the owner Taylor Made Sails. I had met him the year before when he built a spinnaker for the Columbia 50 I was sailing on. He offered me a job in September of 1971 and that is where I got my first experience in designing and cutting all types of sails. I worked there for two years and was very involved in building all the early sails for the Prindle catamaran. At that time they were growing and in 1973 they ask me if I would like to have my own sail loft. They would set it up and as long as I always made their sails a priority I was free to do any other business I could get. The loft had my name on it and the agreement was I could split off on my own at any time I though I could sustain myself for just the cost of what they had put into the loft. I was 23 at the time so without much though said "sure I can do that."

Several years later the loft had grown to that point but we continued to also build all the Prindle sails and as they continued to grow helped them to set up a loft to do just their sails. At that time we were building around 50 sets a week for them. During this time period Skip was building all the NACRA Catamaran sails and other multihulls, both of which to this this day are still parts of our major markets.

Over the next years I stayed in touch with Skip and in 1981 the computer age came to sailmaking. John Palmer of Autometrix developed the first commercially available sail design software and both Skip and I were early users of it. We continued to share ideas and notes on using it for the next 10 years. After being in competition with one another for all those years we decided it would make more sense to join forces and have one larger and stronger company, so in February of 1991 Elliott/Pattison Sailmakers was born.

These last 26 years have been rewarding and we both continue to be excited about the future. During that time we have seen the sailing and sailmaking industries go through a lot of changes. From cutting sails out full size on the floor using our best judgment and maybe a hand calculator to get the shape we wanted, to 3D computer design programs, load and structure analysis programs, yarn mapping programs, and computer cutting machines. It has been a fun ride and we continue to look forward to new innovations and materials as we strive to continue our reputation for building quality sails at competitive prices.

We have made sails for boats from 3' to 90'; radio control, dinghies, multihulls, land sailors, club racers, grand prix races, weekend sailors, schooners, wooden boats, and world cruisers. 

Before you purchase your next sail give us a call and see what we can do for you!