Andrea Mura Sail Design: forty years of passion, identity and technology

On the occasion of the 50th anniversary of the Journal of Sailing, the great excellences of the sailing world tell their stories and reveal their projects. In this column, discover all the companies and people who have made important contributions to the multifaceted world of sailing, which enables us all to go to sea in all forms and contexts.

In this installment, we take you on a tour of the latest from Andrea Mura Sail Design, one of the most artisanal sailmakers there is in Italy.

Eclectic sailor and sailmaker

That of Andrea Mura and his sailmaker is not just the story of a craft workshop, but the tenacious parable of an eclectic sailmaker and sailmaker who has chosen to stay true to his name, to his Sardinia and to a stubborn and passionate quest. Telling us this story is Andrea himself. A 40-year-long journey that began in 1985 and summed up in three key words: passion, identity and technology. A story of love, research and innovation, always towards new horizons.

Andrea Mura. Designer, manufacturer, tester and regatta operator

“When I opened the sailmaker’s shop,” Mura explains, “my idea was to grow and support the sailing athlete and in parallel the sailmaker’s shop itself, turning it into a Sailing Atelier. From the age of seven I was fascinated by the wing shape of sails. In the ten years I spent as a sailmaker in the national team, the sails that were out there did not satisfy me, and I always had my eye upward when I got into the boat. I used to spend a lot of time in sail factories around the world modifying “the fat of the ferzi.” Unfortunately, there is always discussion about hull designs, talking in my opinion too little about the sails. You can also have the fastest hull in the world, but if the sails are not specially designed, the boat will not perform at its best. It always came naturally to me to perceive what kind of sail and shape is needed to get the best performance and safety at sea. So I got involved.” .What distinguishes Andrea Mura sail design is precisely the interweaving of several figures in the same person: designer, producer, tester and racer. A reality more unique than rare in the international sailing market.

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Michele Molino, nautical engineer with the sea in his vein

The engine of development

“I have never felt like a trader, rather I call myself a researcher. Every client, every order, every sail I have made, has been an opportunity for me to research to innovate, without replicating. Rarely have I accomplished copy and paste. My laboratory has always been the sea: boarding boats, testing existing sails, sensing what is really needed, are the first components to start designing. Over time, I have accumulated a growing database of experience: from dinghies, to cruising, to IMOCA 60. I have a wonderful memory related to when I was a mainsail trimmer and beyond, in the 5 boats of Il Moro di Venezia, where I sailed for over 2,000 hours alongside Paul Cayard. I am grateful to Guido Cavalazzi, designer of the sails, for accepting my suggestion to make a lighter fabric area in the new mainsail, which contributed greatly to improving its performance. With the Moro di Venezia in 1992 we won the Louis Vuitton Cup.”. Technical innovation runs through the entire history of Andrea Mura sail design.

In 1992, among the very first in Europe, Andrea purchased the first sail drawing and cutting plotter in the USA. In 1995 he created the first industry website. In the 1990s he developed the technique of gluing gennakers and spinnakers, at the time a revolution compared to classic seams: “they called me crazy, but in regattas it worked and no sail ever came off in 40-knot winds!” But it is since 2005 that the leap forward is even more evident: because Andrea does not simply buy the fabrics with which he makes his sails, but designs them in Carbo-Kevlar, defining the structure of the sail itself so that it is light, fast and long-lived. Since 2014 after successfully testing at Route du Rhum the Dynema 99 low crimp, he no longer abandons it immediately discarding the Carbo-Kevlar now obsolete for him.

“For example, for the mainsail of my Open 50 Vento di Sardegna, I plucked 110 kilometers of Dynema 99 low crimp thread and the manufacturer made a truly unique fabric, cut just to my ideas and with which I won the Route du Rhum among Rhum class monohulls, as well as the Ostar 2017 won for the second time, and finally the round-the-world solo, unassisted and non-stop, setting multiple 24 h distance records. It is an intricate and complex process, during which you squeeze all your brains by mentally simulating every weather and usage condition to which the sails will be subjected. This allows you to control the deformation and weight, which are critical to the performance and durability of the sails themselves. The sail, in fact, is an aeroelastic object that deforms with the wind, depending on its structure, and it is necessary to be able to predict this deformation by modifying in advance what its final wing profile will be. The real added value is the experience of a lifetime dedicated to sailing among the buoys and oceanic races e”.

Andrea Mura. A sail forever

Conclusion: “Since I have always been against planned obsolescence, I can happily say that my sails are not disposable, but are born to last and to be passed on. Wind is our passion, sails our vocation. A si biri!”

• At this link, all the mythical stories from the 50 years of the Sailing Newspaper

50 years of the GdV: an opportunity not to be missed. Also for your brand

To celebrate its 50th anniversary, Il Giornale della Vela is organizing the largest communication campaign in its history, which will reach a total audience of 2,000,000 “sea lovers” interested in the world of sailing.

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1985. The sails of the future are being born. The GdV is in, with Lowell North

How? Deploying all its communication channels: magazine (paper+digital), websites, E-mail marketing, social (facebook/instagram). The certainty is that 2 million interested people will be reached to whom you can tell your company’s story.

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