"This week North Sails in the UK unveiled their brand new sail loft, the worlds largest with a raised floor of 1,950m2."

This week North Sails in the UK unveiled their brand new sail loft, the worlds largest with a raised floor of 1,950m2. At over 100m long, the loft is designed for superyacht sails, and can in fact house two J-Class headsails, and a mainsail at once, with no overlap. To stitch it all there are five rotating sewing machines, sunken beneath the floor to allow each sails to be made without lifting it from the floor, and an overhead gantry capable of supporting a touch over 3000kg. That's plenty to support even the worlds largest yacht sails as they're rolled out from overhead, onto the pristine white floor. In case that wasn't enough; the pi?ce de r?sistance of the new sail loft is two floating sewing machines. They sit on a belt to the side of the loft and allow stitching of the entire leech or luff of a sail in one fell swoop, without moving it a millimetre.

Next door, you'll find three plotters for cutting out the panels with precision, run by some of the worlds most detailed 3d modelling software. Each panel is marked and lasered/cut by the plotters, before being sent next door for inspection and stitching.

But wait! There's more... Two more raised floor platforms, each with sunken sewing machines to finish North's One Design sails (For boats like the Etchell, and Melges 24), and for their 'Certified' repairs. North Sails President, Ken Read says the team are: "Excited for the opportunities ahead and would like to congratulate the local team for pulling it all together and creating something truly unique in the sailmaking world. North Sails is committed to professional sailmaking and our ambition is to remain on the cutting edge."

Check out the images of the worlds largest sail loft, just built in Gosport, UK.