lincoln h. foster spinnaker sail

[jasonandsarah]

hey, i found a lincoln h. foster spinnaker sail at an estate sale. the date on the sail is from 1957. is anyone familiar with these sails? i cant find any information on them.

thanks,
jason

[marah]

Saw your message on the Foster Sail. Linc was my sailmaker for many years up through the 80's then Steve Mauritz purchased the loft. Steve also made several sails for us. The loft has shut down, around 2003 or 2005.

[Ambidexter]

When I was in college in the early 1970s I worked three summers for Lincoln Foster as an apprentice sailmaker. The sail loft was in Oshkosh, Wisconsin near Lake Winnebago. Steve Mauritz was Linc's foreman.

Linc developed what he called the "roller spinnaker". It was essentially a reaching spinnaker with wide upper luffs, which made it better for running than most reaching spinnakers. The spinnakers were quite popular with E-Scow sailors during the 1960s and 1970s. Of course Linc made other sails as well, but he was best known for the roller spinnaker.