When the new sails for the oyster sloop Christeen arrived from Gamble & Hunter Sailmakers of Camden, Maine, there was a lot of excitement on the bay. When they put them to the test, the crew faced a problem, the sails were too long.

They were two feet too long, while following the measurements they were given. It turns out that sail-size, like drapery-size, is best determined - on site. That is the way Larry Becker of Banks Sails usually does them. If there are two boats of the same type, he still uses a tape measure on both separately. Mr. Becker is the person who corrected the mistake.

When the error was spotted, Mr. Becker came to Oyster Bay. "I physically went down and measured the boat and decided where the changes would be made," he said.

To do the work, he had to return to the way things used to be done - to match the restoration work done on the Christeen.

"I'm not too thrilled with it," he said, honestly. He is used to today's techniques. Instead, he was hand sewing in the brass grommets. Today, they are put in with a hydraulic press - it's a snap! It takes three minutes. It cuts the hole and inserts the metal in one move.

On a recent Wednesday, in the Banks Sails loft at the West Shore Marina in Huntington, he sat on a modern five wheeled chair with a section of the sail in his lap. He had cut a hole in the dense sail cloth, marked off in pencil where to make his stitches and was holding the grommet in place as he poked the needle through.

"It's time consuming. You have to stitch all the way around the ring," he said. He had been working on the sail repair since Saturday and now it was Wednesday.

He had already hand sewn 27 feet of rope around the sail. Mr. Becker was creating a replica of what the original sail on the 117-year-old sloop would have been.

"I love this business. This is so much fun," said Mr. Becker.

"Larry is used to modern day sails. This is new to him, but he's doing a great job," said Clint Smith, president of the Oyster Sloop Christeen Preservation Corporation. The sail is not a batten sail, it is a traditional working sail. Battens are small rods used to keep a portion of the sail stiff. When they did use them, they were made of bamboo. Today they are made of plastic and more recently of fiberglass and carbon fiber. The latter is used in making the wheels for racing bikes because it is so light.

Weight is a real factor in sailing: the lighter the better. Today's sails are made of Kevlar, which was developed by a woman working for the DuPont Chemical Company. It is used for bulletproof vests, among other things. They are 50 percent lighter by weight, than the Christeen's sails. She has a main and a jib. "The measurements for the jib were shipshape," said Clint Smith.

The fabric used for the Christeen is only 18" wide so the panels had to be sewn together to make the large sail. The seams are joined by free sewing them together. The material is overlapped and two rows of stitching make the seam strong. "Strike-up marks" are used to be sure they match up.

Mr. Becker also had to make a small repair on the sail where it got damaged in the test run. To repair it he used some of the original material he cut off and vowed to save it for future patches. "It will be just as strong as the original," he said.

Today's fabric is 54" wide, to fit the size of the laser table where they are cut. "Very few sails are hand cut. All are laser cut. A computer generates the shapes," said Mr. Becker.

Banks Sails does high tech sails for racing as well as simple cruising sails. "It's a busy industry," said Mr. Becker. "It's been getting bigger and bigger through the years."

The company started in Oyster Bay at the Jakobson Shipyard, in 1987. Working in the tin building, with the sun blazing down on it and no air conditioning made it a tough experience. "That place was horrible. We used to name the wasps," Mr. Becker said. Their new Bethpage facility is air conditioned and well lighted.

Steve Benjamin is the president of Banks Sails. An Olympic Silver Medalist, he lives in Oyster Bay. His father Park Benjamin used to own the Oyster Bay Marine Center years ago. Steve sold sports clothing and sailing apparel out of the Mill Pond House on West Shore Road.

Their most recent location in Oyster Bay was 120 Audrey Ave., on the second floor of the Universe Kogaku (America) building. Banks Sails recently moved to a 15,000 sq. ft. facility in Bethpage, off Powell Avenue, near the village. That facility has several sewing pits for workers. The Huntington location has one - where the machine operator sits below the floor level so the sail can glide along the wooden surface as it passes under the sewing machine's needle.

They will keep their Huntington location. "This one's staying here because of location, location, location," said Larry Becker. "People know we are here. If you move the service to Bethpage - there will be no walk-in customers."

Banks Sails is currently working on a proposal to make the sails for one of the Jay Boats originally designed by Thomas Lipton for the America's Cup in the '20s and '30s. Their machinists are making the hardware for the Americas' Cup yachts for the 12 meter races in Newport, Rhode Island.

Mr. Becker loves sailing so much - he even does it in the winter. He made sails for ice boats but isn't eager to do it again. "Nobody makes enough money for me to make another set," he said. "To match the sail shape to the mast is very difficult."

The next step for the Christeen is to get it certified by the Coast Guard which they are in the process of doing, said Clint Smith "There are still a lot of little things to do - they take a lot of time. We will have our certification before our program starts in July.

"We plan to do some charter sails and evening sails before that. We have people already requesting to celebrate weddings and anniversaries aboard the boat. The Christeen will do a bit more than just educational programs because those programs won't provide the finances needed to maintain the boat," he said.

"Presently, Doug Neimuth, has been working on the rigging. He used to captain these types of boats. He's had a lot of experience and we are fortunate to have him with us. We are really 'bending' the sails onto the ship!"

Clint Smith said since the planned marine education building is not up and operating, they are working on starting their own program. "We are talking to Rob Crafa, director of the Center for Education and Recreation of Oyster Bay, to not duplicate what they are doing," he said.

They will be working with Dr. Loret of the Long Island Science Museum at Leeds Pond, Manhasset. "He'll provide the structure and equipment. We supply the boat and crew. We'll be his boat for his education program," said Mr. Smith, "Eventually which we want to turn her over to the marine education program of the CMEROB. We have to find out how we will make that final transition," he said.

The oyster sloop Christeen was built in the Township of Oyster Bay and is a National Landmark. It will be the ambassador from Oyster Bay to other ports - but their main purpose is the marine educational area.

That is already happening. The Christeen will be at the annual Town of Oyster Bay Environmental Day held at the Theodore Roosevelt Memorial Park. "We've brought a touch tank to the event before. This year the touch tank, which is filled with various marine life for children to examine and then returned to the bay, will be aboard the Christeen," he said.