NORTH SAILS BLOG

ANOTHER SUCCESSFUL YEAR AT COWES WEEK North Powers Boats from One Design to TP52s With everything from Etchells and J/70s to Fast 40s and TP52s, Lendy Cowes Week is an entirely inclusive sailing week with thousands of competitors taking part in one of the world’s largest sailing events in this iconic destination. What started off to be a very light air week with racing relying on seabreezes rather than gradient winds, turned very quickly on the final day of racing with extreme conditions and racing called off just an hour into the final race after eye opening conditions on the water. David Franks J/112 Leon © Paul Wyeth An outstanding performance was put in by the new J/112 Leon whose previous owners were winners of the IRC Worlds and Europeans. Now owned by David Franks, Leon and team put in a stellar performance, winning the majority of the races in Class 4. Franks brought his experience from his JPK 10.80 Straight Dealer to the race course to take the win in the class and hold off fellow J/112 sailors Davanti Tyres skippered by Paul Heys and Chaz Ilvill. With six different IRC fleets the racing was close amongst all the yachts. Adam Gosling’s new JPK 11.80 YES! pulled back from a 2-6 over the weekend to win IRC 2 overall. In second and third places respectively were Christopher Daniel’s Juno and Tony Mack’s Mcfly who were tied on equal points and trailing shortly behind YES! by just 3 points. IRC0 was dominated by Tony Langley’s TP52 Gladiator all week, who won four out of six races. The competition between second and third was much closer between Lady Mariposa and Tokoloshe. Unfortunately with the last race being abandoned, Michael Bartholomew’s Tokoloshe had too much to come back from and ended up just one point behind Lady Mariposa. Nicklas Zenstrom’s Fast 40+ RAN © Paul Wyeth The main event for the Fast 40+ was the first four days of the regatta, where they had a mixture of short windward/leeward and coastal races. Despite some hot competition from Peter Morton’s Girls on Film, Nicklas Zenstrom’s, RAN once again stormed the results giving them a three-point lead and the overall win. The J/70 fleet had their highest turnout for a regatta this year in the UK with many charter boats revelling in the success of the One Design class. With 41 boats on the start line, it was experience in the fleet that proved to be the key to success. After a slow start to the week, Paul Ward’s Eat,Sleep,J,Repeat recovered to take the overall win thanks to a string of bullets in the coastal races. The XOD fleet was one the strongest One Design classes on the water, with a total of forty-nine boats coming from Itchenor, Lymington, Cowes and Hamble. Andrew Tremlett’s Lass had a fantastic week, winning four races and the overall win for the second year in a row. Andrew Tremlett’s XOD Lass © Paul Wyeth As well as the above mentioned, there were many more strong performances across all the fleets by North Sails clients, congratulations to all those competing. Results Cowes Week 2018 Fast 40+ RAN / Nicklas Zenstrom Class 0 Gladiator / Tony Langley Class 2 Yes! / Adam Gosling Class 4 Leon / David Franks Class 5 Swuzzlebubble / Phil Plumtree Farr280 Toucan / Glyn Locke Quarter Ton Aguila / Sam Laidlaw Etchells Man’s Best Friend / Martin Hill & Andrew Palfrey XOD Lass / Andrew Tremlett J/70 Eat,Sleep,J,Repeat / Paul Ward * Denotes Partial North Sails Inventory READ MORE

ALTNAUER TAG-NACHREGATTA 10.08.2018 Bericht des Eigners der Esse 990 10 Jahre nach dem ersten Sieg an dieser Regatta sollte es in diesem Jahr endlich wieder einmal gelingen.....???? Verstärkt mit Dani, unserem Segelmacher des Vertrauens, an der Pinne gelingt der princip-esse bei Traumbedingungen (...8-10 Knoten Ostwind) ein Superstart. Perfekt und mit Speed auf der Linie und Super-Geni-Setzmanöver (...Steuermann und Crew gratulieren sich gegenseitig!!!) setzt sich die princip-esse gleich von ihren Gegnern ab. Schnelle Halse und Richtung Land und den freien Wind.....danach zurück Richtung Seemitte.......nur leicht gestört durch viel grössere Boote, wie die später als erste ins Ziel einlaufende Vermeer, welche ihren Geni immer noch nicht richtig gesetzt hat und überholt wird..... An der Boje am Eichhorn runden wir mit Innenposition (....Bravo Steuermann!!!) und wieder perfektem Geni-Bergemanöver (...Bravo Crew!!!) knapp vor dem neuen Riesenschiff von Peter Minder (...mit 15m genau 1 1/2 mal so lang wie die princip-esse!!!) ......und da auf dem Amwindkurs (...immer noch bei 8-10 Knoten!!!!) Richtung Hanau nun halt mal die alte Regel: "Länge läuft!!!" funktioniert.......überholt er uns im Lee.... Dani entscheidet sich für einen tieferen Amwindkurs, einerseits um aus Minder's Abwind rauszukommen und anderseits, weil alle Anderen sowieso viel zu hoch laufen.....????? Kurz vor der Boje in Hagnau dreht der Wind leicht nach links (...warum auch immer???) Wir müssen leider einen kurzen Holeschlag einlegen und runden.... ...... und haben wieder ein Boot (Magic Lady), welches uns Abwind liefert über uns... Somit auch auf dem Schlag Richtung Güttingen wieder das gleiche Spiel .....doch diesmal mit einem Rechtsdreher im ablaufenden Wind kurz vor Güttingen, welcher uns erlaubt die Magic Lady abzuhängen und zu einigen viel höher gelaufenen Booten aufzuschliessen..... Mittlerweile ist es dunkel geworden und der Wind beginnt einzuschlafen......(...ist ja auch Nacht!!!) Trotz überraschend starker Strömung gelingt uns ein gutes Bojenrundungsmanöver. Der Geni wird wieder perfekt gesetzt (...obwohl er von er falschen Seite hochgezogen werden musste!!!!)..... ....der Steuermann vergisst in der Anspannung die Crew zu loben ....und wird auf dieses "Vergehen" hingewiesen .....und gleichzeitig mit dem Hinweis, dass uns die hinter uns auflaufende Riesenyacht (..den Namen hat der Schreiberling leider vergessen....) bisher noch nie überholt habe, unter Druck gesetzt...!!!!! Nach gut 2 Std. (...so schnell haben wir das noch nie geschafft!!!) laufen wir in Altnau über die Ziellinie. Da der grösste Teil der Strecke (.....bis kurz vor der Boje in Güttingen) mit Wind knapp im mid-wind Bereich gesegelt wurde und danach das letzte Stückchen bei low-wind.....aber die Regatta mit dem low-wind Faktor berechnet wird, verpassen wir den (eigentlich hoch verdienten!!!!...) Sieg knapp und werden als 4. klassiert.... Fazit: Super Regatta bei Superbedingungen!!!! Ranglisten Bilder von Andreas Jetzer READ MORE

R-2 OPTIMIST SAIL SHINES THROUGH Rocco Wright Wins Junior Fleet at UK Optimist Championship Rocco Wright, Junior Fleet Winner © Andy Green More than 370 young sailors representing over a dozen countries descended on Plas Heli, Pwllheli, for the 2018 Volvo Gill Optimist British National and Open Championships. The event officially launched with a colourful parade of sailors and international flags, followed by an opening ceremony serenaded by a Welsh male voice choir. The occasion also included a Welsh poem read and translated by Welsh sailors Tasmyn Green and Callum Davidson-Guild to welcome the fleet and set the scene for the week. The first day of racing saw PRO Ian Bullock and his team working hard to get a race away for the 154-strong main fleet, only to be thwarted by massive shifts in the sunny but fickle conditions, which saw a number of starts and two races abandoned. The 120-boat junior main fleet was likewise on the water but unable to get any racing. The racing regatta fleet of 56 sailors and 41-boat coached regatta fleet had more luck, with up and coming Optimist sailors able to hone their skills on smaller courses closer to shore. In total there are 371 sailors competing, including around 100 young helms from 13 different nations who have joined GBR’s Optimist sailors to compete for the open title, attracted by the world class junior racing offered by the British National Championship. Overseas competitors include large teams from Ireland and the USA; a number of sailors from Bermuda, Spain, Hong Kong, the Cayman Islands and Australia; plus entrants from Holland, France, Belgium, South Africa, St Lucia and the Virgin Islands. In the 120-boat Junior main fleet, Ireland’s Rocco Wright powered by his R-2 Radial North Sails managed to overtake USA’s Aston Smith for the open title during the gold fleet series, with Ben O’Shaughnessy (IRL) third. Way to go Rocco! Another special mention goes to the young Spanish sailor Ona García Parés who finished second placed female in the Junior fleet, also using the R-2 sail. Congratulations to all our young North Sails customers who were competing at the Championship. Click here to find out more about North Sails Optimist products. Ona García Parés, Second Girl, Junior Fleet © Andy Green Full results READ MORE

LES SABLES - LES AÇORES - LES SABLES 2018 Les ministes auront rencontré toutes les conditions possibles et inimaginables durant les 2 étapes de cette édition exceptionnelle : Après un départ au portant dans un vent médium histoire de se mettre en jambe, les 45 concurrents ont été cueillis à froid par la succession de 4 fronts actifs qui ont généré des vents jusqu’à 40 nœuds…. et tout cela au près avec une mer « casse-bateau ». Des conditions difficiles, qui ont usé les bonhommes et les machines, et une route Nord salvatrice pour les gros bras qui ont emprunté cette trajectoire touristique. Dès lors, les écarts des vainqueurs de cette première étape avec le reste de la flotte sont monstrueux. Pour cloturer cette étape dantesque, une arrivée très compliquée tactiquement dans l’archipel des Açores entre vent faible et dévents des iles volcaniques. Cette année, la douceur des îles portugaises se méritait. En classement série, Ambrogio Beccaria (ITA 943 Geomag) inflige 12 heures au second et s’impose en 11 jours, 6 heures et 23 minutes. Une seconde étape de rêve comme dans les livres : Ils avaient souffert dans l’acte 1, ils se sont régalés dans l’acte 2…. ils ont affolé les compteurs, ils ont flirté avec le record des 24 heures, ils ont joué au sous-marin et « Boggi » a encore été intraitable. D’une régularité à couper le souffle, d’une constance insolente dans sa vitesse, toujours bien placé sur cet échiquier bleu, il a construit sa victoire mille après mille en laissant toujours cette même impression : Quand « Rital Rocket » prend les commandes, il devient intouchable… Vainqueur des 2 étapes, il s’impose en 6 jours 7 heures et 40 minutes dans ce 2ème acte. Fort de ce 4ème succès consécutif, Ambrogio s’adjuge le classement général du championnat de France de course au large. READ MORE

Get The Most From Your J/70 Racing Experience The sailing season has already started. Is your team ready? Our tool kit will help you finish in front of the pack. Read our tips on boat speed, boat handling, crew techniques, and more. Created just for your by our team of experts. Winners Choose North There is no better performance test of a sail than the results it produces. In 2018 alone, North Sails J/70 inventories powered the winning teams at regattas all over the globe. Clients trust in our products to get the most out of their sailing experience. Tim Healy’s Winning Inventory No matter what the weather will bring, we’ve got options for any condition. Here is Tim Healy’s suggested inventory to help you get you started. Light Air Tips A week of intense training with the Japanese teams in Newport, RI taught Tim and his team a lot about light air tuning and trimming. Here are his tips, which include some important points to optimize your light air speed. Fine Tune With North Find your groove. Get your numbers. Be confident in all wind conditions. After countless hours sailing, testing, and competing in the J/70, our World Championship sails will get you up to race winning speed quickly. Reach your competitive goals with North. Downwind Tips Whether you are in displacement mode, wing-on-wing, or full plane, there are many ways to achieve better boat speed. Read more from Tim on how to enhance your performance downwind in all conditions. Get Up To Speed Pulling all the pieces together can be challenging. North Speed Guides will help you leverage our expertise to make the most of your one design sailing. Our Road To 2018 Worlds One design experts collaborated in a three-day clinic that combined the talent and intellect of the North team. Our commitment to excellence keeps us evolving designs within the J/70 product line. Client Performance An entertaining and educational interview with the 2018 Corinthian J/70 Midwinters Champions and 1st place Corinthian Marblehead NOOD team, Joint Custody. Our Experts Make It Happen Have questions? Contact your local J/70 expert today for more information on how choosing North can up your program. READ MORE

RUBY ROSE SETS SAIL FOR THE MED Clients Embrace The Cruising Life Onboard Their Southerly 38 Three years ago, Terysa and Nick set off to sail around the world and started their online video blog to share their adventures onboard Ruby Rose. Here is how it all started. After much deliberation, they chose a Southerly 38 to be their home and North Sails products to power them around the globe. Seven years, 22,000 miles, and 40,000 YouTube followers later, we caught up with Nick to find out how they manage shorthanded sailing and the reality of live-aboard cruising. What inspired you to start your cruising journey? I was working as a dentist in London and I got to the point where I realized that making money and working wasn’t making me happy anymore. I bought a cheap little boat and found a different life. Everyone was very friendly and I loved the freedom it gave me. I met Terysa a couple years later, and as you do, you sit and plan your future. One day we decided we wanted to sail around the Mediterranean. Then she said “why don’t we sail around the world?” Now you can’t back down with a new girlfriend! From there it just snowballed really. So we bought a bigger boat, and then a bigger boat. And realized we had the boat. We both have the same mindset; we know a lot of people who make these big plans and have these great ideas, but they always find some obstacle to stop them from doing it. We refused to stop. What made you choose a Southerly, and why do you think it’s ideal for cruising? We had a 32-foot Hanse, and there was just not enough space. So we went to the Southampton Boat Show to look at other options. We wanted a boat that was bigger and well-built. The Southerly has a lot of internal volume for a 40-foot boat. So we could live on it, and it was going to keep us safe. Oh, and it’s pretty. Why did you choose North Sails to outfit your boat? “What we value in sails now is multifactorial. It had to have good, quality sails. Quality to well know they are going to last. We’ve done seven years and 20,000 miles with the same sails.” Which systems does Ruby Rose have that make your cruising lifestyle easier? We added a third reef to the mainsail and ran all the lines back to the cockpit. We use a furler for the genoa. We’ve also got the North Sails Code Zero on a continuous furler . Those are things that enable us to short handedly sail in more comfort. Except for the Code Zero, we don’t ever have to leave the cockpit to do anything. North Sails systems work well in conjunction with Selden; if you want a reef, you don’t even have to change the course of the boat. You just let the main all the way. What’s the most stressful part about cruising lifestyle? I think what we used to find stressful, like worrying that something is going to break, doesn’t happen so much now. We bought the boat new, but were always worrying about what was going to break next for fear it would happen at the most inconvenient time. But I think you just kind of get used to that once you get more comfortable with the whole situation. The second stresser we had was anchoring. As soon as you get to the Caribbean, you have to get use to being at anchor and not worrying about dragging. We perfected our anchoring technique after speaking to some superyacht captains, and thankfully we have never dragged since. Learning the limitations and the strengths of your own vessel we’ve discovered is most challenging. What is your favorite port you’ve been to so far? Everywhere has been magnificent. The first highlight was Martinique in the Caribbean. It was beautiful and very sedate. It’s partly French, so you get to this beautiful little Caribbean island and you can still buy your baguette for a Euro. You can buy French wine and cheeses. We were like ‘Oh my God. This is so amazing.’ The second highlight was Morocco. We spent a month touring and they were the kindest, most lovely people we’ve ever met. They all wanted to talk to us. It was just beautiful. Challenging from the point of view of bureaucracy, but as a memory I think that is my number one destination thus far. Where does your journey bring you next? We thought long and hard about everything and we decided that we wanted to see the Mediterranean. I think we will go all the way to Cadiz this time. We tend to like more natural things. Filling up hotels and casinos is not for us. We’re going to head to the Med for the next couple years at the very least, then we’ll just see how it goes from there. Wondering what Ruby Rose is up to? Check in to see where they end up next. READ MORE

NORTH SAILS DOMINATES RESULTS Victories for Clients Across Classes at Copa del Rey 📸María Muiña/37 Copa del Rey MAPFRE It’s not easy for a single sailmaker to dominate the leaderboard in a 150+ boat regatta but that’s exactly what the team from North Sails witnessed in Palma at the prestigious Copa del Rey MAPFRE last week. In the end, North Sails clients won 11 of 13 classes at the Copa del Rey. King Felipe VI and the Spanish Royal Family hosted the awards ceremony for the event North Sails expert Alessio Razeto called the “Boatspeed World Championships”. The success at the Copa is attributed to a combination of sails, that deliver boat speed, and client support, which delivers confidence. For Alessio, last week’s results are achieved by stacking the cards in our client’s favor. “All of us at North Sails are concentrated on what we have to do each day to help our clients achieve results,” Alessio explained. “Our job does not stop once the product is delivered. We also make sure the customer and their crew are fully educated on how to use the product to its full potential. Our client support includes sea trials, organizing clinics and providing a coach if that’s the right fit. Finding the ideal product and support to match our customer’s expectations helps them to be more successful on the water.” “The majority of feedback we get from our clients is ‘I’m fast or I’m not fast,” Alessio explained. “They’re easily reaching the speed or not, which is dependent on many factors but sails play a huge part. As you’d assume, the feedback from this event was good and the leading boats were super happy with their boat speed.” 📸Laura G Guerra/37 Copa del Rey MAPFRE “Giulio Desiderato is a young North Sails expert who was placed as a coach with Alessandro Rombelli’s Melges 40 Stig, Alessio explained. Stig won the Copa Del Rey in the Melges 40 class which was also the third event of the Melges 40 Grand Prix series. “Giulio is there to help the Stig make sure the team using their North sails to the full potential, and also provides first hand feedback to the North design team” While North 3Di has become the gold standard for performance, Alessio made sure to point out how impressed he was by the North Downwind sails he saw at Copa Del Rey. “Design, shape, speed, we’re doing a great job with downwind sails.” Alessio commented. “The North design group fully committed to improving downwind performance over the last year and it’s really making a difference.” 📸María Muiña/37 Copa del Rey MAPFRE “Every day, at exactly at 1 pm, the seabreeze kicks in on the Copa Del Rey race courses.” Alessio explained. “The direction is more or less stable, with the velocity slowly creeping up as the day progresses. These conditions put a premium on maximizing the range of light air sails.” “The race organizers are fantastic and have done a good job development this regatta over the last 11 years. The race committee is always accurate in moving the marks on each of the courses to provide a fair playing field for all the competitors. And, we’re used to racing in the water in Europe, and it’s not really common to find this kind of organization.” 📸María Muiña /37 Copa del Rey MAPFRE “Sailing out of the Real Club Nautico de Palma is amazing because you have everything you need. You have the wind, you have the race organization, you have accommodation, you have yacht club…Honestly, it’s a great event, in a great location and you couldn’t ask for much more.” 📸María Muiña/37 Copa del Rey MAPFRE 📸María Muiña/37 Copa del Rey MAPFRE 📸María Muiña/37 Copa del Rey MAPFRE 2018 Copa del Rey Results BMW ORC 1 1 ESTRELLA DAMM / NACHO MONTES / OSCAR CHAVES BMW ORC 2 1 ANTONIO BANDERAS DESIGN / JAVIER BANDERAS CLUB SWAN 50 1 EARLYBIRD / HENDRIK BRANDIS MRW SWAN 45 1 K FORCE / JAN DE KRAKER CLUB SWAN 42 1 PEZ DE ABRIL / JOSE MARIA MESEGUER MALLORCA SOTHBEYS IRC 1 BEAU GESTE / KARL KWOK MELGES 40 1 STIG / ALESSANDRO ROMBELLI GC32 1 INEOS TEAM UK / BEN AINSLIE 6M CLASSICS 1 BRIBON / JOSE CUSI 6M MODERN 1 SOPHIE RACING / HUGO STENBECK HERBALIFE J/80 1 BRIBON-MOVISTAR / MARC DE ANTONIO ALTAMIRA * Denotes Partial North Sails Inventory READ MORE

ENTERPRISE UK NATIONALS Nine Of Top Ten Boats Powered by North Sails The 2018 Enterprise National Championships took place at Exe Sailing Club with the thirty-seven entries being treated to a wide range of conditions. Sunday was cancelled, with 35 knots of breeze and the last race day cancelled due to no wind! The three racing days in between, however, we were treated to eight fantastic races ranging from 15-20 knots of breeze on Monday and Tuesday and 8-12 knots on Thursday. The event started strongly for Dave and Chris Jackman from Looe, with a stellar 1st day of 3 race wins. Clearly revelling in the strong winds, they continued this into the 2nd day with another bullet, followed by a 2nd in race 5. Phil Ford and Jane Humpage were putting a good series also, with a string of 2nd places to sit within striking distance of the lead. A well earned lay day on Wednesday gave the fleet’s legs time to recover from all the hiking out on the first 2 days. Thursday was much lighter and we saw a different group of boats at the from of the fleet. Defending champions, Jeremy and Becca Stephens from Penzance had a great day with 1,3,5 to move up to 3rd overall. Phil and Jane had a solid day to move up to 2nd overall with a 3,5,4 and Dave a Chris managed to hold onto 1st place overall with a 15,7,9. As it happened this is how the event finished with no racing on Friday due to a diminishing Northerly breeze, which finally dropped away to nothing, giving the race committee no choice but to abandon racing for the day early. So Dave and Chris were crowned 2018 National Champions; very deserved and popular winners it has to be said with Phil and Jane finishing as runners up for the 3rd year in a row! Exe Sailing Club did a fantastic job running and hosting the event and thanks must go to all the club officials and members who volunteered their own time to help make it the success it was. It was a great event for North Sails too, with 9 of the top 10 boats overall using the blue badge including the winners. As co-sponsors of the event, there were lots of happy recipients of North Sails caps and other North Sails merchandise throughout the fleet. Get in touch with the team if you are interested in any North Sails Enterprise products! READ MORE

WESTERN MICHIGAN CHAMPIONSHIP Great One Design Regatta on Lake Muskegon Melges E Scows, C Scows and MCs faced off at the Western Michigan Yachting Association’s championship held August 1-4 at Muskegon Yacht Club. Tight action, nice breeze and as always a great party highlighted what was a top-notch regatta. E SCOW In the E Scow fleet, Eddie Cox’s I-66 took top honors followed by Cam McNeil in second and Tom Munroe in third. All top five teams were powered by North Sails. C SCOW The C Scow champion was Spring Lake’s Scott Harestad winning his second consecutive championship with Glenn McMurray and Joe Schaub close behind. MC SCOW In the MC fleet, Cam McNeil sailed a solid event to take first. Second place was Jamie Kimball and third was Will Crary. The top three teams used the North ZMax mainsail. The Melges and North Sails Zenda Team was proud to attend the WMYA Championship and support its sailors. Next up, the team will head to the ILYA Championship on Lake Minnetonka. Learn more about North’s Fast C Scow, E Scow, MC Scow, Butterfly and Optimist sails. Full Results READ MORE

INTERVIEW WITH J/105 NORTH AMERICAN CHAMPION North Powers Mandate to Another North American Title © Chris Howell This is the third North American title for Terry McLaughlin’s Mandate. Terry bought the J/105 in late 2012 with friend Rod Wilmer. They race during the week on Tuesday evenings in Toronto and do weekend local regattas in preparation for larger events. Terry really enjoys sailing his J/105, commenting that it is “incredibly comfortable to race both on deck and down below”. Terry also enjoys the competition within the class explaining, “no matter where you race them there are always good sailors on the race course.” Prior to the start, they made sure they had the correct shroud tuning and best jib for current conditions. In variable conditions they found it was better to be a bit loose on the rig tension, so they weren’t too tight in the lulls. Like most good sailors, Terry typically planned to win the favored end of the starting line. “At the NA’s the lines were usually quite square so it was more important to decide what side of the course you favored. In the windier races, we didn’t push the line too hard knowing that we had good speed in those conditions.“ © Chris Howell “There were some teams that were also fast downwind so we had to be at our best. As the wind comes up, there is a point that you have to put the bow up to get it to plane. The vang is sensitive on the J/105, so we focused on sailing with less vang while soaking in our low-mode, which is something we wouldn’t have previously done. Our crew weight is always at max weight. It doesn’t take much to be overpowered. The rudder is quite large, so I try to keep the rudder movements small, but if its too small the bow has tendencies to go down. Having my crew understand when they need to lean in and out to hike when the pressure comes is important.” Terry said that his team improved mostly on vang tension downwind. They were much more sensitive to it this time around, and he noticed a difference in boat speed and how they could sail lower angles much faster. © Chris Howell Mandate’s worst race was a third in race seven. “We went for the RC boat-end of the line, which we thought was slightly favored, despite the fact that we liked the left side of the course. We were never able to get left enough after that and had to fight back all race to salvage a third.” We asked Terry what the hardest part of the event was for his team. He mentioned; “Bruce Stone’s Gryphon was good right from the start of the regatta. Bruce and Nicole are both very experienced J/105 sailors and know how to make the boat go well in just about anything. Bill Zartler’s Deja Voodoo got stronger every day .” © Chris Howell For the most part, Terry’s team sailed clean and stayed out of trouble. They’ve spent a lot of time together racing the J/105, and they can feel when the boat needs something to improve speed. “My crew is very willing to hike hard, which is key to speed,” Terry said. Mandate was powered by a new main, Li-5 3Di light air and Mi-4 All Purpose Jib, and runner kite. “The two 3Di Jibs looked really good. Both had nice, straight exits.” Terry’s Tips: Sail with a consistent crew. Form a group of seven or eight crew members that you can count on to be available most of the time. Have your tuning numbers on hand. Putting together a tuning guide for the shrouds that is very extensive is key. Get to know what the right “look” is for the forestay sag, leeward mast sag, and leeward shroud tension. Have Fun & Ask Questions. Ask questions to those who are out front. We all have things to share. Everyone is willing to help out. Interested in North Sails J/105 products? Call your local expert today. Full Results © Chris Howell © Chris Howell READ MORE

CUSTOMER SPOTLIGHT: BRITANNIA YACHT CLUB BYC Cruise Week On The Ottawa River Dear North Sails, Thank you for your support during “Cruise Week”, a 30+ year-old, family-friendly tradition at Britannia Yacht Club in Ottawa. This event is a mid-summer, multi-day flotilla on the Ottawa River, which offers us 25 NM of ever-changing wind and a half-dozen rural anchorages. Cruise Week serves these purposes: Mentor new or inexperienced sailors in navigating the Ottawa River. Meet new friends (new club members/boat owners, or first-time participants). Catch up with long-time friends. Cruise Week 2018 (July 15-20) was another fun week in the sun and great heat - temperatures exceeded 30C every day. Eighteen boats joined the fleet, and crews were a diverse mix: new and experienced sailors, people who cruise and race here and in other parts of the world, racers, delivery crew, and world circumnavigators. As in past years, Cruise Week started Sunday afternoon with an onshore BBQ at Pinhey’s Point, about 10nm upriver from BYC. At the BBQ, we handed out North Sails beverage cozies and sunglass keepers to start things off on a fun note – these items were put to work immediately: We shared a variety of appetizers and caught up over a great meal. The World Quyon Bocce tournament trophy was displayed proudly, and the 2nd edition of the Nautical Skills Challenge was issued: those who complete any 3 skills such as heaving to, 2 COB drills (under sail), and reefing/shake the reef, are awarded prizes. Here’s our watered and fed group at the BBQ – thank you, North Sails, for the swag and the flag! Long into the evening, socializing continued on several boats. On Monday, the fleet drifted downwind to Baskin’s Beach in a 6-8kn east wind. Several boats completed some of the items on the nautical skills checklist. After lunch, a swim, and a snooze, we headed ashore for the World Quyon Bocce tournament. It was an afternoon of spocking, kissing, and lagging, and the competition was fierce! As teams were eliminated, they were given North Sails swag, such as water bottles, belts, and frisbees, to ease their pain. Storm clouds rolled in as we concluded the awards ceremony. Those North Sails hats kept our sailors dry! After dinner, socializing resumed throughout the fleet. On Tuesday, the fleet made the 5 NM skip to Mohr Island. The 16-20kn west wind made for a fun beat, with 28-30kn gusts to keep us on our toes. Our North Sails sunglass keepers came in handy, and a couple boats kept their mainsails securely reefed with their new North Sails sail ties. We spent the afternoon swimming and relaxing, resting up for a raft-up Happy Hour: a “blind” wine tasting. We sampled a variety, mostly reds. However, the final bottle puzzled everyone – was it spiced rum? Sherry? Revealing a bottle of Canadian Club stunned the group and provided lots of laughs. North Sails beer cozies also fit stemless wine glasses! On Wednesday, wind direction and whim dictated that it was worth staying at Mohr Island another evening. A few boats made the 4 NM zip up to Quyon for a few provisions. Happy Hour was another raft-up. By this point in the week, we’re quite a good-looking group with our North Sails hats and shirts! We shared many laughs and stories over a variety of appetizers and beverages. On Thursday, the group headed back downriver to PInhey’s Point for more swimming and relaxing, and the grand finale - scotch tasting. Thanks to your support, we had great prizes to hand out for special moments such as these: MacGyver award - a North Sails T-shirt – for Wind Song’s creativity in replacing a broken oar lock with one made of rope. Long-distance swimming award – North Sails hat and T-shirt – to Somerled, for completing a nearly 1-NM swim before breakfast one morning. Cruising with Pets award – a North Sails hat and T-shirt – to Emotional Rescue, for bringing their pet parrot, Purdy. Good Samaritan award – North Sails sail ties – to Spallpeen, for siphoning fuel to give to Grande Dame for their dinghy. Persistence award – North Sails sail ties - to Grande Dame, for making the 2NM dinghy ride in a 15kn headwind to get more fuel. Old School nav skills award – North Sails sail ties – to Casual Elegance, for depth-sounding with a lead line the entire week, because their depth sounder was broken. Life in the “Faast” Lane – North Sails t-shirt – to KnotFaast (a trawler), for spontaneously deciding to join us on the last night. Welcome Back to the Ottawa Riviera award – North sails shirt and book bundle, and hat – to Veritas, who years ago, used to host a brunch for the Cruise Week fleet, and after several years away, are back at BYC. Nautical Challenge winners: boats who completed the skills were rewarded for their efforts. North Sails T-shirts and hats were awarded to Casual Elegance and Emotional Rescue. The Grand Prize from North Sails, a bucket full of goodies, was special. In the spirit of the 2018 Golden Globe race, we honoured Jay, who successfully single-handed his boat the entire week. He was delighted to receive the Grand Prize, which included a hat, shirt, water bottle, and much more! Over the week, new-found friendships and long-term friendships strengthened, and we had many laughs together. The people make it great, and support from North Sails made it even better. Many thanks again for supporting our club’s tradition. Sincerely, Catherine Trinkwon Britannia Yacht Club Cruise Week Coordinator READ MORE

MELGES 32 WORLD LEAGUE EVENT #3 North Powers Giogi To Success At Lake Garda © Barracuda Communications July has been a successful month for North Sails expert Giulio Desiderato. After his second place finish in Porto Cervo with the Melges 40 team Stig, he won the J/70 Italian Championship on Calvi Network as mainsail trimmer. He has now claimed another victory after winning the Melges 32 European Division Event #3 last weekend with Matteo Balestrero’s Giogi. Giogi secured the lead after day one and the team was unstoppable throughout the remainder of the event; placing first overall out of 16 teams. We caught up with Giulio to get his thoughts after starting the 2018 season off with a bang. ©Zerogradinord / Mauro Melandri “Teamwork is the most important factor that allowed us to do well at the Melges 32 event,” Giulio remarked. “We are a strong motivated group of sailors, and Matteo is a seasoned driver who has great feel for the helm and drives the boat very well in all conditions.” The team manager, trimmer and North Sails colleague Federico Michetti kept the team’s focus on being first across the line. Tactician Branko Brcin answered the call with great positioning on the race course which gave Giogi ample opportunity to succeed. Powered by a full suit of 3Di, the team had all the ingredients for a winning recipe. © Barracuda Communications “This regatta came down to the last few races,” Giulio explained. “Our competition was very close, but we were able to sail faster and stay ahead to hold onto first place. Our starts and speed upwind and downwind were very good. We also worked the boat well, and executed our maneuvers as we wanted, which is not something everyone is able to do 100% of the time.” As avid one design racer, Giulio also serves as a North Sails Class Leader for multiple boats within the Melges range. “I’m super happy with this result on Giogi and really proud to race with my various teams,” commented Giulio. “North Sails is doing an excellent job in these Melges classes, and I can see that our clients are sailing well and satisfied. It’s not only good to see, but also gives me motivation to do well in future events.” © Zerogradinord / Mauro Melandri Giogi will now turn their focus to preparing for their next Melges 32 World League event at the end of this month. “To prepare for our next regatta, we will get the team together to talk about the things we can do to improve,” Giulio explained. “We always have a brainstorming session after events to get our thoughts and ideas out there so our team as a whole can deliberate.” “We are very proud to win this event. Forza Giogi!” Interested in North Sails Melges 32 Products? Shop all sails. Full Results © Zerogradinord / Mauro Melandri © Barracuda Communications © Barracuda Communications READ MORE

TIM HEALY’S TAKEAWAYS FROM MARBLEHEAD Tim’s Suggested Inventory For The 2018 World Championship Marblehead is an open-water venue that can often have flat water, swells and chop. My headsail of choice for this particular venue is North’s J-2 High Clew jib. It features a powerful shape for conditions seen in Marblehead, and has proven itself after winning four World Championships as a great option. The high clew allows for more efficient in-hauling over the cabin top and is easy to trim out of the box. We used the J-2 for practice leading up to and during the NOOD regatta, and our trim settings became noticeably fast. By the end of the regatta we had excellent upwind speed in the lumpy sea-state. I recommend the J-2 High Clew jib as your best headsail option for the Worlds. Our Race-Winning Settings: (6-10 knots) Lead Positioning: 5.5 – 6 holes in front of car In-Hauling: Clew positioned right at the cabin house Sheet Tension: Use sheet tension to control the twist, keeping the upper leech telltale flowing 100% of the time. We used the new XCS-2 Mainsail which features the same championship winning shape of the XCS-1 mainsail, with some minor updates. The AP-1 Dynakote Asymmetric is also ideal for Marblehead’s choppy conditions. When we were in displacement mode (under 10 knots) we needed power and the ability to trim. The Dynakote material is more forgiving and absorbs the shock from the unforgiving sea-state making it easier to trim and easier to sail lower angles at a faster pace. These two sails paired with our tuning guide will make your Worlds experience easier and faster out of the box. Contact Tim if you have any questions on how you can up the level of your program and get maximum performance this year at the World Championship. We caught up with Ray and Jenn Wulff, who placed first in Corinthian division using Tim’s suggested inventory. Here is what they had to say about their experience using North Sails and how it impacted their weekend performance. “As a corinthian team, we don’t have a lot of time to tune and practice before events. At the Marblehead NOOD, we pulled a set of North Sails out of the bag, having never seen them before. We followed the tuning guide provided, and had a fantastic regatta. The North Team put the time in to create a fantastic guide that makes it easy to go from the office to the race course with confidence. North’s J/70 sails are user friendly, forgiving, and easy to set up. Hard to beat that!” -Ray & Jenn, Joint Custody READ MORE

RECORD NUMBERS AT THE SOLO UK NATIONALS Tuning Tips with Winner Charlie Cumbley A record 104 Solos entered this year’s National Championship at Hayling Island Sailing Club for five days of ideal sailing conditions. The two-month heatwave continued and a sail from the sandy beaches of Hayling Island on the outskirts of the Solent was the perfect place for this year’s National Championship. With the UK team back from the Nations Cup in Lake Garda, there were some hot contenders for the National title, including Nations Cup podium finishers Charlie Cumbley and Tim Law. Laser Radial sailor Ellie Cumpsty was competing with the men (the Solo is a traditionally very male dominated class) and in a podium position, until the last day when an unfortunate stream of BFDs pushed her into 13th place overall. Ellie won the First Lady Helm award. Going into the last day of racing Charlie Cumbley had scored four bullets already, enough to secure him the title. The fight between Tim Law and Pete Mitchell was still on. Both scored a mid fleet results in the penultimate race and a BFD to finish off the regatta, so both were unsure if they had made the podium. Although their score lines were nearly doubled from the penultimate race which they had to count, their previous results were enough to put Pete in second and Tim in third. We spoke to Tim Law who not only finished third, but at 62 years old qualifies as a Grand Master in the fleet. Here’s what he had to say about racing and his North P-2 Mainsail. ‘I predominately sail Lasers so when I enter Solo events I typically have little time for pre-event preparation. I tend to go to North Sails who do spend a great deal of time and effort on sail development in the Solo class. I recently purchased their latest design, the P-2 in order to compete in both the recent Nations Cup on Lake Garda in predominantly strong winds and the Nationals off Hayling Island which experienced Medium to light winds. There is no doubt in my mind that I had the best boatspeed both upwind and downwind that I have ever manage to achieve in a Solo to date. The sail shape provides plenty of power when needed but can also be depowered easily when required in a stronger breeze.’ If you are interested in the P-2 sail or want to get some more advice from our Solo Class experts then get in touch today! Tuning tips with Charlie Cumbley READ MORE

Encomende agora para entrega no Outono Faça a sua encomenda entre 1 de Agosto e 31 de Outubro Entrega das velas entre 1 de Outubro - 30 de Novembro Termos & Condições: Promoção válida para todas as velas one design entregues na América do Norte e Europa. Exclui classes Grand Prix One Design. As encomendas devem ser feitas até ao dia 31 de Outubro de 2018 e as velas serão entregues entre Outubro e Novembro ou assim que a encomenda esteja completa. Esta campanha não é acumulável com outros descontos/ promoções. É necessário 50% de pagamento na confirmação e o restante valor antes do envio das velas. READ MORE

Objednej si nyní pro podzimní dodávku Objednejte si v termínu od 1. srpna do 31. října Plachty budou dodávány od 1. října do 30. listopadu Akce je platná pro všechny One Design plachty dodávané v Severní Americe a Evropě. Nezahrnuje třídy Grand Prix One Design. Objednávky musí být doručeny do 31. října 2018 a plachty budou dodávány v říjnu a v listopadu tohoto roku. Tuto nabídku nelze kombinovat s jinou slevou / propagací. Při objednávce je třeba zaplatit 50% zálohu, zbývající část před dodáním plachty. READ MORE

Bestill nNå For Levering I Høst Plaser din ordre mellom 1. august og 31. oktober Seilene blir levert mellom første oktober og 30. november Terms & Conditions: Tilbudet gjelder alle en-type klasser bortsett fra Grand Prix One Design. Din ordre må være inne, innen 31. oktober 2018. Seilene vil bli levert i oktober og november eller når ordren er komplett. Dette tilbudet kan ikke kombineres med andre rabatter. Betalingsbetingelsene er 50% ved bestilling, resten ved levering. READ MORE

WK zeezeilen Den Haag Beau Geste pakt de wereldtitel! 📸 Sander van der Borch / www.sandervanderborch.com 85 teams streden in juli 2018 op de Noordzee voor de kust van Den Haag tijdens allereerste gecombineerde IRC/ORC wereldkampioenschap zeezeilen. Crew van in totaal 85 zeiljachten, variërend van 9 tot 20 meter, vochten in drie verschillende klassen om de titel. De meeste teams hadden voor het evenement een flinke bak aan ervaring aan boord gehaald, de felle concurrentiestrijd op het water liet weinig ruimte voor fouten. Het evenement startte met enorm licht weer; voor de specialisten op dat gebied een uitgelezen test om te kijken of ze in deze omstandigheden meteen de leiding konden nemen. De start van de race was door deze omstandigheden weinig spectaculair maar daarna werden de uitdagingen voor de teams des te groter. In klasse A was Beau Geste de hele week al in extreem goede vorm en claimde uiteindelijk ook de winst en titel. "Het was een spectaculaire week hier in Den Haag en we zijn ontzettend blij met ons resultaat," reageert Karl Kwok, de eigenaar van Beau Geste. We spraken met North Sails designer Dave Lenz, tacticus aan boord van Karl Kwok's Beau Geste over het geheim achter dit succes: "Het uitpluizen van de nieuwe handicap IRC/ORC regels en het optimaliseren van boot voor dit WK was echt de basis van ons succes hier. De boot was in optimale conditie gebracht en de voorbereiding was goed. De snelheid van de boot was perfect en het team draaide als een geoliede machine. Hierdoor konden we continu voorin meevaren." Beau Geste was uitgerust met 3Di zeilen, Lenz en trimmer Dave Swete waren onder de indruk: "De sterke maar toch lichte zeilen maken de zeilwisselingen aan boord een stuk eenvoudiger tijdens dit soort wedstrijden, heel erg geschikt voor IRC/ORC racing." Hun geheime wapen voor de offshore races was de Helix Luff Code Zero. Team Van Uden - 📸 Sander van der Borch / www.sandervanderborch.com Het Nederlandse Team Van Uden, ook uitgerust met North Sails werd nipt derde, met één punt voorsprong op de Nederlandse boot Hitchhiker. Gerd-Jan Poortman, ervaren Volvo Ocean Race zeiler, coachte het jonge team samen met Lobke Berkhout naar het podium. Poortman is dik tevreden. “Al hebben we het onszelf nog wel een beetje moeilijk gemaakt vandaag," geeft hij toe na de laatste race. "We zeiden vanmorgen nog, je moet zeker niet te vroeg starten en domme dingen doen, wat doen we: te vroeg starten.” Op de van Uden varen voornamelijk jonge zeilers die worden opgeleid op grote boten te varen. Poortman is een van de coaches aan boord. “Die te vroege start is dan toch een beetje de onervarenheid in het team, ze willen te graag winnen en drukken dan te hard. Het mooie is wel dat iedereen vervolgens in de hyerfocus zat, zoals ik dat dan noem. Er werd de hele race geen woord gezegd, het was alleen maar kei en keihard varen.” Stuurman Hans van Dam zit sinds de start van dit project, begin vorig seizoen, in het team. “Het is heel cool om tussen die professionele zeilers te varen deze week, en ze ook nog eens deels te verslaan. We worden door hen echt gepusht om steeds beter te varen. Deze week hebben we dan ook veel stappen gemaakt, vandaag waren we echt beter dan aan het begin van de week. We gaan steeds harder, de boothandling wordt steeds beter en de starts gaan ook beter. Op die van vandaag na dan...” J Lance 12 - 📸 Sander van der Borch / www.sandervanderborch.com Gideon Messink, won met de, met North Sails uitgeruste zeilen J Lance 12 in Klasse C. De J/112e domineerde de wedstrijd en ging er met de eerste prijs overall vandoor. Voor het team is dit het tweede grote succes nadat ze de Europese Kampioenschappen IRC wonnen een paar maanden geleden (J Lance 12 crowned IRC Europan Champion). Bekijk hier de highlights van het WK Zeezeilen Den Haag vanuit de lucht door Wiebe de Jager! Bekijk hier het uitslagen van het WK Zeezeilen Den Haag READ MORE

OFFSHORE WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP Beau Geste Crowned Overall Champion 📸 Sander van der Borch / www.sandervanderborch.com Eighty-five teams competed on the North Sea in the first-ever IRC/ORC Offshore World Championship in The Hague. Yachts ranging between nine to 20 meters battled for podium space across three classes in this highly competitive regatta. Close racing left little room for errors throughout the week of varying conditions and race courses. In the end, Karl Kwok’s Beau Geste was named World Champion; a title they credit with being well prepared and executing spot-on boat handling. “Understanding the handicap rule, and then optimizing the boat was key to our success in The Hague,” commented Dave Lenz, North Sails designer, and Beau Geste tactician. “It is quite a challenge to get a boat optimized for IRC/ORC racing. You have to run your ideas through simulations in advance, where you’ll often find there are conflicts. Some rules favor a certain boat setup, and identifying potential gains and losses ahead of time helps us make well-informed decisions.” Lenz was also quick to point out the strength of the Beau Geste crew. “It was my first time racing with this team, and I was impressed by the collection of experience and expertise onboard. Team captain Gavin Brady is a great leader and was on the helm all week. Our hardest part of racing was fending off second place Outsider who was close to matching our boat speed. The crew did a great job staying focused, especially when we had to execute some match racing skills to fend off Outsider.” Fellow North Sails expert Dave Swete has been with Beau Geste for five years and joined Lenz onboard as lead-grinder. Both Swete and Lenz expressed their satisfaction in the boat’s 3Di inventory, and agree the sails were light, easy to handle and well matched for IRC/ORC sailing. Beau Geste’s secret weapon offshore was the 3Di Helix Luff Code Zero. “Our new Helix Luff Code Zero proved handy and performed well in the offshore race,” said Lenz. “It can be tough using a Code sail between a spinnaker and jib when you need to cover a wide range. I feel that the Helix Code did just that in an offshore race which gave us 100 and 110-TWA. Our North Sails Helix Code was the perfect option with a lot of breeze.” Beau Geste works closely with the North Sails team in New Zealand and designer Magnus Doole. “Our owner Karl highlighted that he wanted to win the event, so we knew getting a jump on our closest competition was critical,” reflects Swete. “There was a lot to consider each race because we needed to perform well under the two rating systems. Magnus and the team in New Zealand did a great job getting the boat exactly what she needed. We are feeling pretty good after our accomplishment at the Worlds.” 📸 Sander van der Borch / www.sandervanderborch.com Van Uden’s bowman, calling distance to the line 📸 Sander van der Borch / www.sandervanderborch.com In a tough battle for third place in Class A with Van Uden, Hitchhiker finished fourth, still sailing a great week with seven finishes within the top five. 📸 Sander van der Borch / www.sandervanderborch.com To find out more information on IRC/ORC Ratings and how teams were scored at the Worlds, click here. Full Results Offshore World Championship Class A 1 Beau Geste / Karl Kwok 3 Van Uden / Gerdjan Poortman Class B 3 Olympic / Tiit Vihul Class C 1 J Lance 12 / Giddeon Messink 3 Pro4u / Patrik Forsgren * Denotes Partial North Sails Inventory READ MORE

NUR NORTH SAILS AUF DEM PODEST DES EURO CUP ESSE 850! Leider fanden sich in diesem Jahr nur 15 Boote in Malcesine ein, um vom 20.07. – 22.07.18 ihren Gardasee Meister zu küren. Trotzdem tat die ‘Fraglia Vela Malcesine’ wiederum alles, damit wir uns rundum wohl fühlen und viel segeln konnten. Dies war allerdings nicht immer einfach, da die Wetterlage sehr instabil war. Nach dem Briefing am Freitag konnte pünktlich um 13.00 das erste Race bei schwacher Ora (Südwind) gesegelt werden. Dieses gewann Alain Marchand auf ‘OttoCinqueDue’. Den zweiten Lauf entschied Daniel Schroff auf ‘sail NORTH’ für sich. Ein drittes Rennen musste abgebrochen werden und wir wurden angewiesen, schnell in den Hafen zu fahren, da ein Gewitter mit Blitz, Donner und Regen im Anmarsch war. Der Samstag ging im gleichen Stil weiter: Wir fuhren für einen Start um 9.00 h mit starkem Vento (Nordwind) raus, doch wurden noch in der Vorstartphase wieder reingeschickt, da die nächste Wetterfront kam. Danach konnten 3 Läufe mit zu Beginn noch recht starkem Nordwind gesegelt werden, wobei dies kein richtiger Vento mehr war, da die Richtung nicht ganz stimmte. Die Sieger der Läufe 3, 4 und 5: Alain Marchand, Clemens Wiedemann auf ‘Maitresse’ und Franz Schollmayer auf ‘Firlefranz’. Ein 4. Lauf konnte an diesem Tag nicht mehr gesegelt werden, da es am Nachmittag nochmals ein sehr starkes und langes Gewitter gab. Die vielen unterschiedlichen Sieger zeigen übrigens, wie eng alles in der Klasse geworden ist: Heute fahren alle schnell und hoch und es entscheidet sich nur noch an Kleinigkeiten, ob man siegt oder verliert. Am Sonntag ging es wieder am Morgen raus. Das Wetter hatte sich beruhigt und so wehte um 9.00 h ein sehr starker Vento. Am besten zurecht mit den Verhältnissen kam noch einmal Franz Schollmayer, danach gewann Julien Monnier auf ‘Zebrabox’ den Lauf Nummer 7, der am zweiten Luvfass abgekürzt werden musste, da der Wind einschlief. Ganz knapp haben es noch alle ins Ziel geschafft. Eigentlich dachten alle, wir fahren nun in den Hafen und warten auf die Ora. Doch nichts da, wir konnten gleich ins ‘Ora-Startgebiet’ fahren, wo bald zum 8. und letzten Race bei schwacher Ora gestartet wurde, welches nochmals Alain Marchand für sich entscheiden konnte. Somit sicherte er sich auch den Gesamtsieg vor Röbi Hartmann auf ‘blanc sur blanc’, der zwar keinen Laufsieg aufweisen konnte, doch sehr konstant immer vorne mit dabei war und Julien Monnier, alle drei Boote mit North Sails ausgestattet! Wir gratulieren herzlich und danken für das Vertrauen, denn von den 15 teilnehmenden Booten waren deren 11 komplett mit North Sails ausgestattet. Rangliste READ MORE

HARD WORKS NETS POSITIVE RESULTS Refocused Efforts Paying Off in the 2018 52 Super Series 📸52 Super Series The TP52 fleet is coming off the Rolex TP52 World Championship in Cascais, Portugal last week where North Sails powered four of the top five boats. The TP52s have one of the most competitive circuits in sailing today, and require the most progressive sail technology and design. A few years ago North Sails recognized an opportunity to improve results and their 52 market share by doubling down their efforts within the class. North designers Mickey Ickert and Juan Meseguer are both deeply involved in the development of North’s TP52 products and use events like the Worlds to see first hand the feedback they’re getting from the trimmers. Mickey and Juan are in agreement that the last few years of hard work are evident this season. “There is no question that the communication and cooperation within the North Grand Prix designers has gotten even better,” said Juan. “Our design group is more effectively applying our use of software and data to help guide the design process and deliver performance information to trimmers. This is coupled with introducing 3Di RAW 880, the highest performance, most carbon dense sail developed specifically for the TP52. The key indicator of the performance shift is North clients are sailing with a lot of confidence this season.” Three events down and two remain in the 2018 52 Super Series circuit. The season to date has been positive, but the results do not surprise Mickey. “North Sails has put a lot of smart people and powerful tools towards the TP52 fleet. You have to believe all that hard work will pay off and that’s what we’re seeing now. I really think the North 3Di product continues to show why it’s so good, especially towards the end of the season where the sail cards will be limited. It would not come as a huge shock to see two North powered boats on the podium in the Series overall results.” 📸52 Super Series The final day of 2018 Worlds saw the two top ranked owner-driver teams of Sled and Alegre going head to head with Alegre coming up a winner. Azzurra and Quantum Racing, the two top pro-driver teams, went to battle through the final racing in a who-beat-who for the World Championship crown. A special congratulations to Andy Soriano’s Alegre who not only won the owner driver award, but collected their first Super Series podium finish this season. “The results from Cascais reflect the experience of the veterans teams, and their boat handling in the winder conditions,” commented Mickey. “Sled and Alegre both have very strong owner-drivers who have pushed their teams to the top limits. During the event someone commented that the gap between the owner-driver and fully pro teams is getting smaller and smaller. This is a great credit to the owners who keep improving their skills and building teams of great sailors.” 📸52 Super Series 📸52 Super Series 📸52 Super Series READ MORE

CUSTOMER SPOTLIGHT: KINGSTON YACHT CLUB Kingston Yacht Club Hosts 2018 Eastern Yachting Circuit Kingston Yacht Club hosted the 2018 Eastern Yachting Circuit for a weekend of racing with over 300 participants. Sixty-one boats registered for the weekend with 56-crossing the starting line in four PHRF Divisions and a Shark fleet. Thursday July 12th saw the long distance race take place - 20 nm total, including the circumnavigation of Melville Shoal, Simcoe Island and Bayfield shoal. A one-hour postponement occurred due to light air and then the infamous Kingston 9-11 kt thermal fired up. The lead boats finished in four hours! Course racing began on Friday July 13th, continuing through the 14th. Five course races of approximately four nautical miles were completed over the two days with winds ranging from four knots to 11 knots from the West-Southwest. All five divisions enjoyed sailing the same windward-leeward course. A great time was had by all participants and volunteers throughout the event. North Sails Toronto was happy to contribute to the weekend of fun for racers. Congratulations to all competitors and podium finishers! Eastern Yachting Circuit Long Distance PHRF 1 Warpaint PHRF II Blaze PHRF IV Casual PHRF V Maia Sharks Shanti Overall Warpaint Couse Racing PHRF I Long Time Running PHRF II Cara Mia V PHRF III Casual PHRF IV Maia Sharks JONATHAN LIVINGSTON SEAGULL * Denotes Partial North Sails Inventory READ MORE

J/70 UK NATIONALS Mark Lees and team win the J/70 UK Nationals with a fresh set of North Sails The 2018 National Championship saw the growing J/70 fleet at its full strength, with thirty-five boats entered for the 3-day event held by the Royal Southern Yacht Club. With light winds in the forecast for the weekend, there was high hopes for the Solent seabreeze. Fortunately PRO Stuart Childerley delayed racing each day guaranteeing great afternoon racing in the summer seabreezes. Mark Lees onboard SeriousFun with his young team were crowned 2018 UK National Champions after ten races, with a lead of 20 points and four bullets. They raced on a brand new boat with new North sails straight off the shelf the day before the regatta. In second place overall was reigning J/111 World Champions, Martin Dent with his team onboard Jelvis and rounding off the podium in third place was Doug Struth’s DSP who were also first corinthian team. All three top teams were powered by North! We caught up with Mark Lees to learn more about their experience: Brand new boat and brand new team – What did you do to make sure the boat was ready for racing? Not a lot! We only got the boat the day before the regatta and didn’t expect to be ready in time. The forecast was for a light weekend and we thought it would be a good chance to shake the boat down. We made sure we checked the rig setup thoroughly and went into the racing with very open minds. To have the boat go as well as it did was a very pleasant surprise. Why North Sails? Which models did you use? When starting out in a new class I thought it was important to reduce as many variables as possible. I have a good relationship with the guys at North Sails from previous campaigns and they advised which sails most of the fleet were using – the whole process couldn’t have been easier. We used the XCS-1 mainsail, J-6 Jib and AP-1 spinnaker. Did you follow the North Sails Tuning Guide? We started off bang on the North guide and didn’t stray too much. We thought we were on the lighter side as a crew so we changed up a little earlier than the guide. The J/70 is not the only class you sail, what experience did you bring from Etchells to the J/70? The basics are key. As mentioned we weren’t as well prepared for this event as we would have liked. We didn’t put pressure on ourselves with any expectations, which was definitely an advantage, but we focused very hard on the basics. We followed the tuning guide, we started well – choosing a side of the course and then aiming for a clean start in that half of the line but away from the pack. From there we tried to keep it simple and fought hard to stay in clear air. Tell us a little about your team onboard I had a fantastic team of close friends and very good sailors. My girlfriend Hannah Peters has been doing a lot of J/70 sailing recently which really helped us. It was fantastic for us to sail together. Toby Mumford used to match race with me and we’ve sailed together for a long time. He’s good for me as he always gives an honest opinion about how I am sailing – good or bad! Annabel Vose, our tactician, who I have sailed with and against many times. She did a great job this weekend and made my life a lot easier. There are a lot of very good sailors in this fleet so I’m glad she was on our boat! This is a testimonial to not only Mark and his team’s racing skill but also to the production and consistency of the boats and the sails. Here at North Sails we pride ourselves in our worldwide consistency in the production of our One Design sails and Mark’s win is a true testimonial to this. Congratulations to Mark and team SeriousFun. To find out more about the North Sails tuning guide or to speak to one of our J/70 experts, head to the class page! J/70 UK Nationals 2018 1 SeriousFun / Mark Lees 2 Jelvis / Martin Dent 3 DSP / Doug Struth 5 Calypso / Calascione/ Ripard 6 Eat,Sleep,J,Repeat / Paul Ward 7 Sorcha J / Peter Harrison 8 JDog / John Greenland 9* Darcey / Clive Bush * Denotes Partial North Sails Inventory Full results READ MORE

Classic Regatan aikaan päivystämme kilpailupaikalla ja purjeneulomolla ovat ovet kiinni. Purjeiden noudot, toimitukset ja varaosat onnistuvat etukäteen puhelmessa- tai sähköpostilla sopimalla. mikko.rottluff@northsails.com 02 2753 050 READ MORE

MY FIRST TIME ON A VX ONE How Mike Marshall sailed a VX for the first time and won 7 out 8 races After hopping in a VX One for the first time at the 2018 Newport Regatta, I wasn’t sure what to expect. Lucky for me, I had a great crew in Jeff Eiber, whose boat USA 175 we were sailing. He was able to get the initial tuning in place so that I could spend the regatta getting to know the boat and what makes it go fast. Because we had winds from 4 to 15 knots, I got to experience the VX One in a wide range of conditions. What transpired was a lot of falling down in the back of the boat, a lot of getting tangled up in lines, and a whole lot of learning coupled with a whole lot of fun. “The VX One rewards the fundamentals of sailing” -That’s my catchphrase for this boat. What does it mean? It means that the VX One rewards clear air, good boat handling, clean starts, great boat balance, hard work, and letting the boat talk to you about what it needs – in short, the basics of sailboat racing. VANG ON As expected, sailing this boat flat is the key upwind, but you also need to be able to put the bow down. There are two solutions to this problem: Add weight to the rail or pull the vang on and hike. Since the boat is very weight-sensitive and more weight hurts you downwind, the best solution is to use the vang, and a lot of it. On the windiest day, with 15 knots, I pulled the vang as hard as I could get it. This allowed me to ease the sheet to stop the boat from heeling while still maintaining the leech tension for point. Consequently, I was able to put the bow down and get the boat sailing flat while keeping the leech engaged and forcing the boat upwind. For a short-cord keelboat, the faster you go, the better the foil works, and therefore the boat slides to leeward less, but at the same time the boat also “releases.” By this I mean that it frees up and becomes easier to sail. Small rudder movements do more to change the boat’s direction instead of just creating drag. The mainsheet becomes easier to play because instead of having to dump and trim 6 feet of sheet, you have to play only 1 to 2 feet. The increase in speed powers the boat through waves instead of having the feeling that you’re hitting them and bouncing off. All this means that you can spend more time going fast and less time worrying about your speed relative to other boats. The key to the whole mix is the vang. Whenever I felt the boat bound up, I’d try pulling on a little more vang, and off we’d go again. This was true even in the lighter air. RIG TUNE Another piece of the puzzle was the rig tune. Thankfully, Jeff did most of the work here, but by the end of the event, I had asked enough questions that I was starting to understand what he was looking for. In any condition going upwind, he’d start from a base setting and observe the leeward upper. He was looking for it to be just going slack. Then I’d trim the main in harder than I normally would, and we’d look for over-bend wrinkles. Jeff wanted the large wrinkles from the spreader to be traveling about half way down to the clew of the sail. If they extended more than that, he’d tighten both lowers the same amount. If the wrinkles extended less than that, he’d ease off the lowers. This procedure kept the main looking flat enough in the breeze and full enough in light air. As for the base setting, Jeff would always set the boat up for the lightest wind that we were expecting during that particular race. STAY OUT OF THE BACK OF THE BOAT Next on my list of things learned was to stay out of the back of the boat. This lesson applied to doing anything, not just normal sailing. It was so easy to get too far back in the boat in a gybe, but that would simply stop us. The same was true for tacks, although they were a bit less critical. Staying out of the back rewarded us with good roll tacks and good roll gybes. And the reward didn’t just come from rolling hard or staying forward. It came from exiting the tack or the gybe at the correct angle so that the boat would power up right away. Upwind, if you’re too low, you’ll give up boat lengths, whereas if you’re too high, the boat will stop. The same concept holds when sailing downwind, but in the opposite direction whereby giving up boat lengths comes from being too high. FIND A CLEAR LANE In virtually all sailboat racing, you need to sail in a clear lane, but doing so was particularly important for our VX One. Because we were light on crew weight (350 lbs.), we needed to be very careful about having a heavy boat above us that could roll us or a light boat to leeward with insufficient vang on that was pinching. With a clear lane, we could fall into our bow-down mode, and within three boat lengths, we were the same point as the boats around us, by going faster than they were and in turn sliding sideways less. In closing, I want to give a plug to the VX One. It’s really fun to sail. Hike hard and try to be as fast as possible all the time, and the boat will reward you in spades. With luck, I’ll get back out on a VX One soon. I’m just hoping that the next time will be in 15+ knots with the spinnaker flying! Learn more about the North Sails fast VX sails. READ MORE

LAKE ONTARIO 300: A TRUE TEST Powered By North Sails, Team Blast Battled In Grueling Conditions The Test of Time After three plus days of offshore racing and over 300 miles traveled, Team Blast endured one of the toughest tests of perseverance and tenacity that the annual Lake Ontario 300 Challenge (LO300) could throw at them. For 29 years, the LO300 has been the hallmark event for extreme and committed sailors around North America; a pilgrimage for those enticed for long distance racing in the midst of July, giving sailors a measurable challenge to circumnavigate 300+ miles around the waters of Lake Ontario. For the crew of Team Blast, this years LO300 will be one not forgotten. With the lack of breeze, emotional highs and lows, starting in 1st to 6th to 2nd, and not to mention battling with fatigue and discovering new species of bugs the size of small birds. This race was one of the toughest yet for Team Blast. The Race: “A Constant Uphill Battle” Prior to starting, the wind forecast called for showers throughout the day on Saturday with 0-3 knots and not showing to pick up until Monday evening to 10-15 knots with the potential of severe thunderstorms. The crew knew this scenario very well, as specializing in light breeze has become a common occurrence for the crew on Lake Ontario. This meant there was a potential for periods of zero breeze. To combat this, the team knew their brand new custom A2 spinnaker would be their secret weapon, along with a new 3Di main sail. This, with their laser focus mentality to never give up, no matter how light the breeze, would take them through the race. On their first leg they were able to jump into the lead heading downwind along the rum line to Oswego. By the time they arrived, their position swapped to sixth place around Main Duck then they clawed their way back to second and held it to the finish. The team is very pleased with the result, considering the conditions they endured. Words from Blast helmsman Mike Hasko describe the teams friendship and dedication to the race: “What made me most proud was that even during the most difficult (drifting backwards, melting on deck from heat) moments, not once was their mention of giving up and retiring. While turning on the engine and motoring back to air conditioning and work commitments would have be an easy out, the fact that we were determined to finish made me proud to call you friends and be part of Team Blast.” The Aftermath So the inevitable question is asked, “Will Team Blast be returning next year for another go around the lake?” Right after every LO300 the grimacing answer is often “Please never again.” However after several days - the answer almost always changes to the later, with a positive yes. As the team members of Blast come out of their post 300 daze, they are looking forward to enjoying a drink all together celebrating yet another Lake Ontario 300. READ MORE

A CHALLENGE OF NEW PROPORTIONS: LAKE ONTARIO 300/600 300 NM Of Skill Testing Conditions Hot. Humid. Flies. Light Air. Muggy. How one would describe the annual Lake Ontario 300/600 Challenge, presented by DriveHG, out of Port Credit Yacht Club. A 300 nm race around Lake Ontario beginning and ending in Port Credit, Ontario would be a true test to every sailors’ skills both mentally, physically and technically. The light air made it one of the most challenging editions of the race to date. With average winds maxing out at four knots in the beginning of the race, it made many racers question why they were participating. That said, many hung on and continued to race, hoping conditions would improve. The heat increased, and the ever so known flies made their usual appearance throughout the courses. North Sails client Afterburn, a Soto 40 from Port Credit, saw six knots at the beginning of the race and took off, rounding Ford Shoal first and then Main Duck Island. Not far behind, Suspect, a Perry 59 outfitted with all new 3Di this year, battled it out with Volvo 60 Esprit de Corps IV for most of the race – the entire way around Main Duck Island. Suspect, with local North Sales Expert Hugh Beaton onboard, saw up to 15-knots on the leg to Niagara. Hugh noted; I was looking forward to the race and getting a chance to see how the boat performed after her extensive re-fit. We had worked hard over the winter to develop a simple, versatile inventory that would be used for offshore cruising, and yet also used for some distance racing on the Great Lakes before heading for Blue Water. The boat is a treat to sail on, with all the equipment needed for a comfortable 300-mile race. Our inventory was minimal; 135% roller furling genoa, full batten mainsail, furling code zero and A2 asymmetric spinnaker. The mainsail and genoa are 3Di ENDURANCE 760, making them very versatile and resilient. Even though it was a light air race, we did reduce canvas on the last leg when the front came through and our systems worked great. The most important sail turned out to be the furling code zero which was easy to use and fast in a wide range of conditions when we had to sail higher angles. A must-have for distance racing and passage-making. As in every race we learned a lot and are eager to do it again - hopefully with a little more wind this next time! The crew of Afterburn took home the IRC division win for the LO300 this year. MDC-IRC-FS-FC-1 too, being winners of the Sperry Cup and Sperry Gold Cup! Meanwhile, Beneteau 10R Blast battled with another local Benteau 10R Zoom from Main Duck to Niagara in the light air; finishing second place in their division, MDC-PHRF-FS-FC-2, with a corrected time of 3:01:19:54. Solo sailor Kim Piller on Live Wire, a J/109 withstood the conditions and finished the race with a corrected time of 3:04:41:15 placing second in MDC-PHRF-SH-1. Racers on Scotch Bonnet experienced light winds as well, not as brutal as Main Duck the first night, but still equally as testing. By Sunday morning racers had not reached or rounded Scotch Bonnet Island yet. After lots of patience, competitors began catching some wind and gaining ground on the finish line. The first batch of racers did not cross the finish until Monday evening around 10PM, with the majority of the fleet coming through after midnight and 6AM. Long time North Sails customer Michael Brown with his C&C30, Windburn, finished second in SBC-HRF-FS-DH, with a corrected time with 2:06:05:39. While most were happy (and relieved) to finally finish the LO300, a few continued on to complete the Lake Ontario 600 – another 300 nm around the lake. We applaud all those who partook in this feat. As exclusive sailmaker for the Lake Ontario 300 and 600 Challenge, the team from North Sails Toronto was happy to be onsite before and after the race to assist racers with any last-minute sail needs; including post-race pick-up and delivery to the loft. READ MORE

J/70 ITALIAN CUP – MALCESINE Petite Terrible wins the Inaugural J/70 Italian Championship whilst Calvi Network take the Italian Cup The third act in the J/70 Italian Cup 2018 was combined with the first ever Italian Championship in Malcesine, with seventy-four boats turning up for the event. Lake Garda’s typical conditions of light winds in the morning followed by strong thermal winds in the afternoon came through in style across the three-day event. As the 2018 Italian Cup has gone on, the competition has been getting tighter and tighter across the fleet as boats get into the groove. In eight races there were eight different race winners, seven of them powered by full North Sails inventories. Overall, Gianfranco Noe’s Calvi Network kept their cool throughout the regatta with consistent results in the top ten places of the scoreboard securing the win in Malcesine and putting them also in the lead of the Italian Cup standings. “I’m very happy about our performance and I can say that we were super fast on the water. The team work and the good tactics call in some difficult situation have been the key of the success.” Giulio Desiderato, Trimmer onboard Calvi Network The results for the 2018 Italian Championship were taken from the weekend’s results and boats with entirely Italian crew were eligible. In third place overall and winner of the first ever Italian Championship was Claudia Rossi’s Petite Terrible. Claudia and her team were using a full North Sails inventory consisting of M-2 Mainsail, J-2 Jib and AP- 1 Spinnaker. Congratulations to all North Sails clients who won races in Malcesine, for what turned out to be the tightest regatta yet. If you are interested in buying any North Sails products, or want to find out how these teams are using their North Sails to full advantage, get in touch with one of our J/70 experts today! J/70 Italian Cup – Malcesine 1 Calvi Network / Gianfranco Noe 3 Petite Terrible / Claudia Rossi 4 Team Notaro / Luca Domenici 5 Viva / Tommaso Pavan 6 L’Elagain / Franco Solerio 7 Uji Uji / Alessio Marinelli 8 Enfant Terrible / Alberto Rossi 9 Alice / Federico Leproux 10 Joyfull / Denis Cherevatenko * Denotes Partial North Sails Inventory J/70 Italian Championship 2018 1 Petite Terrible / Claudia Rossi 2 Team Notaro / Luca Domenici 3 Viva / Tommaso Pavan 4 L’Elagain / Franco Solerio 5 Uji Uji / Alessio Marinelli 6 Enfant Terrible / Alberto Rossi 7 Alice / Federico Leproux * Denotes Partial North Sails Inventory Full results READ MORE

2018 ILYA MC SCOW INVITATIONAL North ZMax Powers Winners in All Divisions This past week MC Scow sailing really started heating up with another big championship regatta with the ILYA MC Invitational Regatta at Nagawicka Lake in southern Wisconsin. The 42 boat fleet had some of the best MC sailors in the country in attendance and for sure you could tell they were getting ready for the biggest two events of the year coming up soon. Just in a couple of weeks you have the ILYA MC Championship at Upper Minnetonka and a few weeks after that the MC National Championship at Pewaukee. The Regatta This is one of our few three day regattas held each year and for many attending it was four days with setup and practice. A beautiful lake in Nagawicka Lake , a great club with over the top volunteers made for a great event this past week. The weather brought a huge high pressure system with big heat, humidity and dew points. Some unstable conditions but a fantastic PRO and RC team timed things out well and we raced 6 of our 7 races scheduled. All challenging but all fair. Race 7 was cancelled last day due to unstable winds. The Sailors Forty two teams were signed up on this busy weekend of sailing in scow country. The E Invite which has a lot of MC sailors was held this past weekend as well so we know 10-20 MC sailors who would normally attend MC Invite were missing. However, the group was tough. We had former national champs, Inland Champs, Masters Champs, Youth Champs and many other great skippers on hand. It was a tough group and a fun group to race with this week. The Results The sailing was tight with the forward two, three, four boats each race. Seems like the conditions of light to light-medium winds with big areas of wind and big light spots always allowed the forward group to sneak away quickly starting around the top mark each race. The rich got richer every time. Then usually about 5-20 was always pretty tight. Bill Colburn a favorite coming into this event had a great shootout early on with Dan Quiram and Ryan Grosch. In fact before race 5 and then race 6 (which gave us a dropout) it was really close between these three. The last day was a cut and dried deal. Bill went out and won both races sealing the championship win. North-powered clients with the ZMax finished 1,3,4,5,6,7,8,9,10 and all divisions! Lessons Learned Al Haeger did a nice 30 minute Q&A for SailZing and the group attending. Probably the highlight of this Q&A with the top five finishers after four races was a real zinger from Bill Colburn. He said something really good but how he got there was funny. He started by saying “I like to have no plan” and the question was how do you prepare. He finally got to what he meant and that he felt being agile and flexible with shifting conditions was important. Be ready to shift gears and do something quite different than have a rigid plan. Regatta arbitrator Peter Keck (C Scow National Champ and more) added that really where planning is important was pre-race and that so much is accomplished then in getting ready to be in a good position to do well on the race course. Great comments from all. Certainly having panels after good days of sailing and many races helps all. We also focused on how folks at the back of the pack and in the middle could do better as well. “Like I always say try to get 10% better each week you sail. That is a doable goal but a big goal everyone can attain.” – Eric Hood Other Regatta News In closing we have to give huge kudos and thanks to Craig Heinze, his wife Michele, son Ethan and about 30 other volunteers both on and off the water. This club knows how to put a regatta on. The whole event for sure was very well done and I for one MC sailor will go back anytime Nagawicka holds an event. Get ready to sail in the big ILYA Championships soon at Upper Minnetonka. Register and get details at www.ilya.org then of course the big National Championship at Pewaukee the end of August. Register for Nationals at www.mscow.org Learn more about North fast MC Scow sails. READ MORE

2018 J/80 Worlds First-takes From A New Team Nigel Young, from North Sails in Ireland recently competed in Les Sables d’Olonne, France for the 2018 J/80 World Championship. Competing with a new team, there was much to learn as they sailed together throughout the week. We caught up with Nigel after the regatta to get his insights being a new team taking on some of the best J/80 sailors in the World. Here is what he had to say about their experience. The J/80 fleet in Europe is highly competitive. With the size of this latest event, the strength of the fleet is noticeable. In Les Sables, the downwind legs of the races were a bit tricky, as they set the course so competitors would have more of a close reach to the left gate. The finish was also tough because of this as it forced each boat to have a tight rounding at the top of the mark with an immediate jibe to port to make the favored end of the finish line. It’s very hard to catch up or pass any boats when the course is set like this. “My team used North Sails T-6R mainsail, the BTY-15 and APi-1 3Di RAW jib and the MR-5 spinnaker. We noticed great speed throughout the event, and even won a race in the middle of the week which was definitely our team highlight. A few other teams used 3Di jibs too, and they were notably fast. The product is very durable and stable for the J/80, and teams that are using it can see its benefits.” Pat O’Neil, skipper and owner, has only been competing in the J/80 class for about 15 months now, which made this experience at the Worlds very beneficial for him. Nigel really enjoys competing in the class because the J/80 is enjoyable and the fleet is competitive. He’s competed in two World Championships prior to this one, with a little bit of local fleet racing in between. His normal suit is a Melges 24, and he explained how the J/80 is a “toned-down” version of that. “The J/80 the mast is made of alloy and the boat is a bit heavier, but again this is a great class to be involved in and there is always something to learn or improve. They typically race us at some nice venues too, so no complaints there!”, said Nigel. “The best part of racing last week was surfing downwind in 25 knots. It was very exciting! Everyday it was very warm and sunny, which allowed the thermal to fill in -in the afternoon giving us perfect sailing conditions.” With Patrick O’Neil at the helm, their tactician/jib trimmer was Ryan Glynn, and Gareth Kyne did bow and helped with strategy. Nigel focused on rig set up and tuning, sail trim, main trim, and spinnaker trim. Three things to know about the J/80 that will allow you to be competitive from Nigel Young: Rig set-up must be spot on. Max crew weight is very crucial. The backstay is very important to constantly be playing, especially in building pressure. “Competing in a World Championship in this class is a great experience. It is truly the best way to test your speed and set up. You’ll know very quickly if you are fast or not. Sailors that compete in this class are very talented, and if you can keep up with them, you are testing your skills at the highest level.” This event was very challenging for the new team. There was a lot to say about the regatta organization in Les Sables, which was beyond first class. The race officer was one of the best Nigel said he’s ever had the pleasure of racing with. The teams from France and Spain were very competitive and quite good. Nigel concluded; “It was very hard to do well in this class, consistently. We look forward to our next chance to race against the best and improve as a team.” For more information on our J/80 products, contact your local expert today. North Sails J/80 Tuning Guide READ MORE

LIGHTNING ATLANTIC COASTS North Powers Rob Crane to Win and All Top 10 Boats The month of July features a packed schedule of events for the Lightning class this year and the Atlantic Coast Championship, held at Nyack Boat Club, Nyack NY this past weekend, were the featured “mid-point” event. Twenty-three teams found there way to the Hudson River venue sailing just underneath the newly constructed Tappan Zee Bridge. Olympian Rob Crane, with his sister Kelly and Andrea Fisher, mastered the challenging currents and wind shifts that the river brought and posted a 1,1,5,2,1 scorecard over the 5-race series to bring home the title. Saturday brought warm weather, plenty of sun and pleasant 5-9 mph southwesterly breezes which allowed the race committee to press on and provide four fair and challenging races. The teams that stayed patient and found the stronger velocities were rewarded with consistent finishes while those who “chased” the puffs often times found themselves arriving to late to catch the breeze that those ahead had found. Sunday morning dawned with far less promise of sailable breeze to get the final scheduled race completed. Undeterred, the fleet “sailed” to the middle of the river and, after a 45 minute postponement, a light southwesterly filled and the fleet headed off on a 5-leg WL race. Bucking a strong incoming tide the balance was between finding wind and getting towards the shallower water near the west side of the river. Rob Crane and his team found some great lanes in the middle of the course which got them to the weather mark with a nice lead which they held to the finish. Congratulations also to Bob Sengstacken and his crew, wife Penny and Maud Lindsay (and Dan Zitin as a Sunday fill in) who won the Met Districts that were held in conjunction with the ACCs. The big takeaways from the weekend were to stay patient and keep your head out of the boat. The importance of teamwork really played out as the skipper needed to constantly work on boat speed in the ever changing velocities and shifts while the crew worked on finding wind and the best path to the next pressure while monitoring the current. Learn more about North fast Lightning sails. 2018 Lightning Atlantic Coast Championship 1 Rob Crane / M5, 5A+, R2 2 Justin Coplan / M5, 5A+, R2 3 Stephen Constants* / North R75 jib 4 Doug Clark / MF2, JF2, R2 5 Jim Crane / M5, 5A+, R2 6 Bill Bogardus* / MF2, JF2 7 Eric Heller / MF2, JF2, R2 8 Bob Sengstacken / MF2, JF2, R2 9 Brian Hayes, Jr / MF2, JF2, R2 10 Hugh Hutchison* / MF2, JF2 * Denotes Partial North Sails Inventory READ MORE

ASHBY WINS ANOTHER WITH NORTH SAILS Multihull Superstar Glenn Ashby Wins 2018 A-Class Europeans Glenn Ashby has many titles to list on his CV; World Champion, America’s Cup Defender, and he can now add 2018 A-Class European Champion after an impressive regatta in Warnemunde, Germany last week. In a week plagued by varying conditions and postponements, Glenn’s sailing remained consistent over five races; he won four of five races, with the second closest boat 10 points behind. “The biggest thing that culled a lot of people out was the seastate,” Glenn remarked on the conditions. “It was quite wavy and quite difficult conditions, particularly for foiling. I didn’t expect the wave state to be quite so high, but you adapt and rely on the experience you have collected over the years and different conditions.” Some of the world’s best sailors enjoy the challenges of the A-Class and the 87-boat fleet in Warnemunde listed many well-known names from the multihull community. Racing an A-Class catamaran is an experience made for true speed-racing enthusiasts who thrive on a rush of adrenaline. Glenn advises balancing risk and reward as a critical factor in the competitive A-Class fleet. “At times pays to be a little bit conservative with how you sail the boat and not risk a capsize,” suggests Glenn. “That is certainly true in the windier conditions we saw at times during the Europeans. Back off at times, but also know when you should push hard and take the gains.” Multihull superstar by experience and sailmaker by trade, Ashby partnered with North Sails in 2016 to design and market the Glenn Ashby Signature Line of A-Class sails. Glenn, along with other North Sails clients, used the Decksweeper 2 during the Europeans. This sail is designed to achieve optimum speed and power at high speed, while still being able to cope in the lighter wind where foiling is more challenging. “I am pleased with how the Decksweeper 2 performed, both for myself and all the North Sails clients,” commented Ashby. “Everyone was happy sailing better than their expectations; always a pleasant thing. Lots of A-Class sailors have gotten onboard with this design, and I think there is going to be a lot of interest in this sail in the lead up to Worlds.” The 2018 Worlds is the next major event on Glenn’s A-Class schedule. With Team New Zealand obligations for the next few weeks, Glenn is dedicating September and October to preparing for the Worlds, which will be held in Hervey Bay, Queensland, Australia this November. And what is Glenn thinking about for a sail choice? “At the moment I am planning on using the Decksweeper 2F, the next generation of the standard Decksweeper 2. The sail is just slightly flatter than the standard and better suited for Hervey Bay.” Editor’s Note: When we spoke with Glenn, he was on a train (somewhere in Germany) at the start of his long trip to get home. Once back, Glenn will rejoin Emirates Team New Zealand at their home base as they plan their America’s Cup defense. Rumor has it a few of the ETNZ guys are quite keen to get back in the A-Class. We’ll be keeping a close eye on the Worlds entry list. READ MORE

OK Dinghy Worlds 2018 North Sails Powers André Budzien to Victory in Warnemunde at the OK World Championship © Robert Deaves The OK Dinghy has seen a huge resurgence in recent years, increasing numbers at both club and the international level. This year around 140 competitors took part in the World Championship in Warnemunde. This fleet attracts a huge amount of World class sailors, including many well-known names from several Olympic sailing teams. This year’s competition was a true test of skill. The week started off with heavy conditions, which allowed for surfing downwind, yet still making it challenging for the upwind legs. The fleet was split into two flights due to overall headcount. On the first day two races were completed, and by the end of the day there were four different race winners, making it extremely close at the front end of the fleet. This really set the standards high for the rest of the week. With a day missed mid-week due to the wind, sailors were keen to get back on the water for the penultimate day when the weather came through with near-perfect conditions. Coming into the final day, only four points separated the top four competitors, making it anyone’s game going into the final races. The last race saw pre-worlds winner André Budzien score a bullet, confirming his victory in front of Fredrik Loof, the pre-event favourite. Rounding off the podium in third place was Jan Kurfeld, fresh from his win at Kiel Week. Fortunately his solid scoreline earlier in the week meant the UFD in the last race was discarded. Jan was just one point behind second place, the podium positions could not have been closer! We caught up with Andre Budzien after the regatta. Here is what he had to say about his North KAP-1 Mainsail : “I used the KL-1 for the Pre-Worlds and it worked well. Since I was using the KAP-1 in the training prior to the event, I chose to use it for racing. It is a very nice looking sail and very powerful with lots of twist in the top area. This gave me some fast upwind legs, with great speed and point. Downwind was also super!” North Sails has once again proved itself to be the preferable sailmaker of choice for another One Design class, with it’s dominance at the top end of the fleet, including the new 2018 OK World Champion. If you are interested in any North products or want to speak to an expert to find out how to make the most out of your OK sails, then get in touch today! OK Dinghy World Championship 2018 GER 1 Andrè Budzien GER 3 Jan Kurfeld GBR 4 Charlie Cumbley SWE 5 Thomas Hansson-Mild NZL 10 Luke Gower * Denotes Partial North Sails Inventory © Robert Deaves © Robert Deaves Full results READ MORE

18FT SKIFF WORLDS 2018 Interview With The 18ft Skiff World Champion After three prior attempts, Matt Steven and his crew onboard Honda Racing accomplished their ultimate goal of winning the JJ Giltinan World Championship in Sydney representing Royal Akarana Yacht Club and the Auckland Skiff League. ©Suellen Davies / Live Sail Die Matt, New Zealand North Sails expert is a keen match racer and keelboat sailor, taking part in the World Match Racing Tour and the Extreme Sailing Series. He also has a passion for Skiff sailing and was recently named World Champion after coming a close second two years in a row. The 18’ Skiff is at the pinnacle of sail and hull development and North Sails are proud to have kitted Matt’s boat with a 3Di mainsail. We had a chat with Matt about his success and what helped him to get there. Matt, give us a brief overview of the conditions at the Worlds and your main competition? We had a full mix bag of conditions ranging from 5 knots to 25 knots and SW through to NE. The NZ fleet have really stepped up in the last few years with some top young sailors coming into the class. We knew our toughest competition would be from the young NZ Maersk team who we had been training with back home. What were your goals going into the regatta? We only had one result in mind as our outcome goal after finishing agonisingly close to the top spot in the previous two years. We had a clear plan of keeping clean, sailing conservatively and minimising risk. In your opinion, what were the key aspects that helped you win the Worlds this year? Keeping calm and self-belief I think. We faced some adversity on the first day. Our bowman tore two ligaments in his ankle before the start of the first race in a practice tack, still not sure how but he got through the pain! Once we started we were fouled by a cruising boat and found ourselves in last place at the top mark, but fought our way back to fourth. That ended up giving us the confidence that we were fast. A good debrief on day one set the tone for the regatta, which led to a more conservative approach. This ended up being a winning formula. Tell us a little about the sails you use and what makes them so fast. We use 3Di RAW for the mainsails and our 3DL jibs from the previous year. We’ve transitioned to 100% 3Di for the coming season. We have worked closely with designers, giving them lots of feedback and just making small improvements each year. It has been a big catch up game to compete with the Aussies, but we now feel at least on par speed wise using the right sails and design. The biggest gain with the 3Di sails is every time we go sailing the sail shape is exactly the same there is very low stretch and they last extremely well. What’s your top tip for success in any boat/fleet? Understand what gear you have and how to use it. It’s not the quantity of training it is the quality, if you always have small micro goals and tick them off you will see large gains in the long run. We know you are also competitive in other classes around NZL, what are your plans for the rest of the year? At the moment I am sailing in the Auckland Keelboat fleet, sailing with different customers each week through the winter series. I am also aiming to do the NZ Match Racing Nationals. Come summer we will be back in the 18, gearing up to defend the title and get a few more kiwi boats up to the top of the fleet. I also love cruising. Having grown up cruising every summer as a kid I have a strong goal to take some time off this year and get out and see the wider Hauraki Gulf. If you are interested in North 3Di products, get in touch with Matt Steven to see what we can do for you. READ MORE

THEY’LL TAKE ANOTHER Inga from Sweden On Fire 📸Melges 40/Barracuda Communication First Palma and then Porto Cervo, Inga from Sweden is taking the Melges 40 class by storm. The team has won the first two regattas in the Melges 40 Grand Prix, with world-renowned sailor and North Sails expert Cameron Appleton calling tactics for the team. Richard Goransson, owner of Inga was quick to praise Appleton for his efforts. “This regatta has been Cameron’s regatta,” remarked Richard. “Cam called all the right moves.” For Cameron, winning the second Grand Prix event meant being successful in executing Inga’s game plan, limiting their losses, and staying focused to capitalize on other’s mistakes. The week in Porto Cervo saw the team picking up trends, within the fleet and the weather, and also trusting their teamwork. Cameron checked in with North Sails HQ after landing back in his hometown of Newport, Rhode Island earlier this week. Read on for his perspective on this event and the exciting Melges 40 class. On the Melges 40: “The Melges 40 is a new and developing class, just five boats right now. The boat is unique; it has a canting keel, and is a slightly different concept. It’s a step in a little bit of a different direction, more Grand Prix than traditional one-design classes. The boats are fantastic; they perform well, and across varying conditions. Events like Porto Cervo help to showcase the class and, hopefully, encourage new people to join the fleet.“ 📸Melges 40 Grand Prix/Zerogradinord On Inga: “We has some dream races in the wind when the Mistral kicked up. We had our windiest sailing day to date, but had to fight for every inch to win races. Everything is new, and we are developing our skills and knowledge of the Melges 40 as we move through the season. The team is still learning this boat, and my focus was to keep the boat balanced in the good conditions and keep the boat ripping.“ 📸Melges 40/Barracuda Communications On Sails: “North 3Di RAW is featured on two boats in the fleet; Inga and Alessandro Rombelli’s Stig. Giovanni Cassinari and Marco Capitani have been instrumental behind the Melges 40 sail designs. Christian Kamp and I work closely with the designers to collect feedback from the water and incorporated that into each generation of sails. We have seen good speed across a range of conditions, even though extremely light is not Inga’s strength. We’ll get a new delivery of sails in August, designed specifically for the conditions we expect to see for the remainder of this season.“ 📸Melges 40/Barracuda Communications On What’s Next: “The Melges 40 Grand Prix 3 in Palma early August. For Inga, our goal is to try and stay up on the leaderboard. We have a great crew, we’re handing the boat well, and the team dynamics are working right now. And I think that’s showing in our results.“ 📸Melges 40/Barracuda Communications READ MORE

2018 LIGHTNING YOUTH WORLDS North Powers US Team GEN 5 To Dramatic Comeback Not all World Championships are won with unlimited budgets and on-hand support staff. Some are won by sailors who are just determined to make their dreams happen. Team Gen5, consisting of Jeffrey Hayden (helm), Brian Hayes Jr. (tactics) and Meredith Ryan (bow), qualified for the 2018 Lightning Youth Worlds last August in New Jersey, and while they all had a desire to compete in Greece, they lacked one important component; the financial resources. They decided to overcome that obstacle by selling t-shirts, setting up a Go-Fund-Me account, organizing talks and presentations to local sailing clubs to gain donations, and got the support from family and friends so they could take their grass-roots program overseas and sail against the best Youth Lightning sailors in the world. The result was three-young adults, with only a small amount of sailing time together, who strung together back-to-back race wins in the final two races of the championship that moved them from 7th place to the top of the podium on the final day to win the 2018 Lightning Youth World Championship. The event was held in Voula, Greece by the NAOV of Voula, with support from the Yacht Club of Greece. Sixteen teams from seven countries with many top junior sailors in the field including three-time Junior North American Champion, Tanner Probst, Jenna Probst and Maya Weber. Strong teams from Brazil, Chile, Greece and Canada were also in attendance. The seven-race series featured a fabulous mix of conditions with light to moderate breeze in five of the seven races. Two races had much trickier conditions that gave the fleet puffy and shifty offshore seabreeze (yes, offshore!) that made it very challenging for sailors, testing their skills and endurance. On day one light-dying breeze from the WNW greeted teams. Jeff Hayden’s team (USA 14748) took an early lead in the light air and extended to a large lead as the breeze died, which worked out well when the RC shortened the course. One hour later, the seabreeze filled in over the Greek peninsula rewarding teams with a solid 14-22 mph offshore breeze with large shifts and a variety of pressure changes. Each of the final two races of day-one were sailed in these beautiful conditions. Team Brazil (BRA 15333) won the second race, and locals (GRE 14817) took the win in the last race of the day. Day two had a more typical Voula 6-10 mph breeze from the WSW eventually shifting SSE. BRA 15333 and GRE 14817 both found the conditions to their liking and each won one race to set the stage for a final day of racing. The scores were scattered with some protests and redress hearings, which put the pressure on the competitors on Saturday, the final day of racing. The final day brought a little bit of everything. USA 14748 did very well in race six, repeating their win with a nice lead. Now that the fleet had completed six races, a throw-out was granted which really tightened up the top of the scoresheet. Going into the final race with five teams within three points of each other was the real deal. The key was to find a clear lane and be on the correct side of the shift. Team Gen5 executed a near perfect start ⅓ up from the pin. Having a nice hole to leeward, they were able to accelerate and punch-out from their competitors. They sent it to the port layline, extending their lead to win the final race of the World Championship and seal the deal for team USA, deeming them the 2018 Lightning Youth World Champions. Way to go team USA! All top ten teams were powered by North Sails. Learn more about North fast Lightning sails. Start of race #7. Note hole to leeward of 14748 as they race to the left. © Nigel Vick READ MORE

Det er nu et år siden North Sails lancerede 3Di NORDAC og dermed revolutionerede tursejlads og cruising marked. 3Di Nordac lovede at levere en bedre oplevelse for tursejleren, på et marked, der ikke havde set nogen egentlig produktudvikling i over 60 år. Her efter et år, kan vi fejre vores udviklingsteam, som arbejdede hårdt for at bringe 3Di NORDAC på markedet samt vores kunder, som har oplevet og afprøvet 3Di Nordac og givet os værdifuld og meget positiv feedback fra hele verden. 3Di teknologi, tilpasset til tursejlads “Vi så for os at vi kunne revolutionere markedet for tursejl. Vi ville konstruere et sejl som kunne præstere bedre end traditionel Dacron sejl uden at skulle ofre holdbarheden. For at gennemføre den vision, satte vi os for at udnytte North 3Di teknologien, som uden siddestykke er verdens mest avancerede sejlmager teknologi og kapsejleres foretrukne sejlkonstruktion. 3Di NORDAC giver optimal sejl facon meget længere, hvilket ultimativt betyder mere værdi for tursejleren.” - Bill Fortenberry, North Sails Global Market Segments Manager 3Di teknologi Pittman Innovation Award 3Di NORDAC blev belønnet med SAIL Magazine’s 2018 Pittman Innovations pris i cruising kategorien. “North Sails har kombineret den store omkostningseffektivitet og holdbarhed fra traditionelle sejl med 3Di processen… en win-win for tursejlere over hele verden.” - Charles J Doane, SAIL Magazine Editor Læs mere Det startede med en idé… “Vi startede med at udforske idéer til et nyt produkt til tursejladsmarkedet i 2015. Vi så en mulighed for at skabe et prismæssigt overkommeligt sejl med alle 3Di’s fordele. Vi var sikre på at det produkt ville ændre tursejlads til det bedre, og et år senere sejler over 1.000 både rundt med 3Di NORDAC. Det er meget givende at få positive tilbagemeldinger fra bådejere, som oplever forskellen ved 3Di for første gang.” -Dan Neri, CEO of North Sails Læs mere Udtalelse “Vores nye 3Di NORDAC storsejl og genua bliver ved med at begejstre os. Begge sejl har en facon og finish, som kan konkurrere med de bedste sejl jeg nogensinde har set eller brugt i løbet af mine over 40 år som sejler. Rullegenuaen præsterer helt fantastisk, specielt på kryds!. Vi er yderst tilfredse med disse sejl.” - Steve Fredrick, Beneteau First 42, USA 3Di NORDAC Anmeldelse I tal Efter et år, har 3Di NORDAC været en ubestridelig succes for både North Sails og dets stigende antal kunder som har fået 3Di Nordac på deres både. Patenteret North 3Di teknologi tilbyder overlegen præstation med traditionelle polyester materialer. READ MORE

PREVENT ANY PROBLEMS WITH YOUR SAILS North Sails Certified Service Winter Deal North Sails Certified Service offers sailors with any brand of sail the benefits of North's superior technology, experienced personnel and worldwide network of over 100 lofts in 25 countries. Every sail serviced by North undergoes a thorough inspection designed to identify maintenance issues early, so they do not become major problems later on. Annual inspection of your inventory will aid significantly in extending sail life and maintaining peak performance. Clean and treat with anti-mold, minor repairs, fixed price $200 + GST * FREE pickup and delivery FREE general check over assessment FREE no obligation quote on necessary repair work Find Your Loft Call us now! +64 9359 5999 * Deal ends 15th September. Pick up of bricked sail available from Westhaven, Bayswater, Gulf Harbour, Orakei, Bucklands Beach, Half Moon Bay, Pine Harbour, and Westpark Marina's. Offer applies to boats under 60ft LOA READ MORE

2018 LIGHTNING EUROPEANS North Teams finished 1,2*,3,4,5! The 2018 Lightning European Championships were held June 28th-July 1st at the Yacht Club of Greece in Pireaus. Twenty-two teams representing six countries were in attendance for what was a fabulous weekend of sailing. Team Verginadis, sail number GRE 14791, with 10 points in the 5-race series, including 2-race wins, secured the European Championship and the coveted Lightning Class Silver Flash. The first day of the championship brought sunny skies and warm temperatures however a weather system also brought strong winds that averaged near 25-knots all day, with gusts reaching 40-knots. Though the Race Committee held out with hopes of getting some racing in, they eventually cancelled for the day. During the delays, North Sails Lightning expert Brian Hayes held a tuning session for many of the competitors in the parking lot and fielded questions on prebend and rig tension. After lunch, roughly 60 sailors squeezed into the meeting room as Brian did some video reviews from the practice race showing where each team may find some opportunities for improvement when it comes to sail trim, rig set up, or sailing style. This “brief” gathering lasted until nearly 5:30 pm that evening, which showed the eagerness of the fleet to continue to get information on how to improve and get their boat up to speed. The second day of racing opened with a brisk breeze near 15-knots which softened all day to around 10-knots. The top three teams began their string of consistent finishes as all three kept their finishes in the top four, creating a three-way tie on the leaderboard by the end of the day. This basically created a showdown on Sunday between the top three teams for the European Championship crown. The first race saw Team Verginadis chase down Team Argyropoulous on the final run to gain the win while Team Vasilas held their own at 11 points. Team Tsoulfas had nine points. The final race was dramatic as Team Vasilas caught the big left shift and had a large lead at the first mark with the other two teams deeper in the fleet. However, the Race Committee weighed the fairness of this large 50-degree shift on the first beat and abandoned the race. Not to be dissuaded, Team Vasilas once again leapt out to a big lead but the other two teams stayed close behind and finished third and fourth, giving the title to Team Verginadis by a slim two-points. Team Vasilas’ last race win earned them the runner-up position, followed by Team Tsoulfas to round out the podium. Thanks to the Yacht Club of Greece and the event organizing committee for an outstanding event and gracious hospitality. The Lightning Class in Europe is excited to be hosting the 2019 World Championships in Finland next June and the entire fleet at the Europeans is eager to test their skills against sailors from around the world. Race results | Event Photos by Nigel Vick Learn more about our championship winning Lightning sails. Tem Verginadis, 2018 European Champions. North Sails Brian Hayes’ parking lot boat tuning session READ MORE

SOLO NON-STOP NAVIGATION OF THE GREAT LAKES A Canuck, A Pacific Seacraft, And A World Record Attempt By the time he’s completed sailing all five Great Lakes next Summer, John Lecznar will be 70 years old and have completed a non-stop solo navigation on his Pacific Seacraft Flicka 20. A feat that has not been done before and has caught the eye of The Guinness World Book of Records. “The records would be: Smallest boat, sailing boat, sailing vessel, oldest guy in a single season.” A sailor for all of his adult life, John has raced all different types of boats from DN Iceboats to Tornados to Nacras to Catamarans. His love of being on the water a driving force behind his desire to get into sailing and try as many different boats as possible. Originally a kayaker from an early age, John spent most of his Summers on Lake Ontario with his family and up north at his cottage on Lake Superior spending as much time on the water as possible. By the age of 30 he decided to pick up and sailing, then he was hooked and began racing. He has sailed all over from the Pacific, the Atlantic, the Gulf and through the Great Lakes, which is ultimately his favorite. John recalls; “There's nothing like sailing in the Great Lakes. Fresh water, it's clean, you've got all conditions. You've got light air, heavy air. You've got it all .” Now that John is retired, he’s looking to have more adventures on the water. His latest project being the Pacific Seacraft Flicka 20 outfitted with new 3Di NORDAC sails. When it came to new sails for the boat, John based his decision on experience and reputation, stating, “North Sails has a fantastic reputation, you guys have very good sails. I’ve known it for 30 years”. He needed something that would last long and stand up to the varying conditions of the Great Lakes. North Sails Detroit expert Karl Kuspa knew 3Di NORDAC was the perfect fit due to its durability, performance and longevity. “I have the greatest confidence in North Sails. Karl, of course, is an outstanding sailor and so I trust his advice. Having talked to him about the conditions and what my expectations are, he recommended these sails and I am completely confident in this decision.” For Karl, it was a no brainer to use 3Di NORDAC, explaining, "When John first approached me about new sails for his boat, he told me about the adventure he was planning for 2019. He told me he wanted sails that he could have trust in. After reviewing the benefits of 3Di NORDAC such as strength and durability, John was sold." The route for the trip is centered around Lake Superior as it is a lake that John has a great deal of respect for as it is a “very powerful body of water”. He’ll depart from Port Huron on the Michigan side the first week of May. Then follow the Michigan coastline on Huron all the way to Mackinaw and enter Lake Michigan. Follow Lake Michigan around and then Sturgeon Bay and then the southern part of the Upper Peninsula of Michigan back to Mackinaw. By the beginning of June, he plans to be in Sault St. Marie via Dummond Island and St. Mary’s River. From there, John plans to follow the Northern Peninsula coastline (southern part of Lake Superior) to the Duluth, then follow the Canadian Side up the rest of the way. “ go through the Sault Ste. Marie again, St. Joseph's River, St. Mary's and the North Channel. Follow the North Channel to Georgian Bay and then follow the Lake Huron Canadian coastline shores to Sonya. My expectation is that I'll be back around August first into Lake Eerie, entering Lake Eerie, and then I hope to be in Toronto area around the middle of August. Then follow the US coastline in Lake Ontario and Lake Eerie and back up. And I'm hoping depending on when I depart and how things work out, first week of September to the second or third week of September, complete my journey.” It’s not just the sailing that John loves about this upcoming adventure, he also enjoys the planning side of it. With a background in the automotive industry and quality management, he sees it as a way to transfer one skill set to another area and help develop his passion for sailing. Saying, “It's not old hat stuff that I'm doing here because the adventure side of it is, I'm looking forward to the challenges that I will be presented with. The boat is small, I have to make sure that I have supplies just right and look at what contingencies I may have to consider and deal with and go from there.” “The Flicka is a very good solid boat. It has a great following. People have circumnavigated in that boat even though it's so small. And it was built back in 1979, so it's an old boatie, like myself.” The journey will see John face all kinds of conditions throughout the Great Lakes, something to which he is looking forward to. A Canuck living in Michigan, fueled by “The love of the water, the love of the Great Lakes, and the love of sailing”. A real adventurer, John enjoys adventures on and off the water READ MORE

SIEG AM URISTIER-CUP 2018 38 Boote (darunter 4 Esse 850) trafen sich am Samstag, 30. Juni 18 um 12.30 h Höhe Tellsplatte zum Start des legendären Uristier Cups, der zum ersten Mal vom Regattaverein Brunnen durchgeführt wurde. Das Ganze fand bei traumhaftem Segelwetter mit Sonne satt, bis 27 Grad und 25 Knoten Wind statt… Wie immer lagen Start und Ziel im unteren Drittel des Kurses. D.h. nach dem Start gab es eine lange Kreuz, gefolgt von einem sehr langen Downwind und am Schluss eine kurze Kreuz ins Ziel. Gestartet wurde in zwei Gruppen, Racer und Cruiser. Samstag Der RVB Brunnen schaffte es, am Samstag drei anspruchsvolle Wettfahrten durchzuführen. Auch bei Windspitzen bis 25 Knoten half es, wenn man den Urnersee und seine Eigenheiten genau kannte. Auf der Esse 850 ‚sail NORTH‘ waren wir in einer neuen Formation unterwegs: Daniel Schroff an der Pinne, vorne Roman Juchli und Claudia Böhm. Somit segelten wir ohne grosse Erwartungen. Die Lockerheit, der guten Bootsspeed und die guten Revierkenntnisse von Daniel Schroff liessen uns am Samstag alle drei Läufe für uns entscheiden. Am Abend kam aber im Clubhaus die Bestätigung: Wir hatten im dritten Lauf einen Frühstart und damit wohl den Streicher bereits eingezogen. Sonntag Mit dem kleinen Rucksack vom Vortag (Frühstart) galt es heute, noch einmal die Lockerheit vom Vortag zu finden. Im ersten Lauf rundeten wir als dritte das Luvfass. Auf dem Vorwind konnten wir aber alles wieder gut machen und kreuzten schlussendlich die Ziellinie wieder als erste. Mit den Rängen 1, 1, 2 war auch der Sonntag äusserst erfolgreich für das Team SUI-156. Einzig im letzen Lauf mussten wir uns berechnet von der Esse 750 schlagen lassen, da die hinteren Boote mit Wind angerauscht kamen. So klar wie das Resultat aussieht, war es aber nicht. In jeder Wettfahrt wurden wir von den anderen Esse's gefordert. Nur durch den Fact, dass es nicht immer die gleiche Esse war, erscheint das Resultat so klar. Wir sind auf jeden Fall mit unserem Bootspeed (gesegelt sind wir mit einem 3DL Grosssegel und einer 3Di Fock) und der Crew-Leistung zufrieden. Fazit: Ein schöner Anlass, der vom RVB super (notfallmässig) organisiert wurde – ein grosses DANKE dafür! Und der Urnersee ist und bleibt eines der schönsten Segelgebiete der Schweiz! Leider gab es am Sonntag noch ein paar Schäden. Wir drücken die Daumen, dass die Schiffe für Malcesine wieder fit sind! Resultate READ MORE

SOLO NATIONS CUP 2018 North Sails expert Charlie Cumbley takes the victory with near-straight bullets Charlie Cumbley has won the 2018 Solo Nations cup in Lake Garda, carrying eight first-places on his scoreboard out of 10 races. The event saw forty-eight entries from the Netherlands and the UK come together for some spectacular racing in very testing conditions for most of the regatta, with only one light wind day. Rounding off the podium in third place was Tim Law. Tim was tied on points with the second placed boat however due to count back took the bronze position. Charlie and Tim were both using the North P-2 Mainsail. “The P-2 mainsail is a great all-purpose sail, it performed really well in both the light and heavy wind days” Charlie commented The next event in the calendar for the Solo class is the UK Nationals in three weeks time in Hayling Island where ninety boats are currently entered. If you want to get your hands on this championship winning sail, contact your North Sails expert today. Check out this video of Charlie racing! Solo Nations Cup 1 / Charlie Cumbley 3 / Tim Law 6 / Michael Hicks 8 / Gareth Henshall * Denotes Partial North Sails Inventory Full results READ MORE

LES FACTEURS D’USURE D’UNE VOILE Note : Les photos sont disponibles dans le dossier « Fatigue du tissu ». Les quatre principales causes de vieillissement d’une voile sont : la flexion, la compression des fibres, le battement et le faseyement. Introduction : Quel que soit le matériau d’une voile, il finit par s’user. Mais en suivant quelques simples consignes d’entretien et d’utilisation, on peut considérablement augmenter la durée de vie d’une voile. Dan Néri, président-directeur général de North Sails, présente dans cet article les principaux facteurs d’usure des voiles. Il expose les problèmes structurels que ces facteurs entraînent dans les voiles et explique comment minimiser les dégâts. Fatigue en flexion Tout comme l’exposition aux UV lorsque l’on navigue par beau temps, la fatigue en flexion est inévitable, particulièrement dans le vent fort et la houle. Toute sollicitation sur la membrane qui implique un va-et-vient répétitif dégrade progressivement le matériau. Le battement des voiles pendant le hissage, l'affalage par vent fort, le roulage des voiles sur enrouleur ainsi que le battement pendant le virement de bord et la prise de ris sont à l’origine de la fatigue du matériau. Si les nerfs de chute ne sont pas correctement tendus dans un vent fort à modéré, les bords des voiles battront rapidement. Et dans des vents légers sur des angles de navigation abattus, les voiliers peuvent rouler assez violemment au point de faire claquer les voiles, entraînant alors une flexion du tissu et appliquant une certaine charge dynamique sur l’accastillage. Pour éviter la fatigue en flexion : Éliminer ou réduire le battement. S’assurer que les nerfs de chute et de bordure sont correctement réglés pour éliminer le faseyement sur les bords de la voile. Changer de cap dans des conditions légèrement clapoteuses pour réduire les battements. Il est possible de diminuer les dommages causés par la prise de ris en pliant la voile en dessous du ris et en amenant le tissu du côté opposé à la bosse de ris. Compression des fibres Lorsque le tissu à voile est plié, une face du tissu est étirée et l'autre face (l'intérieur du pli) est comprimée. Les fibres comprimées vont alors se fragiliser petit à petit. Celles qui présentent la plus haute résistance à la contrainte, comme le carbone ou le Kevlar, se détérioreront encore plus facilement. Parfois, certaines fibres implosent, se désagrègent et se transforment en poudre. D'autres se brisent et se cisaillent longitudinalement à l’image d’une branche d'arbre verte qui se fracture lorsqu'elle est pliée en deux. Une fois que la fibre d’un tissu à voile se brise, sa structure intérieure est exposée aux UV. La fibre se dégrade par la suite et finit par se fissurer complètement dès la prochaine flexion. Causes Les causes les plus fréquentes de fatigue par compression des fibres sont le pliage de la voile au moment du stockage et lorsque la grand-voile est écrasée sous les bosses de ris. Quand vous pliez vos voiles de manière lâche avec les plis parallèles à la bordure, la voile n'est pas endommagée. En suivant cette même méthode de pliage pour ranger une grand-voile sur une bôme ou un foc de course dans son sac zippé de pleine longueur, les voiles resteront en bon état. Cependant, lorsque vous pliez une voile parallèlement à la bordure et que vous la repliez perpendiculairement à la bordure afin de la glisser dans un sac à voile standard, vous créez un pli marqué à 180 degrés et les fibres à l'intérieur du pli seront comprimées. Les fibres en polyester et en Spectra utilisées dans les tissus de voiles de croisière résisteront à des douzaines de cycles de pliage. Elles se fragiliseront légèrement à chaque usage. Lorsque vous rangez vos voiles dans un sac, il est préférable de ne pas répéter les plis aux mêmes endroits pour éviter de casser la fibre sur un pli déjà marqué. Pour éviter les problèmes de compression des fibres : Plier les voiles de manière lâche quand cela est possible. Éviter de plier une voile sur le même pli lorsqu’on la range dans son sac. Lorsqu’on arise une voile, amener le tissu du côté opposé à la bosse de ris. Le battement Lorsqu'on laisse une voile battre, c’est la chute qui sera nettement plus endommagée que le milieu de la voile ou le guindant. Imaginez un dompteur de lions qui fait claquer un grand fouet. Au niveau de la poignée du fouet, l’amplitude est moindre, mais plus on s'éloigne de la poignée, plus le fouet parcourt de la distance et plus il claque violemment quand il change de direction. Les fabricants de voiles ajoutent des renforts progressifs depuis le corps de la voile vers les zones épaisses de la chute. Ces renforts échelonnés permettent à la fois d'atténuer les effets de battement et de répartir la flexion de la fibre sur une plus grande surface. Vous pouvez réduire la fatigue de flexion en minimisant la durée et la force de battement de votre voile. Grand-voile Les grands-voiles sont soutenues par deux bords sur trois, et les lattes de pleine longueur permettent d’atténuer les battements au niveau de la chute qui, elle, n’est pas supportée. Dans un vent de moins de 25 nœuds, une grand-voile de croisière bien conçue avec des lattes de pleine longueur ne battra pas. Elle ondulera au moment du hissage ou de l’affalement. Une grand-voile avec des lattes courtes (aussi appelées « lattes de chute ») est plus ajustable et plus légère, mais elle se détériorera rapidement si on la laisse battre. Voile d'avant Les voiles d'avant ne sont supportées que sur un seul bord, et peuvent battre jusqu’à se rompre si on les laisse choquer. Par conséquent, un équipage de croisière doit être vigilant et effectuer les manœuvres et les réglages des voiles d’avant aussi efficacement que possible. Cela signifie que les écoutes des voiles d'avant doivent toujours être lovées et dégagées avant un virement de bord, un empannage ou un enroulement. C’est une procédure a minima et il serait également avisé de s’inspirer des équipages de régate même lors de simples balades en mer afin de minimiser les battements de la voile d'avant. (Pour plus d'informations, lisez Club Racing: How to Improve Your Tacks) Pour réduire les battements : Veiller à un réglage des voiles correct autant que possible. Avancer suffisamment le point de tire de la voile d'avant pour contrôler la partie supérieure de la chute. Utiliser un point de tire extérieur pour l’écoute de la voile d’avant pour les allures débridées et portantes. Se préparer à virer avant de choquer complètement l’écoute de la voile d'avant. Hisser la grand-voile sous le vent d’un relief par vent fort. Abattre pour enrouler votre voile par les jours de grand vent. Opter pour des lattes de pleine longueur lorsqu’on achète une nouvelle grand-voile. Garder toujours les écoutes un tant soit peu bordées lorsque le bateau est momentanément à l’arrêt. Enrouleur Lorsqu'il faut enrouler la voile d'avant, les deux écoutes doivent être claires et la personne chargée de tirer sur la bosse d'enroulement doit se tenir en position pour la manœuvre. Si le système d’enroulement est actionné à l’aide d’un winch, il faut freiner un peu l’écoute pour minimiser l’amplitude des battements de voile. Si l'enroulement s’effectue sans winch, les écoutes doivent être choquées suffisamment pour que la manœuvre soit le plus rapide possible. Chaque fois que vous le pouvez, positionnez le bateau au vent arrière avant d'enrouler la voile. La force du vent apparent est réduite d'environ 1,5 fois la vitesse du bateau et la voile d'avant peut être partiellement déventée derrière la grand-voile. Faseyement Le faseyement de la chute ou de la bordure est un battement d’amplitude moindre. Quand il n’y a que le bord d'une voile qui faseye, il y a moins de surface de voile en mouvement, mais la fréquence est significativement plus élevée. Aussi parce que le faseyement d’une chute ou d’une bordure ne secoue pas le bateau, cela peut passer facilement inaperçu. Mais ne pas s’en rendre compte ou l’ignorer n’élimine pas le faseyement pour autant. Ce dernier continue son travail de sabotage et détériore les fibres. Si l’on y ajoute les effets néfastes des rayons UV, la chute ou la bordure finiront par céder. Après de nombreuses heures de faseyement, le tissu le long de la chute a enduré des milliers de battements, compressant alors les fibres à chaque fois au même endroit. Si l’on y ajoute les effets délétères du soleil, la voile finira par se déchirer le long du gallon. Le faseyement de la chute est provoqué par un écoulement d’air instable sur le bord de fuite de la voile. Si l'air s’échappe plutôt rapidement du bord de fuite, la force de l’écoulement d'air fléchira le bord non supporté (bord de fuite). Cette déflexion provoquera une dépression, et le tissu reviendra à sa position initiale ; le cycle se répétera, et ainsi de suite. Le bord faseyant claque à la manière d’un jeu de cartes que l’on mélange à l’américaine. Considérez ce claquement comme un signal pour border le nerf de chute. Les navigants en compétition apprennent à tendre le nerf de chute le moins possible pour éviter le béquet de chute. En croisière, les marins peuvent utiliser la même approche, mais il est préférable de trop tendre le nerf de chute plutôt que pas assez, excepté dans le vent très léger. En effet, mieux vaut avoir un léger béquet de chute qu'une chute déchirée. Pour contrôler le faseyement de la chute : Régler le point de tire de foc ou le chariot de grand-voile de façon que l'angle de tire soit dans l’axe de la chute. Tendre correctement les nerfs de chute. Extrait de : Guide complet d'entretien et de réparation des voiles, Dan Néri. READ MORE

J/70 LIGHT AIR SPEED NOTES Tim Healy’s quick tips to optimize speed in light conditions After a week of intense training with the Japanese teams in Newport, RI culminating with the New Your Yacht Club One Design Regatta, a lot was learned about light air tuning and trimming. Here are Tim Healy’s notes reinforcing some important points indispensable for optimizing the J/70 speed in light air conditions. RIG TUNING Ease rig to get about 3/4 inch of middle side sag in the mast. This is done by going off two full turns on the uppers and off two turns on lowers. If you are not getting 3/4 inch side sag, keep easing lowers until you do In big chop, use a little backstay to control the rig from excess movement. Just enough to control the rig but not too much to take out all headstay sag SAIL TRIM In big chop and swell, keep speed up by twisting both sails thus making a large steering groove Never stall the upper jib leech telltales. Trim until you see them stall then ease until 100% flowing Jib leads 6-7 factory holes showing in front of jib car counting from behind front mounting bolt Weather sheet trimmed to get clew at cabin house in flat spots, and 1.5- 2 inches off in big chop and waves. Remember to move lead forward with less windward sheet and back with more windward sheet Ease jib halyard to show 8-10 inches of wrinkles in luff of jib in light and choppy conditions Main traveler up to get boom on center when boat is up to speed out of tacks. Traveler at 75% up out of tacks for bow down acceleration BOAT TRIM AND TURNS Weight forward both up and downwind. Bow person in hatch up and down, out of hatch to help with roll tacking and jibing Downwind: Tactician forward and to leeward and trimmer to weather. Both forward next to bulkhead Upwind: Tactician forward next to bulkhead and trimmer as far forward as possible. Also, trimmer is first to control heel angle Build speed first both up and down, then work on best VMG Don’t let speed crash! It takes too long in light air to get going again Make smooth turns and BIG rolls tacking and jibing Keep momentum in focus when starting and at mark roundings The three-day training camp coupled with the NYYC One Design Regatta, where teams had an opportunity to apply the new techniques and tips learned. We are extremely pleased with the each teams’ results. Here are the results within the top 10, powered by North Sails: NYYC ONE DESIGN REGATTA J/70 1 Team Vineyard Vines / John & Molly Baxter 2 USA 2 / Tim Healy 4 Rimette / John Brim 5 The Sled / Eiichiro Hamazaki 6 Natsuko / Yasutaka Funazawa 7 Sled / Takashi Okura 8 Polar / Doug Clark 9 It’s Sled / Hideyuki Miyagawa 10 Spring / Dave Franzel * Denotes Partial North Sails Inventory Full Results Hiroo Kodama and Team Black practicing downwind techniques Lots of learning in the three-day J/70 training camp with the Japanese teams Short races at the North Sails training camp in Newport, RI Tim Healy coordinates the Japanese J/70 Training Camp in Newport, RI READ MORE

North Powers Sigma 33 National Champion Seven out of the top 10 boats were powered by North Sails at the UK and Irish Championship in Dublin Bay Philip Lovegrove's "Rupert" flying 3Di NORDAC sails The Sigma 33's had a stunning weekend's success at their recent UK & Irish Championships hosted by the Royal St. George YC in Dublin. Seven out of the top 10 boats had North Sails in their inventory which included the overall winner Leaky Roof, who flew their North Sails PX15T No. 1 Genoa and Norlon 75 spinnaker, to seal their overall win with a scoreline that included three race wins. Maurice "Prof" O'Connell from North Sails Ireland was on the water helping to set-up Dick Lovegrove's Rupert with her new 3Di NorDac mainsail and no. 1 genoa. Shane Hughes was also afloat assisting Meltemi, from Dunmore East with his new 3Di NorDac No. 1 genoa. Speaking after the event, North Sails Ireland's Nigel Young said, "We were delighted to see so many North Sails Sigma 33 customers afloat over the weekend. North Sails Ireland, UK South Coast and Scotland all look after Sigma 33 clients, delivering the fastest and most durable sail technology at an affordable price. Congratulations to the Sigma 33 fleet on a successful event." Full results READ MORE

52 SUPER SERIES UPDATE North Sails Inventories Sweep Podium at Super Series Event Two 52 SUPER SERIES Zadar Royal Cup 📸Martinez Studio Two regattas in and the 52 Super Series is shaping up to be an event to watch this season. The best of five series hosted the first two regattas in Croatia in May and June; a new venue for the Series and new territory for many of the professional sailors in this event. North Sails Grand Prix Sales Leader and Super Series vet, Paul Westlake commented pre-season that newness was a theme running through the 2018 Super Series. “We’re finished with two events, which were arguably the toughest events of the Series. You’re in a place the fleet has never sailed before, Sibenik and Zadar Croatia, respectively. On top of that, nine of the 12 boats are new this season, with endless developments in control systems, rigs, and most importantly sails. There is a considerable learning curve to understand the performance and the balance of this latest generation of boats. Plus very flat water and relatively light air makes for trying conditions on the race track. Sibenik turned out to be very light and Zadar ended up having a mixture of light and then some pretty good breeze over the last couple of days.” Based on results, the most improved title goes to Luna Rossa and Phoenix, while Sled gets the consistency award. Luna Rossa sailed to the top of the podium in Zadar, rebounding from a sixth-place finish in Sibenik. Sled has not only been on the podium for both events, but has also dominated both coastal races and now sits comfortably in second overall for the series with 77 points. The fleet will now turn its focus towards Cascais, Portugal, host of the 52 World Championship in mid-July. This location almost always guarantees good wind and swell, and a high probability of a tricky wave pattern. Recent conditions in the Series have not given a clear picture of a speed advantage, but Westlake feels we’re starting to see a little bit of a cream beginning to rise to the top. On Luna Rossa: “My prediction early on was that Luna Rossa would get stronger and stronger as the season developed. For them to win their second event as a newbie in the fleet is impressive. Yes, they’ve got a very experienced afterguard in Francesco Bruni, Jimmy Spithill, and Vasco Vascotto, but the majority of the crew is young with a dedication to improving their knowledge and skills every minute on the water. The program is showing that if you put the groundwork in and you trust the design and technology available, you have a solid foundation. I still think they’re going to get stronger and stronger throughout the series.” 📸 Martinez Studio On Phoenix: “Phoenix’s driver Tina Plattner is what every skipper dreams of, ending up with a podium finish in their first Super Series event. Being the first lady skipper in the history of the Super Series, and coming away with two wins and a podium finish whilst sailing at the highest level of our sport is nothing short of amazing. Hasso must be incredibly proud and it is no surprise that he has been instrumental in creating the Phoenix team which is doing a great job all around with very close attention to their rig and sail setup which leads to solid boat speed, it’s a fantastic team effort.” 📸 Martinez Studio On Sled: “You can’t underestimate how hard it is to win the coastal races in this fleet, and Sled has won both so far. We’ve always seen a trend of the boats that dominate in coastal races are usually regarded as one of the quickest boats in the fleet. We’ve seen light conditions so far and Sled is showing some real legs in the light air and flat water.” 📸 Martinez Studio On What’s Next: “The feedback on the North Sails design support and the latest 3Di RAW 880 upwind developments from all our teams has really been extremely positive. Everyone continues to push their equipment really hard because it is a long season. The top guys are keeping a careful eye on their sail program and the aging of the sails, and also the modifications and tweaks that they want to make as they learn their boats and look for those extra millimeters around the race track.” Westlake, along with Grand Prix designers Mickey Ickert and Juan Meseguer, will be in Portugal in July for the World Champs. The pressure is on for 52 teams and the North Sails experts who support as the World Championship closes in. Every team that signs up for the Super Series has the ultimate goal of winning the season, but to be crowned a World Champ is still the Holy Grail. Westlake expects we’ll see another level of intensity over the next three weeks. Cascais can be windy and kick up big waves, the team will therefore refocus their energy on conditions that will be demanding on their equipment and crews, whilst providing dividends to those who are fast both upwind and downwind. 📸 Max Ranchi 📸 Martinez Studio READ MORE

LAKE ONTARIO 300 & 600 CHALLENGE Check Off Your Race Preparation List. At North Sails, our mission is to provide you with expert repairs, maintenance, and upgrades in a timely manner. Whether you race or cruise, your sails are a major investment, and we are committed to helping you maximize their performance and lifespan. With the Lake Ontario 300 & 600 Challenge approaching, we want to make sure you are covered and your sail care preparation is taken care of. Bring your sails in for that vital tune up and order your race supplies before you cross the start line on July 14th. READ MORE

WALLY / GIRAGLIA ROLEX CUP // VICTOIRE DE 'TANGO' Après sa victoire en temps réel lors de la course Offshore de la Giraglia, le Wally 100 'Tango' mené par Marc Pajot, avec à son bord Laurent Delage, a remporté dans la classe Wally le classement Overall. © Rolex / Kurt Arrigo Du dessin des voiles à l'optimisation des réglages : Une implication à la mesure d’un projet hors norme. Laurent DELAGE (Responsable du développement du jeu de voiles et équipier en charge de la stratégie) : "Sur un bateau aussi pointu, le travail ne manque pas : les réglages du mât (cintres et quêtes) et ses influences sur les voiles nous ont bien occupé et aujourd’hui nous travaillons sur de nouveaux systèmes d’affalage de Spi. Quand on sait que ce dernier fait plus de 1000m2, on comprend vite l’importance que cela peut avoir…" La fiche technique Le bateau : Wally Cento (100 pieds) Les voiles : Voiles plates en 3Di RAW (Dynema/Carbon) Voiles de portant en 3Di DOWNWIND (Code Zero) et NPC DOWNWIND (A1, A2,A3,A4) READ MORE

IRCA / GIRAGLIA ROLEX CUP // VICTOIRE DE FRECCIA ROSSA. Tenant du titre et récent vainqueur overall de la Rolex Capri Sailing Week en ORC, le TP52 'Freccia Rossa' s’est de nouveau imposé dans sa classe et conserve sa couronne. © Rolex / Kurt Arrigo De la gestion de projet au réglage de la GV : Une collaboration de tous les instants Jean-Philippe GALLOIS (Project manager et régleur de GV à bord) : "Nous avons un équipage Pro-Am très performant avec un propriétaire très impliqué qui, depuis cette saison, a pris la barre. Nous remportons la Giraglia pour la 3e fois de suite. Nous espérons performer sur la prochaine Copa del Rey fin juillet, l’objectif majeur de notre saison". La fiche technique Le bateau : TP52 Les voiles : Voiles plates en 3Di RAW Voiles de portant en 3Di DOWNWIND, NPC DOWNWIND READ MORE

IRC / CHAMPIONNAT D’EUROPE // VICTOIRE DE J LANCE 12 J Lance 12 a été sacré champion d’Europe IRC 2018 à Cowes. Le bateau skippé par Didier le Moal a fait preuve de beaucoup de maîtrise dans les dernières étapes pour s’imposer au terme d’une semaine de régates intenses. Apporter une réponse pertinente aux experts les plus exigeants Quentin PONROY (Chargé de la mise à poste et de la validation des voiles : "Didier LE MOAL est un expert (Président de J Composites) exigeant, qui te pousse dans tes retranchements. Même si il reconnaitra plus volontiers les qualités de son bateau plutôt que celles de ses voiles, nul doute que celles-ci ont fait partie des atouts qui l’ont mené à la victoire". La fiche technique Le bateau : J 112 Les voiles : Voiles plates en 3Di RAW Voiles de portant en NPC DOWNWIND READ MORE