NORTH SAILS DOMINATES RESULTS

Victories for Clients Across Classes at Copa del Rey

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.”

“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.”

“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.”

“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.”