NORTH SAILS BLOG

2020 NORTH A-CLASS INVENTORY Optimized Designs for Boat Types, Masts and Sailor Weight The North A-Class Catamaran inventory is customized to complement your gear. Find below our sail selection charts which shows the sail that best suits your weight, mast and sailing conditions. Foiling Boats SAILOR WEIGHT All 14 & 15 Untapered Fibrefoam DNA Tapered Fibrefoam 6.3 to 6.5 Hounds Height Saarberg Mast Above 78 kg Decksweeper 2F Decksweeper 2 Decksweeper 2 Below 78 kg Decksweeper 2F Decksweeper 2F Decksweeper 2F Classic Boats SAILOR WEIGHT All 14 & 15 Untapered Fibrefoam DNA Tapered Fibrefoam 6.3 to 6.5 Hounds Height Saarberg Mast Above 78 kg Classic Decksweeper 1F Classic Decksweeper 1 Classic Decksweeper 1 Below 78 kg Classic Decksweeper 1F Classic Decksweeper 1F Classic Decksweeper 1F SAIL MODEL BOAT TYPE Classic Decksweeper 1 Classic Classic Decksweeper 1F Classic Classic Decksweeper 2 Foiling Classic Decksweeper 2F Foiling SHOP SAILS READ MORE

A-CLASS SPEED READING Training, Sail Design & “An Attitude Of Continued Learnings” © Gordon Upton / guppypix.com Glenn Ashby still remembers his first A Class catamaran sail like it was yesterday. “It was 1995 and it was only a 10-minute sail on a lake,” he says. “I couldn’t get over how smooth, efficient and fast the boat was. I’ve really enjoyed the boats ever since.” Not only has he enjoyed them, the 41-year-old sailor has been the most successful sailor in the class, bar none, upgrading his skillset as the singlehanded cats evolved into full-on foilers. In November 2018, at Hervey Bay, Australia, Glenn won his 10th A Class world championship title, adding to his collection of eight world titles in other classes plus an Olympic silver medal. There might’ve been more world titles by now, but the talented Australian got side-tracked a few years ago, joining the Team New Zealand America’s Cup effort and winning that little-known trophy in 2017 as skipper of the team’s foiling AC50 in Bermuda. Glenn has again signed on with TNZ as America’s Cup defender, but recently engaged in nearly a month of cross-training in the A Class, which he says is “the highest performance single-handed catamaran class in the world.” He brought along two of his TNZ teammates, Blair Tuke and Peter Burling, and they spent two weeks training on Port Phillip Bay at McCrae Yacht Club. “It was intense,” Glenn says. “Full-on. Long days on the water and a lot of boat work. We were also learning how to foil-jibe the boats—the kind of homework best done before the regatta. “Two days into the training, Pete and Blair were already going really well, and as they are very talented they were pushing hard immediately and we learned a lot of things very quickly working intensively as a group on and off the water.” © Gordon Upton / guppypix.com Despite winning six of the nine races sailed at the championship in November, the win didn’t seem easy. After three wins on the first day, Glenn was annoyed with his 5-1-3 the second day: “Normally I’m happy pushing the boat hard and not backing off,” he says, “and I probably was sailing a little too conservatively. When you start thinking, ‘I don’t want to capsize here or damage the boat,’ you don’t get the ultimate results. That was a great lesson for me. I gave myself an uppercut to the jaw and carried on.” Glenn finished out the regatta with a 3-1-1 and won with half as many points as second-place finisher, Mischa Heemskerk. Tuke and Burling finished third and fourth, respectively. (Results) “There’s a fine edge with A Class boats. Sometimes you find the other side of the line and have a wobble and have to use 110-percent of your skills and knowledge to keep the boat upright or stay on the boat! I feel at times it is somewhat like racing bikes or cars where you don’t want to really exceed your skill level and rely on luck to keep in control. You don’t want to be pushing yourself outside of your comfort zone for your skill level when on the ragged edge, but you have to be all-in when racing and know where that line is and be close to it. You have to get to that level to get best performance out of your machine or vessel. Good results generally come from doing your homework very well and pushing hard during training. Couple this with learning your settings and understanding your equipment means you are in good shape to complete the exam!” “Our training for sure gave us a step up,” Glenn continues. “The work with Pete and Blair and Ray Davies as coach and over seeing performance, set us up for one of us to have a chance of winning I feel. I was very happy and proud to have had this opportunity to work with the boys with the blessing of everyone at ETNZ. It was a great team effort again. ” Glenn has designed and produced sails under his own label for many years and says with “limited time” these days for sailmaking, the opportunity to develop a relationship with North Sails was timely. He says, “I do all the design work for the sails that are produced and North have been fantastic at producing them under their banner, and together we’ve had a strong relationship since day one. The partnership works well for us as I can’t put time into physically manufacturing sails these days. North has been able to continue to provide top level, high performance race sails and also added marketing, sales and customer service to my signature line range.” © Gordon Upton / guppypix.com Starting with his standard sail from a couple years ago, Glenn says, “I worked on a new direction and designed the DS2, which I felt was well-suited to a wide range of body weights, but specifically the 73- to 83-kilogram range. With adjustment to the spreaders, prebend in the rig and batten tensions, I could be as fast in the low end of that weight range as others near the top. “For this year, I developed the DS2-F design with reduced luff curve and slightly different mold shaping for lighter-weight sailors, which was very solid for upwind foiling. Everyone with North Sails who used those in this regatta had a good experience with their performance —if they got off the starting line well, they were right up at the front. “Our philosophy this year has been to target intensely the upwind foiling aspects of where the class is now. The challenge is to make a sail that also works really well in displacement mode (upwind under 10 knots). The goal is to accelerate quickly up to speed and then when foiling have a shape that’s quite clean at high apparent wind speeds as well as being able to morph into a nice aero package for downwind sailing. © Gordon Upton / guppypix.com “We made a lot of changes in the bottom half of the sail. I needed to make sure that part of the sail was driving hard and also really working well when doing high boatspeed numbers. Keep in mind that at 16 to 20 knots boat speed upwind in 14 to 18 knots of true wind, your apparent windspeed can be up to 30 to 35 knots across the deck. How important is Glenn’s use of the A-Class in cross-training, first with his Olympic Tornado campaigns and more recently with the America’s Cup? “It’s been really important,” he says. “The knowledge and practical learnings and lessons you get from sailing high-performance boats are key, especially because the class has had such rapid growth and is continually evolving. It’s great for the brain and forces you to think outside the squares. It’s taught me to be open-minded and willing to take on new ideas.” A good example of this occurred before these recent world championships.” We have an attitude of ‘continued learnings,’” Glenn says. “Not too many people were aware that we completely changed our rudders, daggerboards, and elevators between the Australian Nationals and the Worlds, which started two days later. Our experience gave us the ability to test the new equipment, decide it was better, measure it in, and not be scared to make the change. “The new foils gave us a step up in global performance. The new daggerboards I felt weren’t much different upwind but downwind they were a little better at times. The elevators were fractionally longer than standard, but we felt they were a gain, too—it’s all the half-percent gains added together that can give you the edge.” © Gordon Upton / guppypix.com 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

A-CLASS EASTER CUP, LAKE GARDA Congratulations Michał Korneszczuk powered by the North Sails Decksweeper © Anna Korneszczuk The A Class Easter Cup in Campione, Lake Garda, was preceded by a training event which gave the sailors beautiful sunny weather. Unfortunately the weather turned when it came to the actual event. Very strong and volatile wind forced the race committee to cancel the first day of the regatta. Although the wind calmed down for the second day, the rain persisted however one light wind race was sailed and the two female sailors in the fleet, Caroline van Beelen from the Netherlands and Katrin Brunner from Germany took first and second place respectively, presenting themselves very well indeed. Just behind them finished double World Champion – Micha Heemskerk and North Sails expert Michał Korneszczuk. By the last day of the regatta the sailors and the race committee were very motivated to get racing, with everyone wanting to make up for lost time from the previous days. The first race took place a few minutes after 10am in a shifty 6-12 knots wind from the North. However after race 1, the wind stabilized to some 10-12 kts for race 2. In both races the lead changed frequently as the racing was very tight. The Yacht Club Gdańsk sailor, Michał Korneszczuk, crossed the finish line in the second place. The third race began in a waning wind and unfortunately had to be cancelled. After an hour break, the wind from the South appeared and it was decided to sail an additional two races. “As it turned out, I kept the best form, which finally allowed me to win the regatta. I am happy using North Decksweeper. It is a versatile sail, the event in Campione just proves it. In these conditions, you could lose as much as you could gain. I could not avoid mistakes, but fortunately the others did do too. I finished the final races in places 5 and 4” said Michał Korneszczuk © Anna Korneszczuk READ MORE

The settings below are recommended for Fiberfoam 14 / DNA masts and 80 kg skipper. Download PDF MAST UPWIND DOWNWIND   WIND SPEED   Knots   SPREADER RAKE   PREBEND   CUNNIGHAM   BATTENS (Top 4 battens)   MAST ROTATION   CUNNIGHAM   MAST ROTATION   TRAVELER   (off the center line if foling) 5-8 42 mm 20 mm OFF Light 45-50 degrees OFF 80 degree if foiling 180 mm 8 - 12 56 mm 27 mm 15 - 40% Light Medium   (10+ kts)   35-45 degrees 10 - 25% 70 degrees 220 mm 12 - 16 60 mm 32 mm 100% Medium 25 - 30 degrees 60 - 75% 65 degrees 300 - 400 mm 16 - 20 75 mm 38 mm 100% Medium Heavy (18+ kts) 20 - 25 degrees 80% 80 degrees 500 mm 20 - 24 90 mm 42 mm 100% Heavy 20 - 25 degrees 80% 80 degrees 500 mm (Hang on!)   Lighter skipper will slide settings up the range one and heavier skipper will stay down range one setting for best performance. (70kg is light. 90kg is heavy) Mainsheet should be tensioned enough to have an even twist profile from top to bottom and all tell tails should fly evenly. READ MORE

In an exciting development for the future of One Design multihull sails, Glenn Ashby, world class sailor and multiple multihull world champion, has teamed up with North Sails to develop and market the Glenn Ashby Signature Line of multihull sails including the A-Class, Taipan and Tornado. The skipper of Emirates Team New Zealand will be bringing his design history and expertise to develop the signature line of sails that will be based on the current Ashby Sails models. He will be working on product and tuning development alongside the North Sails One Design team worldwide. North Sails, the world leader in sailmaking, shows once again through this partnership with Ashby, the importance the company puts on working with the best in the business to create leading-edge products. Paul Westlake, Global Head of Sales said: “We are delighted to team up with Glenn to create this new Glenn Ashby Signature Line. Glenn’s credentials and prowess speak for themselves and this is a great step forward for us in our One Design multihull offering. As a company we are constantly striving to be the best at what we do and we firmly believe that our customers will benefit greatly from this partnership.” Tim Healy, President of North Sails One Design comments: “Glenn’s experience in this arena is invaluable and will help us get on track straight away. His multihull sailing knowledge packaged with the North Sails Suite of design tools will help us bring sail development in these classes to a new level.” Glenn Ashby said: “I am really looking forward to an exciting future working with North Sails and have complete confidence in continuing to provide our worldwide customers and friends with the highest quality personalized products. The Signature line of sails will utilize proven winning designs as a base for new development utilizing the ultimate in technology and product quality.” Ashby will continue to be active in the international A-Class regatta circuit within the bounds of his current America’s Cup commitments. READ MORE