NORTH SAILS BLOG

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

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 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

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

A RACE OF SUPERLATIVES Ken Read Reflects On The Closest Volvo Ocean Race In History Dongfeng Race Team was named winner of the Volvo Ocean Race 2017-18 after a late pass in during Leg 11. 📸 Martin Keruzore/Volvo Ocean Race Like every other serious sailor on the planet I was glued to the Volvo Ocean Race tracker and live updates through the last day and a half of the Volvo Ocean Race. I woke up half a dozen times in the middle of the night to check what was going on as the fleet started to split at the exclusions zones. Unbelievable drama with the thrill of victory and the brutal agony of defeat all mixed into one as the boats finished within minutes of each other. With the dust now settling, you can’t talk about this race without first remembering the John Fisher tragedy. And the question is how can offshore sailing adapt to have better safety onboard in order to avoid such tragedy? Because these boats aren’t going to get any slower; with semi-foiling boats, offshore racing is only getting faster and and safety is going to become more of a priority. Secondly, from a North Sails perspective, I just couldn’t be prouder of our people and 3Di sails that were designed and supplied for this race. And how much better our products get by the day thanks to races like this. Bouwe Bekking said this was the windiest race he has ever done; the abuse that got put upon these sails and how good they looked coming into the finish line is unfathomable. Drone footage fully exposed the brutality of the Volvo Ocean Race like it’s never been seen before; how hard these boats are pushed and what the sails went through. Those of us who have done the race understand it, but even with onboard footage we’ve never been able to really show the world how brutal it can be to man and machine. The drone footage shows that the fleet tried to destroy their sails 24 hours a day for weeks at a time and 3Di lived through it! And not just lived through it, but the boats finished with sails that looked like they just did a Tuesday night beer can race. That’s how good 3Di sails are. It’s unbelievable and I’m incredibly proud of North Sails. The funny thing is, our company and the sailing world is starting to take 3Di performance for granted; but no other rival sail manufacturing technique could withstand anything close to what the Volvo sails did. Not even remotely close. It’s an unbelievable takeaway. We can’t get used to it because 3Di’s performance is incomparable and it is so beyond anything that has ever happened in our industry before. I remember when 3DL was first used on the Volvo 60’s and we saw performance rise to new levels, yet everyone was holding their breath as to whether a film-on-film sail would make it through each leg. But 3Di, obviously without film, has totally eclipsed that breakthrough and left laminates in its wake. To the point where we have now retired North 3DL sails and focused production entirely on 3Di for racing sails and performance cruising sails to meet demand. It’s also worth noting the ease of making long-lasting repairs in the worst spots possible. A tube of 5200, a piece of 3Di material and a bit of time for the glue to dry; any repair is complete. 3Di’s durability and unique construction has eliminated the need for teams to carry a sewing machine onboard. Interestingly, we had a complete debrief with every single Volvo team during the Newport stopover, 80% of the way through the race. The discussion covered the good and the bad. As a company we are committed to constantly improving, which is why we always do these debriefs after every major sailing event. There are always little details where we can do better. Three years ago feedback from the Volvo teams was all over the map, with a lot of both critical and positive analysis of the sails. The unique thing about this edition of the race was that the few small details the teams brought to us were tiny issues which are simple to clean up. Secondly, and I think more interesting, every teams’ detailed analysis was consistent; almost always exactly the same as the others. Gautier Sergent (North Sails Head of R&D, and designer of the VO65 sails) has brought everything together beautifully to create a solution for the race that is close to perfect. MAPFRE finished second overall in the Volvo Ocean Race 2017-18 📸Volvo Ocean Race It’s important to recognize as well that the females onboard are no longer just girls sailing, they are Volvo Ocean Racers, so it will be interesting to see what programs pick them up going forward. I hope the crews don’t go back to the status quo. These sailors are now experienced, big boat Volvo sailors; I hope big boats start calling them as much as they call the guys to go racing. The proof is in the pudding and that’s where you find out where the talent is, who now gets the invite? And there’s no reason why they should not get lots and lots of invites because Lord knows they have the experience, and they’ve sailed with best and have seen the toughest conditions. For me helping females succeed in all levels of our sport as well as keeping kids sailing in their 20’s and 30’s is key to the growth of our sport. Without female opinion leaders and female superstars, and female owners real growth is not going to happen. We have to keep pushing very hard in our sport to involve more women and youth. Looking to the future, it seems like the IMOCA relationship is set with the Volvo Ocean Race. Whether I agree with it or not is irrelevant, but I’m certainly curious to see how it works out. For me, the Volvo must always be a fully crewed race. The rules for youth and women sailors, and the introduction of onboard reporters, have been crucial to showing the world what sailing looks like. So I would not want to create a boat that weeds out in essence those three huge breakthroughs. It’s therefore critical to put a crewed boat out there. With the IMOCAs hopefully the crew does not become too small and that it is considered a 60ft boat where you have a proper crew and you can continue with the female, youth and reporting onboard. Personally, I would also love to see owners back in the race with an old Whitbread-style, second ‘Big Boat’ Class or open division, inviting 70’ through 100’ crewed boats to race around the world under a rating band – attracting those boats competing in other races like the Rolex Sydney Hobart, Newport-Bermudas, TransAtlantics, TransPacs and Rolex Fastnets. Whatever it might take to get more boats in the race. It means opening things up and saying to owners “we want you back”. At the end of the day offshore racing will continue to grow and evolve, and events like the Volvo will continue to push our products to improve, and boggle our minds with drone footage bringing it all to our living rooms. Which is fantastic for the sport. Boats will become faster. Hopefully women and young sailors are to be included more often. And we have to keep pushing safety as boats get inherently less safe. We need to pause and remember that we as North Sails have a strong say in our sport as well as a massive advantage in the marketplace today, and into the near future, and we should make the most of it; whether for a race boat or a cruise boat that wants the best. The fastest sails in the world are in fact the most durable. Something that has never been said in the history of sailmaking. Carolijn Brouwer hoists The Netherlands flag after winning the Volvo Ocean Race 2017-18, the first edition of the race to require mixed crews. 📸 Pedro Martinez/Volvo Ocean Race READ MORE

22nd ANNUAL SUPERYACHT CUP North Sails Powers Overall and Three Class Wins In Palma © Claire Matches / SY Cup The Superyacht Cup, Europe’s largest and longest running superyacht regatta this year featured 16 yachts, beautifully designed, and sailed by the best for a chance at the 2018 title. As always, Palma delivered fantastic racing conditions, setting the scene for a beautiful showing of some of the largest racing yachts in the world. Starts occurred in two-minute intervals, giving spectators watching ashore action-packed final moments before each fleet took off. Racing was also full of excitement for crews, with some classes having match-race style pre-start techniques and finishes within seconds of each other. “It was fantastic out there today. Great conditions here in Palma with a nice nine to 12 knots sea breeze, and quite challenging at times. I like this place- It’s really special. The unique geography puts a bend in the wind that you have to get right every time. The first race is always pretty key. Anything is possible,” commented Cameron Appleton, onboard Highland Fling. The breeze built over the duration of the week, keeping the racing close and competitive. Some teams fared well in the lighter air within their class, like Highland Fling who won their first race of the event. Others saw improvements come as more breeze filled in throughout the week. Points were tight in each class making every second count at the finish, especially going into the final day of racing. Many scores were within one point, and for some teams it came down to tie-breakers, showing how competitive each yacht and crew is. © Claire Matches “We had a good tussle with Svea in both races,” commented Velsheda’s tactician Tom Dodson. “They showed good speed in the first race to cross ahead on the first beat. In the second it all worked for us, we got the cross and hung on. Both boats are owner-driver and sailed to such a high standard – if we get everything right we can still win races against the newer boats.” It was impressive to see the two J Class superyachts match racing, close in points and even closer on the race course. “We got our start right, taking the right-hand side of the first beat,” commented Dodson, “We weren’t a 100% sure about it, but we were pretty sure that side would work out, and then we saw a couple of the locals going that way, so we felt pretty good about our decision.” After three days of racing, only the fastest and most consistent teams survived. Clients on 33m Win Win took 1st overall in Class A, with Saudade and Highland Fling close behind in second and third overall. J Class Velsheda won the tiebreaker in Class B, with a total of six points. Q the 51.7m Dubois took 1st in Class D, the Corinthian class, battling each race against 46m Scorpione of London. Congratulations to our clients on a successful week in Palma! J Class SY Velsheda, Winner of Class B. © Claire Matches / SY Cup “We were honored to win the event on the oldest boat in the fleet that is still helmed by her owner of 30 years. Velsheda herself is 85 years old this year. I and many of the crew have been with her since 2001.” –North Sails Tom Dodson, Auckland NZL Win Win, Winner of Class A © Claire Matches / SY Cup “It was an absolutely superior event with some of the best sailing you can imagine. 28 degrees and 10 – 15 knots sea breeze and Palma showing herself from her best side. First time on Win Win which I enjoyed a lot. Great owner with a great team. Tough but great competition with Saudade and Highland Fling being within minutes of each other the whole way around in all the races. Already looking forward to next year. This event is a must do event regardless of which class you are racing in.” – North Sails Jens Christensen, Herlev, Denmark © Claire Matches / SY Cup “Sir Peter Harrison’s Sojana was incredibly sailed by his long-standing and loyal crew. She has been optimized for speed and shows true elegance when under sail. Great conditions on the Bay of Palma with sea breeze and sunshine suited her, giving her everything she needed to perform to her fullest. Her crew enjoyed racing and was very pleased having a great season under their belt. Great times spent on and off the water to top off our season after placing second in St Barth’s, first in Antigua, and third here in Palma behind the illustrious Velsheda.” -North Sails Brad Favelle, Palma, Spain © Claire Matches “This year’s Palma SY Regatta was well run and a blast to sail in. Palma delivered perfect champagne sailing conditions with 9 – 14 knots of wind and flat water. I raced on the Swan 115 Highland Fling in Class A where there was a 3 way tie for first going into the last day. I can’t remember a superyacht regatta where the racing was this close.” – North Sails Mike Toppa, Ft. Lauderdale, FL © Claire Matches / SY Cup “The racing was very close in our class. Conditions were great and each day our team improved. The onshore social aspect of the regatta was also a great time. Our crew won the SUP race after day two of racing. It was a lot of fun.” -North Sails Marc Patino, Palma, Spain Q, Winner of Class D © Claire Matches / SY Cup It takes many hands to do big work on the SY Svea © Claire Matches / SY Cup © Claire Matches / SY Cup © Claire Matches / SY Cup © Claire Matches / SY Cup © Claire Matches / SY Cup © Claire Matches / SY Cup © Claire Matches / SY Cup 2018 Superyacht Cup Class A 1 Win Win 2 Saudade 3 Highland Fling Class B 1 Velsheda 3 Sojana 4 Svea 5 Ganesha 6 Missy Class D- Corinthian 1 Q * Denotes Partial North Sails Inventory READ MORE

2018 C SCOW NATIONALS Congratulations to Peter Keck – A Win Without a Question! Start line at ethe 2018 C Scow Nationals ©Larry Kmiecik The C scow National Championship was hosted in the beautiful Lake Delavan with sixty-three teams attending from thirteen different fleets. Peter Keck, alongside with crew Ben Porter, placed his name on the C Scow National Championship trophy for the fourth time (2018, 2014, 2005, 1997). Keck battled a tough competition including four past National Champions (Gluek, Skotarzak, Eckert and Reilly). Keck was, by far, the most consistent C Scow on Delavan Lake last weekend. He started out his domination with a bullet in the first race and he never took his foot off the pedal, finishing with a 2, 3, 2, 7 and no need to sail the last race. North Sails continues to bring speed to the C Scow Class – This year’s National Championship saw North clients finish 1,3,4,5,6,7,8,9,10. Unparalleled performance. Learn more about the fast C Scow sails. 2018 C SCOW NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP 1 N 181 / Peter Keck 3 B 12 / Kent Haeger 4 A 14 / Paul Reily 5 OO 99 / Dave Keck 6 BL 3 / Patrick Lynch 7 E 111 / Mathew Prange 8 B 217 / Joe Skotarzak 9 A 136 / Ed Eckert 10 A 36 / Tom Eckert * Denotes Partial North Sails Inventory ©Larry Kmiecik ©Larry Kmiecik ©Larry Kmiecik ©Larry Kmiecik READ MORE

KIELER WOCHE 2018 North-powered Clients Claim Multiple One Design Class Victories Matt Belcher & Will Ryan reign again in the mens 470, sweeping yet another title © Sasha Klahn Kieler Woche, the world’s biggest sailing event attracted roughly 4,000 sailors from 50 nations for the nine-day event in Northern Germany. Entries range from ORC, to Olympic Dinghies, to paralympic teams. With the Sailing World Championships in Aarhus later this year, many olympic hopefuls used Kieler Woche as a training event. In the 470 fleet, Olympic Silver Medalist and reigning World Champions Matt Belcher and Will Ryan continued their streak of success, snagging the title over Swedish team Anton Dahlberg & Fredrik Bergstrom. In the women’s fleet, Silvia Mas & Patricia Cantero won the medal race to secure their victory from Maria Bozi & Rafailina Klonaridou, from Greece. ©Sascha Klahn North Sails clients also filled the top end of the Finn fleet, with Kiwi Josh Junior taking the championship after finishing fourth in the medal race. Second place in the medal race secured second place for Anders Pederson. Rounding off the podium was current European Champion, Ed Wright. The OK Dinghy fleet had an impressive sixty-one boats racing from all over the world including Australia and New Zealand. Congratulations to Jan Kurfeld for taking the overall win. Jan was using his North M-20 Mainsail, which has again proven itself to be a championship winning sail. Congratulations to our clients on yet another successful week in Kiel. Jan Kurfeld, winner of the OK Dinghy Class © www.segel-bilder.de © www.segel-bilder.de Returning J/24 champion, Mike Ingham and crew on Nautalytics, enjoyed their time in Kiel and are already looking forward to next year. After 11 races and one discard, Mike racked up four bullets, and had five races within the top five overall, making his last race more of a victory lap. Congrats to Mike and team on sailing a great regatta. Full Results ©www.segel-bilder.de Keeping an eye on the competition, close behind ©Sascha Klahn © Sascha Klahn Kieler Woche 2018 J/24 1 USA 5443 – Mike Ingham OK Dinghy 1 GER 18 – Jan Kurfeld Finn 1 NZL 24 – Josh Junior 470 – Men 1 AUS 11 – Matt Belcher & Will Ryan 470 – Women 1 ESP 18 – Silvia Mas & Patricia Cantero 420 1 GER 56086 – Felix Kaiser & Jonas Royla J/70 1 GER 929 – Bjorn Beilken READ MORE

LESSONS LEARNED AT THE FLYING SCOT NORTH AMERICANS Expert Zeke Horowitz Shares His Tricks Of The Trade Zeke and Jay Horowitz, 2018 North American Champions © Steve Bill The 2018 Flying Scot North American Championship at Rush Creek Yacht Club in Heath, TX could have been called the “How to Run a Major Championship Clinic.” From the outset of the event, it was obvious that RCYC along with Fleets 209 and 23 had pulled out all the stops to make this regatta stand out as an all-time great in this class’ rich history. We had a super energetic and hard working Regatta Chair in Mike Brown, who was extremely active in helping make sure everyone had what they needed, and felt organized and welcomed. He had ensured that this sentiment was expressed at every turn from registration to measurement to launching and hauling out. There were plenty of cold waters (and other beverages…) and smiles at every turn. But perhaps the biggest shout out needs to go to local legend Bob Gough who recruited an absolutely World class PRO in Mark Foster (a sailing legend in his own right) who, in turn, assembled a brilliant team of volunteers who kept the racing as square and fair as possible in conditions that regularly delivered 30+ degree wind shifts. The RC communication on the radio was perfect and seemingly miraculously, they were always ahead of the big shifts and velocity changes. Kudos to the tremendous team that put together an absolutely flawless event. I don’t think anyone on the racecourse managed to make the sailing look as easy as the RC made the race management look. We were sailing on the Southwest corner of the Lake so it wasn’t always easy to see the breeze before it touched down right off the coast. It was very common for a beat to feature three or four 30-degree wind shifts with the pressure ranging anywhere from eight knots all the way up to the high teens. You could quickly watch a boat go from being in your mainsail window 1,000 yards to leeward of you to all of the sudden being directly on your bow 1,000 yards in front of you! Needless to say, keeping your wits about you was important but not easy. These condition is easy to get frustrated in and nearly impossible to always be in the right place at the right time. But I choose to think of this condition as one of the easiest conditions to make decisions in. Some readers who experienced this first hand might be shutting their computers and decidedly never listening to me again… but first let me explain! When sailing in these conditions on a windward leg that is around a mile long, you are very rarely going to be in the same breeze as your competitors (especially those on the other side of the course). You can’t control what the breeze is doing, and you can’t control the decisions your competitors are making. So, all you can worry about is getting your boat to the weather mark as best you can in the breeze available to you. It’s as simple as: “Am I lifted or headed and am I in the most pressure imminently available to me?” THAT’S IT. We learned time and time again that the breeze was oscillating and it always seemed to come back eventually. Even when it seemed really bleak, the new pressure would drop in, the direction would shift back, and you could tack and be right back in front with leverage. This was not a condition where you could chase shifts or puffs. When we saw the boats on the opposite side of the course go way up in a big lift with breeze that we didn’t have we would try to take a deep breath and come back to, “am I lifted or headed? And am I in the most breeze imminently available to me?” That was the only question we would make decisions on. Never, “we need to go get what they have.” We couldn’t get what they had… It wasn’t available to us. So if we were still in a relative lift and were still heading towards the most breeze imminently available to us, we would hang in there and wait until our moment to go up in a big lift with pressure that the other guys didn’t have. If you tack to try to go get something that other people on the other side of the course have, by the time you get there, it’s going to be gone and the boats you just left on your side are now going to have their shot. That’s called being “out of phase.” There were countless occurrences of this at the NAC’s but 9.9 times out of 10, the team that stayed patient and disciplined and kept sailing on their lift, would win out in the end. So to me, this is simple racing because all you can worry about is yourself and sailing on the best number in the best breeze available to you. Note that in this condition you oftentimes have to value sailing on the right tack over clear air. Staying on the lift in dirty air was usually better than sailing a big header to clear your air. This is tough decision to make but it’s a very important one for staying in phase! When in doubt point your boat at the mark. Having top notch boat speed makes being patient a whole lot easier. The majority of the regatta was sailed in flat water and more than ten knots. This is pretty powered up conditions for the Flying Scot and there were a couple of sail trim items we focused on to make sure our speed was there. Since we were rarely looking for power and the water was so flat, relative to how much breeze there was, we focused on trying to achieve a nice flat sail set up. If we had the same amount of breeze but more waves/chop, we wouldn’t have been so aggressive on the flat sails. We had the jib halyard tension set so the luff of the jib was mostly smooth. We still stuck to having it a touch too loose, but it was a click tighter than it would have been if there was a bit of chop. If there were any wrinkles coming off the snaps, they weren’t longer than about six inches. We rarely used weather jib sheet because we didn’t need any extra power in the foot and we sheeted the leeward sheet a tad harder than usual too. We had the leech tell tale just on the verge of stalling as soon as we were up to speed. This helped us keep the jib nice and flat and achieve adequate pointing. The foot of the jib had a hint of curl when we were fully trimmed. We set the main halyard so that the luff was smooth when sailing downwind. In the breezier conditions this meant that the luff was a bit loose for the upwind portion of the race. So we played the cunningham more often than usual so we could set the “speed wrinkles” coming off the luff. The wrinkles at the bottom of the main came off the luff and made it about half way back towards the leech. The wrinkles above that one got progressively shorter (closer to the luff) as they made their way up the sail. Above the vision window in the luff of the main, the luff was mostly smooth. So in the biggest breeze we had we were pulling the cunningham grommet down by up to about four inches to keep our speed wrinkles where we wanted them. Lastly, we made sure the outhaul was nice and snug to keep the foot of the main flat. There was a noticeable tension wrinkle in the foot when we weren’t trimmed in. I would have called our outhaul tension 90%. After that it was all about playing the vang and main sheet through the puffs and lulls to try to achieve a steady angle of heel. Having a crew counting the puffs and lulls so the skipper can be ready to make the appropriate adjustment was key. I’d like to thank all of the dedicated Flying Scot class members and class officers for all the hard work making it down to Rush Creek Yacht Club and helping to create the type of environment that makes everyone want to keep coming back. This is a special boat and a special fleet and it would be nothing without all of the spectacular personalities that define it. We’re looking forward to seeing everyone again real soon! Randy Pawlowski and Rafael Melendez, winners in the Challenger Division. © Steve Bill READ MORE

NORTH CLIENTS STORM J/70 EUROPEANS Alberto Rossi’s Enfant Terrible Continues Winning Streak in Vigo, Spain Team Enfant Terrible, 2018 J/70 European champions. © Mauro Melandri | Zerogradinord Sixty-nine boats met in Vigo, Spain for the 2018 J/70 European Championship. The heavy North-Westerly Atlantic winds came in full force, making for a beautiful week with exhilarating planing conditions. The title came down to the last leg of the final race. After receiving a black flag (DSQ) in race eight, Enfant Terrible was playing catch up towards the end of the regatta. Their win in the final race gave them a one point lead over second place Relative Obscurity, making Alberto Rossi and his team the new 2018 European Champions! Rounding off the podium in first for corinthian division was Luis Arriola and his team onboard MarNatura. The local Vigo team put in a spectacular performance placing ahead of most the professional teams, showing true local spirit. What is extra special about this team is that the crew members are under 25 years of age, with 22-year old Luis on the helm proving that the J/70 is not just for professional sailors. Second place in the Corinthian division was Paolo Tomsic and team onboard La Femme Terrible, finishing in seventh place overall. The fight at the top was not just between these three boats. A stand-out performance by Gustavo Doreste and his Spanish team onboard FERMAX who scored a hat trick mid-week, with three bullets in a row, matching the number of victories to the first and second placed boats. North Sails has confirmed their abilities to overcome the odds and downright speed, thanks to five of the top 10 all powered by North. Congratulations to our clients on a job well done! Our clients placed 1,3,5,7, and 9 out of 69 boats. Alberto Rossi and team Enfant Terrible used North Sails XCS-1 mainsail, J-2 jib and AP-1 spinnaker. 2018 J/70 EUROPEAN CHAMPIONSHIP 1 Enfant Terrible / Alberto Rossi 3 MarNatura / Luis Arriola (1st Corinthian) 5 FERMAX / Gustavo Doreste 7 La Femme Terrible / Paolo Tomsic 9 Ewa / Krzysztof Krempec Full Results Team MarNatura, 1st place Corinthian Division. © J70 Class Association | Chris Howell © J70 Class Association | Chris Howell Team Enfant Terrible going fast downwind. © J70 Class Association | Chris Howell © J70 Class Association | Chris Howell READ MORE

ONE DESIGN DEBRIEF: ROAD TO J/70 WORLDS Experts Collaborate in Three-Day Training Session in Newport, RI North Sails one design experts met in Newport, RI for a three-day collaboration featuring North’s exclusive two-boat testing system. Attendees brought a range of expertise, from sail experts to sail designers, augmenting the further development and advancements in sail design, techniques, tuning, and boat speed. This on-the-water convention combined the intellect and talent of the North team from all over the U.S. Strength in design has kept North Sails ahead of the curve, and their commitment to excellence enhances future performance and evolving designs within North’s J/70 product line. From left to right: Will Welles, Max Skelley, Eric Doyle, Jackson Benvenutti, Reed Baldridge, Mike Marshall, Tim Healy, Allan Terhune, Chris Snow “We had an awesome in-house training session last week in Newport. It was great to have our J/70 team working together to learn as much as we could. The amount this group accomplished as a team this last week is incredible. It just goes to show what a strong team can achieve when we all work together. We all got pieces from each other and I am more confident than ever that we are working together to get the most out of the boat for our customers.” – Allan Terhune, Sales Expert, North Sails Annapolis, MD & Chicago, IL “It was an awesome three days of two- boat J/70 testing in Newport, RI in a variety of conditions. Some of our best sail designers and sailors worked together as one to improve sail designs, rig tuning and trim techniques. I was proud to be apart of this long-term recipe of making sure our customers have the fastest sails available and the best possible trim and tuning techniques and information. Just as North Sails dominated the highly competitive J/70 Europeans winning overall, five out of the top ten and top Corinthian, our North team was at home already working to make improvements for the the upcoming World Championship in Marblehead. It’s a recipe for success.” – Max Skelley, Sales Expert, North Sails Annapolis, MD “It was great to get together with the North One Design team in Newport. The energy that the younger guys bring combined with the experience of the veteran sailmakers really makes for a great learning and teaching environment. When we add in the technical expertise of our designer Mike Marshall in the coach boat, we have an incredibly strong team for developing sails. Lots of ideas about sail trim, boat set-up and sail shape were thrown around and tested and we have a much more detailed understanding of our product line and how to help our customers go faster throughout the wind range. I think everyone is looking forward to testing our ideas on the racecourse this summer leading up to the world championships in Marblehead.” – Eric Doyle, Sales Expert, North Sails San Diego, CA “It was excellent working with some of the best J/70 sailors in the world that strive so hard to make the fastest sails in the world go even faster! The two-boat testing system ran by Mike Marshall is simply unmatched providing real time feedback about sail trim, and boat speed, while coordinating this information with real time wind analysis at the same time. The system eliminates any unknown variables and allows us to focus on exactly how the different sail designs are working separately. It’s quite astounding how educational this process is, and how any kind of doubt can be so minimized. Our technology, research, and design efforts are simply unmatched in the sailmaking world. –Jackson Benvenutti, Sales Expert, North Sails New Orleans, LA “It was excellent to bring together a large group of J/70 experts from the North Sails team to evaluate our sail designs. As with any class, you have to try new things in order to improve, but the high level of the team helps to narrow those ideas into the best ones which can then be evaluated on the water with the help of the Two-Boat Testing System. Lucky for us, we had perfect conditions the confirm what is the best sail for our clients for the 2018 Worlds in Marblehead.” –Mike Marshall, Sail Designer, North Sails Portsmouth, RI “We had a great session with our One Design team last week evaluating and testing sails . Using our two-boat testing system was invaluable as it gave us accurate feedback as to what was happening on the water. Sometimes with small differences in boat speed and wind shifts over the course of a test it is hard to tell decisively which boat is performing better. With the two-boat system, the answers are clear. This is really valuable when evaluating what products we have and deciding what to look at in the future.” -Chris Snow, North Sails San Diego, CA “What a productive week of sailing with many of our J/70 gurus, sharing ideas and looking at sails. I had the pleasure of sailing with many of them who have been on the circuit over the last few years sailing with lots of different teams. Having Mike Marshall in the powerboat running our two boat system was invaluable at confirming our current sail line up is easy to tune, trim and go fast in a wide range of conditions that we saw over the week of testing.” -Will Welles, Sales Expert, North Sails Portsmouth, RI READ MORE

J LANCE 12 CROWNED IRC EUROPEAN CHAMPION In The Heat Of Battle, The J/112E Sport-Cruiser Wins Title In Cowes 2018 IRC European Champions © RORC / Paul Wyeth The IRC European Championship was a mixed bag experience for all competitors. The regatta consisted of a combination of short and long inshore races, windward/leeward courses and one Round the Isle of Wight race. The conditions started off with lighter winds, where the local boats used to their advantage. With the strong solent tides, this local knowledge was essential, especially for the shorter inshore races around the Solent. Mid-week, the Round the Isle of Wight race kicked off with winds of around 30+knots clocked at St. Catherine’s lighthouse. The majority of the class one boats finished this race in no time, using the downwind leg and their asymmetric designs to speed around the course and turn the corner before the foul tide turned against them. Round the Island is well-known for being a small boat race, as competitors can tuck in and out of the tide to make gains. Boats like Shaitan and Redshift in class three were challenging the 40-footers in class two with short runs, gybing into the shore to avoid the punching and unforgiving current. Ino XXX, second place class two © RORC / Paul Wyeth Each fleet was a mix of local racing boats with a few that travelled to compete in one of England’s most popular race courses. It was great to be challenged by different boats coming in from across Europe. In the end, the boats that were most consistent throughout the week and the teams who met the challenges of the mixed courses were the ones who came out on top. In Class One Tokoloshe II finished first overall, followed by Ino XXX. In Class Two, Elke came out on top with La Réponse close behind in second. Class Three was dominated by Didier le Moal’s J Lance 12. J Lance 12 coming up to the windward mark © RORC / Paul Wyeth The J/112E is fit for purpose and faired extremely well against other competitors in their division like the JPK 10.80, First 40.7, Sunfast 36, J/109, and X-37. Delivering utmost speed and versatility, her upwind game and downwind speed made her a tough boat to beat. Congratulations to J Lance 12 for your amazing performance, showing true speed while keeping things simple in the highly competitive conditions presented in Cowes. “It is our third season on this type of boat, so we know exactly how it works,” continued le Moal. “We had a very, very good navigator – to be fast is one thing, but to be fast on the right side is perfect. We are not so good reaching, but upwind the boat is so fast, it helps you recover.” – Didier le Moal J Lance 12’s crew consisted of skipper Didier le Moal, navigator/tactician Nicolas Lunven, Frederic Bouvier, Christophe and Cyrille Cremades, Jean Francois Nevo, Jean-Michel Roux, and Cyrille Testonare who are good friends and have been sailing with Didier for years. © RORC / Paul Wyeth J Lance 12 was equipped with North Sails 3Di 780M RAW and 3Di 760S RAW main and headsails. Congratulations to our clients for your excellent results last week, and a special congrats to J Lance 12 on your new European Championship title! Tokoloshe II, first place in class one © RORC / Paul Wyeth © RORC / Paul Wyeth La Réponse , © RORC / Paul Wyeth © RORC / Paul Wyeth © RORC / Paul Wyeth READ MORE

MC SCOW MASTERS CHAMPIONSHIP Congratulations Vince Driessen, powered by North ZMax Champion Vince Driessen, in his new Melges MC 2701 and his North ZMax mainsail, chasing down Dan Quiram in race 2. © Harbor Pictures Company This week we held one of our class sanctioned major MC Championships of the year at one of our newest fleets. Fleet 103 Indianapolis Sailing Club was our host for the four day event. This club has a rich history of One-Design sailing with large fleets of Y-Flyers, Flying Scots, Highlanders, Snipes, Thistles, Lasers , Lightning’s and many more classes. They also have a great junior program and also own their beautiful 14 acre property on Geist Reservoir. Their history is rich and their future is bright. If you have never been make sure you get with some of the new MC advocates there like Andy McDonald to check it all out. The Regatta Scheduled for six races but a huge high pressure system dominated the whole state of Indiana this week. Day 1 and Day 3 no racing. Our practice day was great and day two we got in three very fair but very light air races. The Sailors Thirty six teams were here for this year’s Master Championship. Lighter than expected but when the Weather Channel gives you a predicted scorcher with light winds these things can happen. Some great sailors were here though. Past national champions from both MC and C Scow classes were present along with some great sailors from other classes just getting into the MC Class. So the sailing was with a tough group but also a fun group. Not the big dance but the warmup to the big dance if you will. The Results Wow, this was really cool to watch. Vince Driessen of Gull Lake with his new Melges MC 2701 won two of three races and probably would have won three of three but in one race had to do a 720 in light air after some contact with another boat in front of the judges on race 2. Vince did not even hesitate and did his 720 with his typical great attitude. However, Ted Keller tied Vince up with his own great sailing performance and just placed second on the tie-breaker . Mike Considine of Pewaukee sailed a very good regatta and survived an unusual judges protest and hearing on kinetics. Eric Hood finished fourth and was top Grand Master. Katie Arvensen really sailed well and was our top Woman for the Masters Championship this year. Commodore Richard Blake was fifth overall and second Grand Master. Lessons Learned Velocity rules over direction (most of the time). This was all about sailing in the dark water for these three light air races. Even though we had tall tree lines what was showing on the water was what was happening. Sometimes in really hot conditions and high tree lines on a narrow lake the wind will not show on the water. So that was the case. You could see the breeze on the course all the time. That was critical because you had to make a choice. Direction or velocity. I think in the case of Ted and Vince they were the only ones who were able to mix both very well. Others of us had moments but those two really put it together. Second was not being out of place on the starting lines. They were very long and in light air this poses a huge risk. Most of the top ten sailors all three races could be found closer to the middle during these starts. Other Regatta News A great group of volunteers including some MC sailors not yet qualified for the Masters helped with this event. Regatta Chairman Dale Katzfey had a great crew for the whole event and were all honored at the awards ceremonies. Also, Andy McDonald thank you for the vision to bring the regatta to Indy and make it all happen. Bill Crawford gave every sailor some incredible framed pictures. Bill’s skills are incredible. Check it out at bill@harborpictures.com . You will Melges.com , MC Scow.org and others posting many of his pictures. In fact he has his own Facebook page and you can see some there now. In closing, great job to all at the Indianapolis Sailing Club. Thank you from all of us who participated this week. It was fun and very well done !!! Lots of great club racing going on now, some more great regional regattas to get you ready for the MC Nationals at Pewaukee August 23-26. You don’t want to miss it . The famous and annual PYC Rib Night is happening during the Nationals as well. It is one of those LifeList regattas you do not want to miss. MC SCOW MASTERS CHAMPIONSHIP 1 Vince Driessen 2 Ted Keller 4 Eric Hood (Top Grand Master) 5 Richard Blake 1st Woman Katie Aversen * Denotes Partial North Sails Inventory EHood (Grand Masters Champion) and Vince Driessen Overall and Masters Champion, both used the fast North ZMax. © Harbor Pictures Company © Harbor Pictures Company READ MORE

ITALIANS TAKE THE MELGES 24 WORLDS Congratulations Team Altea and Team Full Circle, Winners in the Open and Corinthian Divisions Andrea Racchelli’s Team Altea, 2018 Melges 24 World Champions. ©IM24CA/Zerogradinord Great breeze and blue skies welcomed forty-one teams from five different nations for the 2018 Melges 24 World Championship held at the Royal Victoria Yacht Club in Victoria, BC, Canada. Tough competition with a total of ten races made for some very close results. The Italian team Altea, skippered by Andrea Raccelli with crew of Filippo Togni, Gaudenzio Bomni, Matteo Ramian, Michele Gregoratto claimed their first Melges 24 World Championship title finishing the event with only 30 points. We caught up with Andrea Racchelli to get his impressions and emotions on his big win: How did you and the team prepare for the Worlds? This year we sailed two events in Italy (Punta Ala and Malcesine) and had one training in Malcesine. We are quite experienced on the Melges 24 as we have been sailing since 2001, so usually we don’t do a lot of training. We arrived late in Victoria for the World Championship as most of our crew members were busy in a Melges 32 regatta in Italy. We had just one day of training on the racing area of the event, while other teams spent there more time to learn about difficult current and wind conditions. What were the 3 main factors contributing for the winning? The three main factors were: We used a charter boat that was really perfect and super-fast. We had a new set of North sails fast as well (we used the AP-3K main, J-7K jib and P-3 Runner) Of course the crew! We have been sailing together from many years and we are a group of friends first of all. What was the most exciting moment of the event? Winning two races in day 2 in light and shifty wind conditions we nice, and of course the last day: We had two points to recover, it was a perfect day with strong wind and huge current. After the first two races we were leading and we had just to control the last one. We didn’t have a very good start in the last race but we had very good speed and a fast upwind leg, and… we crossed the finish line as the 2018 World Champions! What’s next for Team Altea? In the end of June we are going to an event of European Sailing Series in Torbole, followed by the European Championship in August. Congratulations again to the Team Altea! Learn more about North’s fast Melges 24 sails. 2018 MELGES 24 WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP 1 ITA 722 – Altea / Andrea Racchelli 2 USA A829 – WTF / Alan Field 3 USA 851 – Monsoon / Bruce Ayres 4 USA 849 – Full Throttle / Brian Porter 5 CAN 838 – Mikey / Richard Clarke 6 USA 825 – Was Canoe / Michale Goldfarb 7 CAN 835 – Mikey / Welches/Rhodes 9 USA 675 – 12happythoughts / David Brede 10 CAN 415 – Full Circle / Robert Britten – 1st Place Corinthian Full results Andrea Racchelli, Filippo Togni, Gaudenzio Bomni, Matteo Ramian, Michele Gregoratto win their firts Melges 24 World title. ©IM24CA/Zerogradinord 2018 Corinthian World champions, Robert Britten’s Team Full Circle. ©IM24CA/Zerogradinord 90% of the boats at the Worlds were powered by North. ©IM24CA/Zerogradinord ©IM24CA/Zerogradinord Team War Canoe going fast downwind. ©IM24CA/Zerogradinord READ MORE

CEDAR POINT ONE DESIGN REGATTA North Clients Dominate Growing Event With over 100 boats and 560 sailors registered, the 2018 Cedar Point One Design Regatta provided great competition for many one design classes in the Long Island Sound waters. Connecticut sailors were joined by teams from Canada and other states along the East Coast. “The CPYC One Design Regatta is growing every year and we are proud to be part of it. “ said Tim Healy, President of North Sails One Design. At the end, North-powered clients had exceptional results dominating most of the classes, taking the full podium on the J/30, J/70, Beneteau 36.7, Atlantic and Thistle class. North is proud to sponsor the Cedar Point OD Regatta. 2018 CEDAR POINT ONE DESIGN REGATTA J/30 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 USA 41230 Wildcat / Russ Atkinson J/70 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 USA 96 Savasana / Brian Keane J/70 Corinthian 1 USA 501 Button Fly / Andrew & Melissa Fisher J/88 1 USA 80 Wings / Mike Bruno Beneteau 36.7 1, 2, 3, 4 USA 51898 Blazn’ Star / Peter Hurley Atlantic 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 129 Elan / Rodrigo Meireles Thistle 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 10 3839 Pepper / David Dellenbaugh * Denotes Partial North Sails Inventory Full Results Brian Keane and Team Savasana, winners of the J/70 class Vento Solare sporting the new J/109 A2-3 spinnaker Rodrigo Meireles and Team Élan, Atlantic class winners Russ Atkinson and Team Wildcat, J/30 class North American Champions READ MORE

J/24 DISTRICT ONE CHAMPIONSHIP Clients Shine at Worlds Qualifier in Portsmouth, NH © SA Follansbee 2018 For those of you who have never been to Kittery Point Yacht Club in New Hampshire, it is one-of-a-kind. On the border of Maine and New Hampshire, sitting on the edge of the Piscataqua River, this quaint club put forth some big expectations in hosting this event-which they pulled off without a hitch. KPYC volunteers and club members were on-point, on and off the water, and the fleet had a very successful weekend of racing with a fun social atmosphere ashore. Big thanks to J/24 Fleet 139, the Portsmouth Yacht Club, the Piscataqua Sailing Association, and the Kittery Point Yacht Club for your hospitality, hosting the J/24 D1 Championship. © Boats N Stuff / Brittany Anania On Saturday, a dry front approached the Portsmouth area, and high pressure sat over the fleet creating shifty light-air, which was challenging in many ways. Sailors and RC volunteers stuck it out to the end- giving the fleet two races to kick-off the regatta. That evening a front moved in and the high pressure lifted. The temperature dropped 10 degrees, and the breeze welcomed the fleet to the racecourse Sunday morning, providing great racing conditions that would last throughout the day. Swells and current made things interesting, mostly for the skippers, as the puffs, waves, and current created a constant battle uphill to keep the boat powered up and on track. © SA Follansbee 2018 The breeze oscillated, favoring the left side of the course a bit more often giving teams leverage coming out of the bottom mark if they tacked right away and got left of the fleet when the pin was favored. Racing was tight so every point was important. Overall boat speed was key to being able to extend and solidify positioning. Downwind was exciting with surfing conditions, testing the power of teamwork and boat handling skills to stay in the most pressure, especially when it came to maneuvers, setting up for lay lines, and jibe angles with the waves. The RC ran two races on Saturday in the light air, and six races on Sunday, giving competitors some great racing- exactly what they came to NH for. Congratulations to our clients for sailing a great regatta, finishing 1*,3,4,5. Big thanks to on the water photographers, Susan Follansbee, and Brittany Annania / Boats N Stuff for supporting the J/24 fleet at the D1 Championship. Clients Carter and Molly White, with team YouRegatta, were unstoppable, claiming five bullets out of eight races, giving them the overall win with a total of 11 points. Congrats! © SA Follansbee 2018 Third place was a battle, as teams that had not already qualified were fighting for the one World Championship berth available. The berth would go to the top skipper, and the Seabags Women’s Sailing Team with skipper Erica Beck Spencer won the battle, after a good fight, rounding off the podium and securing their spot for the 2019 Worlds in Miami. Finn Hadlock’s team Boreas had a great comeback on Sunday, moving up to fourth overall, and Andrew Carey’s Mr. Hankey was right behind in fifth. © SA Follansbee 2018 “Each event is a learning experience”, commented trimmer Katie Drake. “We take notes, listen to the experts, and make adjustments. All of our hard work and fresh/new insights are starting to pay off on the water”. © SA Follansbee 2018 “This will be the second World Championship in which our team will compete, which is a big deal for us”, commented Hillary Noble. “This is something we’ve always wanted and we worked hard this weekend to achieve that goal. It’s a great feeling to be able to accomplish it on the water too, which will encourage more all-women’s teams to compete at the 2019 worlds.” “The team rocked it this weekend. The driving was exceptionally tough on Sunday with bigger waves than I am used to sailing in. The waves were affected by the direction of the wind, and the groove where you had to sail was very narrow. With six races on Sunday, it became challenging to keep track of how we were doing against the other boats that also were trying to qualify. We didn’t find out until we arrived at the awards ceremony that we had done it! It was thrilling to know we had met our goal. I am exceptionally proud of my team!” -Erica Beck Spencer Full Results *denotes partial inventory © Boats N Stuff / Brittany Anania © SA Follansbee 2018 © Boats N Stuff / Brittany Anania © Boats N Stuff / Brittany Anania READ MORE

A SAILMAKING FAIRYTALE New Sails for Darragh McCormack Help Him Win the Mermaid Nationals Nigel Young, One Design expert and founder of North Sails Ireland, talks about the development of the Mermaid class: On the 19th June 2018 an email landed into my inbox from Darragh McCormack making an enquiry about Mermaid sails. I have been corresponding with Darragh since 2014 but in most cases, we talked about the J/24 rather than the Mermaid. This time things were going to change. North Sails have been involved in the Mermaid for a number of years now and have enjoyed Nationals winning success with Paddy Dillon and several other teams have done well with our sails but we never really took much market share even after those Nationals win. When Darragh got it touch, my initial feeling was he would just be checking out prices and getting a feel for what we might be doing in the class. Not for one moment did I think he wanted to order and do a total re-design on the Mainsail and Jib and take delivery in advance of the Nationals that were only 5-6 weeks away! After a chat on the phone I quickly got the impression that Darragh was keen to try North Sails, so I jumped in the van the very next evening and drove to Foynes YC to go for a sail. Darragh had some very strong feelings about the changes he wanted to make to the standard North Sails and of course specifically to fit his mast set up. On arriving in FYC that night, we looked at several sails on Darragh’s mast on shore and then took to the water. We flew more sails, took pictures of the sails in flight and I got a feel for the boat and the sail shapes. It has always been an eye-opener to sail with a new team and in the sport of sailing there are many ways to make a boat go fast! Armed with about 50 pictures, notes, measurements and my own thoughts about the project, I headed home with an order for twelve sails… yes, twelve and they were all wanted for the Nationals! July is one of the busiest months in the sail making world and we had to re-design the sails, make sure everything was perfect and then have the sails built in our Sri Lanka facility and shipped to Ireland! Quite a tall order but the enthusiasm from Darragh was infectious so I decided to give it our best shot. Fortunately, I was able work with Ruairidh Scott our One Design sail design expert in the UK, and very quickly and he worked his magic on the designs and we got everything boxed off in record time. The delivery dates were set and in theory with no shipping hold ups Darragh’s new sails would arrive just in time for the warm-up regatta the weekend before in Skerries and the rest of the order would arrive on a just in time basis for the main event, fingers crossed! Like all the best-laid plans they do not always pan out perfectly! A slight shipping delay meant the sails for Darragh arrived a day late and he missed his chance to use the sails in Skerries. I was away at the time racing in the Dragon Gold Cup which was only adding to the stress of the sails being late! As it turned out, that was a windy regatta so I am not sure the sails would have been used anyway. I landed home on the Monday and drove half-way to Foynes to meet Darragh and hand over the sails. I was off again the following day to Lake Garda for the Melges 24 Europeans so I could not even check out the sails with Darragh. Thank goodness for his confidence in us! He took the sails and spent the next two evenings ahead of the Nationals making sure everything was OK, sorting out the new Jib lead locations and wire heights. I was phoning from Lake Garda every second minute like an expectant Father waiting to hear about the new-born Mermaid sails! Like all good Fairy tales this one also has a very happy ending! The sails fitted well and more importantly proved to be very quick on their first outing. Oh, I almost forgot to say…. The other nine sails arrived the day of the practice race as well. Too tight for comfort especially as I was not about to help fit them all, which is something we always try to do here at North with a brand-new design. Fortunately, all was well and everyone got their new sails on time but only just. From conception to water in only thirty-three working days after taking the order! I think I might have lost a bit more hair during those days! Darragh went on to sail an amazing series at his home yacht club and took the overall Nationals to win in fine style, including winning the very first race the new sails were used in. I have to say, a wave of relief came over me when I heard the news after day one of the Nationals, the sails are FAST, that was all I wanted to hear! Congratulations to Darragh and his crew of Mark McCormack and Johnny Dillon, a helm is only ever as good as his crew on this occasion the teamwork was exceptional to lift the Nationals trophy for the first time. North Sails Ireland were delighted to play a small part in this success and we wish Darragh and his crew and all the other North clients in the Mermaid class all the best for 2019. For more information about the sails please do not hesitate to contact us. Darragh and his Team power to Victory with 100% North Sails Mark Boyland flies downwind with his new North MS-1 Spinnaker to finish 3rd overall Jim Carthy and his team finish 4th overall with a full new set of North Sails READ MORE

2018 J70 NORTH AMERICANS Challenging Conditions, Fantastic Times! North 1,2,3*,5!!!!!! Sailing on a lake at nearly 6,000 feet of elevation in the middle of Mexico is not the normal kind of venue that comes to mind when racing a J/70 North American Championship. However, the location, the weather, the sailing, and the people in Valle de Bravo were all top notch. Valle provided picturesque scenery with days reminiscent of the movie Ground Hog Day. In the mornings the temperature was cool and the wind was completely absent. As the day went on and the heat built, the thermal breeze would arrive like clockwork around noon, and the glassy lake would instantly be filled with a shifty and puffy 8-14 knot breeze. The breeze often arrived so quickly and seemingly out of nowhere that it could easily catch you off guard. The pressure and angle variances in the wind across the course made the sailing quite interesting and even comical at times. It was not uncommon to see boats sailing upwind on opposite tacks with nearly the same heading, mearly boatlengths apart. This made my job as tactician tough, to say the least! Patience paid huge dividends and it was important to remember that sometimes when you might look the worst in a given moment, you could quickly go from zero to hero in the next shift, which was usually just moments away. It was also crucial to keep your head out of the boat, as there didn’t seem to be much rhyme or reason to the puffs and shifts. Being proactive with your crew weight and gear changes through the pressure changes were also key elements to the puzzle. Downwind in the flat water provided excellent conditions for very fast wing-on-wing sailing. The trick here was to make sure you had enough pressure in the spinnaker to switch to the wing. Good communication from the spinnaker trimmer to the driver was essential and we also found that you want the boat to be going around 5.8 knots before deciding to wing. Teams also experimented with transitioning to the wing by jibing the boom, but also by jibing the kite. In the past, most teams have primarily been jibing the boom, but if pulled off correctly, jibing the spinnaker seemed to work a little bit better as you don’t have to swing the mainsail through the air which can throw some turbulent air in the direction of the spinnaker at a time when it is the least stable. Javier Navarro led his team on Bandoola (powered by North Sails jib and spinnaker) to a solid third place finish with Ander Belausteguigoitia (and I thought my last name was hard to pronounce!) on the helm and Javier Patron and Maria Jose Porter crewing. This team also shined in the Mexican Nationals just days before where they won the event with style even though the breeze was influenced by thunderstorms, causing it to switch 180 degrees, twice in each day. Oivind Lorentzen, with Mike Buckley calling tactics along with Jeff Reynolds and George Peet crewing, took second place with all North Sails. The J70 2018 North American Champions won the event going away and didn’t even need to sail the final race (quite the accomplishment given the tempermental wind conditions). Congratulations to Thom Bowen and his team Reach Around with Bill Hardesty calling tactics, Alec Anderson and Jacolyn Wetmore crewing. Reach Around was also powered by full North Sails inventory. Enough good things can’t be said about the incredibly hospitable people in the Valle de Bravo sailing community that made the North Americans happen (and the Mexican Nationals just days before). Roberto “Pollo” Escalante, skippering his boat Lampuga, organized one heckuva regatta that provided some downright delicious meals each evening that included some fantastic tequila and Optimist dinghies filled with free beer every day after sailing. “Pollo” also treated the regatta to some of his live music playing abilities the last night of regatta that I may or may not have been a part of… Erik Brockman, sailing on Vincitore with Ricardo Brockman skippering to a commendable 8th place finish, organized a remote control Laser racing tournament that was a blast for both the racers and the spectators (thanks again, Chip Till, for calling me over – twice!). Special thanks go out to Sean and Tanya O’Keefe for setting us up with their J70 Mexigenics and also Kenneth Porter for hosting Chris Snow and myself at his house and for sailing with us along with Danny Banos on Mexigenics. All in all, if you ever get the chance to sail a regatta in Valle de Bravo, jump on it! This place is definitely one to add to your bucket list. I know I personally can’t wait to get back down there. 2018 J/70 NORTH AMERICANS 1 USA 151 Reach Around / Thomas Bowen 2 USA 819 Nine / Oivind Lorentzen 3* MEX 407 Bandoola / Ander Belausteguigoitia 5 USA 369 Mexigenics / Chris Snow * Denotes Partial North Sails Inventory Chris Snow, Jackson Bevenutti, Danny Banos and Kenneth Porter READ MORE

MELGES 20 WORLD LEAGUE, SCARLINO Pacific Yankee Takes the European Fleet by storm The second event in the Melges 20 European Circuit took place in Scarlino, Italy. With light to medium winds across the weekend the thirty-one boat fleet completed seven races. For this event, American sailor Drew Freides and his team onboard Pacific Yankee came over to Europe, using the event as a test event before the World Championship later in the year in Cagliari, Italy. With a 14-point clearance in the race series, Pacific Yankee took the win. In second place was Polish team Mag Tiny skippered by Krzysztof Krempec, whose consistency on the first day of racing secured their position at the top end of the fleet. Both top finishers were using full North Sails inventories. “With the fleet getting stronger and stronger every regatta it’s great to see the fleet improving along with the series. We are pleased to see more of our North 3Di sails amongst the fleet with each regatta, 3Di is the sail of the future!” – Giulio Desiderado, North Sails One Design Expert The next event is in Lerici at the end of June, watch this space to see how this exciting fleet gets on! Learn more about North Melges 20 products. Full results READ MORE

SUCCESSFUL SEASON FOR PAPER TIGER FLEET The North Sails clients in the Paper Tiger fleet have had an extremely successful season, dominating most podium positions, lead by Hayden Percy The North Sails S-4 Stealth Paper Tiger Mainsail has dominated almost every event in the Paper Tiger Grand Prix Regattas in the 2017/2018 season in New Zealand. The wins also branched out to the recent Internationals in Melbourne, Australia, when the New Zealand team filled the podium, taking 1,2,3,4 using North Sails products Hayden Percy is a name to follow in this class. He has won every regatta he has entered since moving to the North S-4 mainsail. Out of 48 starts, he has won 35 of those races, a fantastic scoreboard for any sailor. Here is what Hayden had to say about his North Mainsail “North’s sails are amazing. Their laminate sails are easy to use, its just like sailing with a Dacron again. It’s my 4th generation laminate and the easiest by far. If you buy a North you know what you’re getting, the same shape as everyone else and a sail that fits perfect first time. Used with the carbon battens is a winner.” Over the 2017/18 season the S-4 has increased in popularity due to its winning results. Going from 18% of the fleet in the 2017 Nationals, to 33% in the 2018 Nationals, and this is still continuing to grow. The S-4 mainsail was developed with the help of Mark Orams back in 2015. Mark was one of the instigators for stiffeners in the rigs. This is what North have used to match their sails to. The S-4 has been designed to be an easy sail to trim. Most laminate sails are quite firm and “locked in” which with most boats is fast, but with the Paper Tiger and its soft bendy mast you need a sail that works with that. The S-4 is built from a cross cut mylar that allows the sail to mould more easily to the mast shape but also have the ability to be powerful when needed. North Sails Australia now have the S-4 Stealth Mainsail in stock, get in contact with the Australian team, Andrew Gavenlock, Ian Johnson & Vaughan Prentice. For more details and information on the Paper Tiger sails, get in touch with class expert Derek Scott. READ MORE

NORTH-POWERED TEAMS DOMINATE 470 EUROPEANS Six Teams On The Podium, One Sailmaker Teams from Slovenia and Sweden secured the 470 European gold medals in Bougas, Bulgaria this past week. In the Men’s division, Anton Dahlberg and Fredrik Bergstrom dominated the event only having to complete the medal race to guarantee the gold medal. In the women’s division, Slovenia’s Tina Mrak and Veronika Macarol prevailed over the German team, Loew and Markfort. “We are very proud of our teams and their performances. The 470 being a Olympic class, is one of the most competitive one-design racing classes in the world. Getting our designs tested by all six teams on the podium (Open Europeans) is a true testimonial of our efforts to make the best and fastest one-design sails.” said Kei Takakuwa from North Sails Japan. 2018 470 EUROPEANS MEN’S DIVISION 1 SWE – DAHLBERG / BERGSTRÖM 2 USA – MCNAY / HUGHES 3 GRE – MANTIS / KAGIALIS 5 FRA – MACHETTI / DANTES 6 RUS – SOZYKIN / GRIBANOV* 7 ESP – XAMMAR / RODRIGUEZ 9 ISR – HASSON / HARARI Women’s Division 1 SLO – MRAK / MACAROL 2 GER – LOEWE / MARKFORT 3 GER – BOEHM / GOLIASS 4 ITA – BERTA / CARUSO 5 IRR – COHEN / LASRY 6 SUI – FAHRNI / SIEGENTHALER 7 ESP – MAS DEPARES / CANTERO REINA 8 GRE – BOZI / KLONARIDOU 9 GBR – SEABRIGHT / CARPENTER* 10 GER – OSTER / WINKEL * Denotes Partial North Sails Inventory Complete information on the winning North 470 sails. Race Day 6 at 470 Open European Championship 2018 Race track action from #470Euros podium deciding medal race with gold medals going to Dahlberg/Bergström and Tina Mrak-Veronika Macarol Sailing Team. Follow at http://2018europeans.470.org #470Class #470Sailing #470Life #470in2024 Bianca Caruso Elena Berta Tina Mrak Veronika Macarol Anton Dahlberg Fredrik Bergström MantisKagialis mcnay/hughes GER 24- Nadi & Ann-Christin Frederike Loewe Anna Markfort Malte Winkel Matti Cipra Posted by 470 Olympic Sailing on Thursday, May 24, 2018 READ MORE

ROLEX CAPRI SAILING WEEK Yacht Club Capri Host Prestigious Yachts At Sailing Week, North-powered Clients Lead In Four Class Divisions Rolex Capri Sailing Week is one of the most historic sailing events in Europe. Some would say it is the most important race ever in this area of the World. This years’ edition had roughly 80 boats registered. Clients competed in the Maxi, Mylius, and ORC divisions, having outstanding results across the board. Each year the wind holds up to its promise providing beautiful racing conditions for sailors and allowing the race committee to complete their scheduled races without a hitch. Two windward-leeward races and coastal races made for much excitement as teams sailed around the Bay of Naples, keeping tacticians on their toes as the finishes were close. North-powered clients sailed to win four divisions, sweeping the podium in Maxi R and Maxi RC. In the Mylius Cup Division, clients finished 1st and 2nd, and in ORC-A clients took home the win with a first overall. The famous offshore race, Regatta dei Tre Golfi was won by Maxi 72 Caol Ila R. Congratulations to our clients for your hard work and great camaraderie this year at Sailing Week. 2018 Rolex Capri Sailing Week Mylius Cup 1. ITA17001 Ars Una Biscarini-Rocchi 2. ITA17230 Oscar 3 Aldo Parisotto Maxi RC 1. ITA77773 Supernikka Roberto LaCorte 2. FRA1895 Lorina 1895* Jean Pierre Barjon 3. GBR60X Spectre Peter Dubens Maxi R 1. ITA42200 Pepe Canonball Dario Ferrari 2. GBR8728R Caol Ila R Alex Schaerer ORC A 1. ITA29141 Freccia Rossa Vadim Yakimenko IRC Overall/ Regata Dei Tre Golfi 1. GBR8728R Caol Ila R Alex Schaerer Alex Schaerer’s Caol Ila R at the 64th Regata dei Tre Golfi, after racing for 18 hrs, 49 min, and 24 seconds, took line honors. Caol Ila R is an English Maxi 72 who blew her competition away in 10 knots of breeze, showing true speed and perfection in crew work, finishing 2nd in the Maxi Division. © Fabio Taccola Coming down to the final moments before the gun, with Pepe Canonball (bow #3) and Supernikka (bow #10) within one boat length of the line, ready for the gun. In the Maxi Division, Pepe Canonball excelled with flying colors, improving each day being able to steal first position in the Maxi division, giving second place finishers Caol Ila R and third place Jethou and run for their money. “Our owner wants this – ultimately the class is very strong and will come back strongly in the future, like the TP52 did,” says Vascotto, tactician for Pepe Cannonball. Client Supernikka also had a great week, taking first overall in the Maxi RC division. Special congrats to Peter Dubens’ Spectre, taking 3rd in Maxi RC Division. “Starting is all-important and today we had a nice gap and managed that well and we were off – that created all of the opportunities up the first beat,” commented Spectre’s navigator, Wouter Verbraak. © Fabio Taccola Roberto Lacorte, owner and helmsman of SuperNikka had a well prepared crew, taking first in Maxi RC Division. “We had strong competitors this year, like Peter Dubens Spectre, Nick Rogers calling Tactics and the Swan 601, Lorina* from France. Supernikka’s winning factor was essentially the result of sheer boat speed, our boat handling, and crew work. We had two new gennakers for this race, and we noticed immediately a huge improvement in speed and our sailing angles which was one of the main contributions to our first place finish,” commented Alessio Razeto, headsail trimmer and team manager of SuperNikka. ©Fabio Taccola READ MORE

2018 VIPER 640 ATLANTIC COASTS Congratulations Peter Beardsley, Rachel Beardsley and Simon Karstoft Jensen North Sails Viper expert Zeke Horowitz caught up with Peter, Rachel and Simon for a quick interview to learn what worked for them including their trick of switching drives when going downwind. It was our first time on the Vipers in the Cheasapeake Bay. We had a lot of confidence on our boat speed, we setup the boat to the North Tuning Guide and were really aggressive on sail trim…” – Peter Beardsley 2018 Viper 640 Atlantic Coast Championship 1. Peter Beardsley 2. Zeke Horowitz 3. Geoff and Mary Ewenson 5. Carl Smit 9. Thomas Loutrel 10. Joe Healy/Bob McHugh * Denotes Partial North Sails Inventory Learn more about North fast Viper 640 sails. READ MORE

OFFICIAL SUPPLIERS FOR YOUTH SAILING WORLDS North Sails & Nautivela Join Forces for 420 Youth World Championship North Sails and Nautivela are joining forces for the 420 Youth Sailing World Championship in Corpus Christi, Texas this summer. Over 50 nations will be represented at the regatta. “Youth sailing is a priority for North Sails and we are proud to work with Nautivela for the Youth World Championship” – Matteo Sangiorgi, North Sails Italy. The North supplied inventory is the M-11 mainsail, J-13 jib and S-O5 spinnaker. Sails are today to train with the regatta models and gain that competitive edge before the Championship. Click here to find out more information about rigging and tuning of your North Sails. Nautivela will supply boats and North Sails will provide sails for the competitors, which will be available for purchase after the regatta. Contact 420 expert Matteo Sangiorgi for more details. READ MORE

2018 52 SUPER SERIES PREVIEW The World’s Best Grand Prix Monohull Racing Circuit Starts Its Seventh Season On May 23rd © Martinez Studio “It’s going to be exciting,” predicts Paul “Flipper” Westlake, VP of North Sails Group and a SUPER SERIES veteran. Twelve boats, nine of them new for the 2018 season, a handful with aspirations to win the America’s Cup in 2021, will sail the series opener in the brand new venue of Sibenik, Croatia. After ten races, it could be anyone’s regatta. And with four more events through the summer and no throw-outs, every single result will count toward the overall prize. Flipper will be onsite, along with North Sails Grand Prix designers Mickey Ickert and Juan Meseguer, to support the nine boats using new 3Di RAW 880 inventories. “We’ve got two kinds of clients here,” Flipper explains. “The ultimate client of North Sails is the owner of the team. But I also consider every single one of the sailors on board as clients as well, as they are hands-on with our product and deserve all the support North Sails can provide to maximize performance.” Each team can declare up to 18 sails for the season. Flipper expects most teams to declare around 10 sails for this first event, in order to cover the entire wind range. “All the upwind sails are 3Di RAW 880, our new high-carbon content Grand Prix product that we developed specifically for the TP52 class in 2017. Downwind, they are all nylon and polyester asymmetrics.” Some owners elect to steer their own boats, while others hire a pro driver. Either way, they are all competing for the same prize. “They do have an owner/driver award, but I can assure you that every one of the owner/drivers is equally passionate and focused on trying to win the whole circuit.” Returning Super Series Champions, Azzurra © Martinez Studio The forecast for Sibenik is for light air and flat water, which will level the playing field so much that Flipper refuses to pick a favorite—other than predicting that “a North Sails boat will win the first event.” Since that includes two-thirds of the fleet, it seems like a safe bet. “Azzurra just won Palma Vela, with all the latest 3Di RAW 880 sails,” beating all but two of the other new boats. But Flipper cautions that the well-prepared older boats can’t be counted out either, because teams sailing new boats will need to switch from the ‘boat-building’ mode of trying to optimize a new toy to “racing the thing like it was your old pair of runners.” Experience helps, of course. “Obviously the established teams that have been doing this for a number of cycles will always be the benchmark. But I really think it’s a very open event, because it’s a new venue, and you’ve got nine new boats. It’s going to be interesting, it’s going to be exciting.” Here’s a list of North Sails clients, all contenders for the 2018 Super Series. Alegre Azzurra Gladiator Luna Rossa Paprec Recyclage Phoenix Provezza Sled Xio Hurakan © Martinez Studio © Martinez Studio READ MORE

KEN READ’S LEG 9 PREVIEW Don’t Underestimate the Homestretch of the Volvo Ocean Race If you think the hard miles are behind the Volvo Ocean Race, you’re dreadfully mistaken. This race is not over, and the final legs of this race can be brutal. My first long Volvo leg was transatlantic with Ericsson in the 2005-06 edition. During that race, we saw Movistar sink and then be rescued by ABN AMRO who were dealing with a loss of life onboard. The fleet was up against three vicious storms which stacked up one after the other. I am not trying to spook the herd, but do not underestimate the Atlantic Ocean this time of year. President of North Sails & Volvo Ocean Race veteran Ken Read, skipper of PUMA Ocean Racing in the 2011-12 edition © Amory Ross All the teams are acutely aware that this is not the Caribbean and this leg is notoriously cold, nasty and less than ideal sailing conditions. There are several shorter legs once they touch down in Europe and plenty of opportunity for movement on the leaderboard. I believe 30% of the points are still at play in the three remaining legs. Race leaders Mapfre with skipper Xabi Fernandez know they have a race on and are anything but confident at this point; this is what makes it fun for all us spectators at home. I was sailing with second place Dongfeng on Wednesday, and they are chomping at the bit to get offshore. And the same is true for third place Brunel who keep improving and are within range to keep this race interesting. The final few weeks of the Volvo Ocean Race are a fascinating finale to this fantastic race. And the 2017-2018 edition has been filled with its fair share of excitement as well as tragedy. I wouldn’t say the sailors are refreshed after their North American stopover, but they are for sure excited to get back out there. MAPFRE © Volvo Ocean Race Brunel © Volvo Ocean Race Dongfeng Race Team © Volvo Ocean Race READ MORE

J/70 ITALIAN CUP – EVENT 2, Porto Ercole Enfant Terrible Holds The Lead In A Super Tight Finish With winds from 6 to 18 knots in Porto Ercole, the weekend was a true test for fifty European J/70 teams, with nine nations being represented, at the second event of the 2018 J/70 Italian Cup. North clients Alberto Rossi’s Enfant Terrible and Noe Gianfranco’s Calvi Network once again fought for the first place finishing with only two points difference. Congratulations to team Enfant Terrible, their consistency lead them to win the regatta. “It was a great fight between the top three boats and the victory was decided in the last meters of the last downwind leg!” said North expert and tactician on Calvi Network, Giulio Desiderato In the Corinthian division, Peppu Marinelli’s Uji Uji took the lead finishing in an exceptional sixth place overall, followed closely behind by Alessandro Zampori’s Noberasco Das, who finished in seventh place. Rounding off the podium in ninth place was Paolo Tomsic’s La Femme Terrible. All top three Corinthian teams were powered by North Sails, proving again that there is no faster and more forgiving sails for the J/70 class. Learn more about North’s fast J/70 sails. J/70 Italian Ranking 2018 1 Enfant Terrible / Alberto Rossi 2 Calvi Network / Noe Gianfranco 4 L’Elagain / Franco Solerio 5 Notaro Team / Luca Domenici 6 Uji Uji / Alessio Marinelli 7 EWA / Krzysztof Krempec 8 Arttube / Valera Kovalenko 9 Viva / Alessandro Molla 10 Societa Nautica Grignano / Paolo Tomsic * Denotes Partial North Sails Inventory Full results READ MORE

NORTH SAILS POWERS GRAND PRIX CLIENTS ACROSS THE GLOBE An Impressive Start To The Racing Season From Palma, Spain to San Diego, California, and down to the island of Antigua, North Sails Grand Prix clients were faster than ever claiming victories across the globe. Starting in Palma, clients won across six divisions, ranging from the Wally to the Swan 45 Classes. Teams were tested with little to no margin of error, and most division wins came down to the last day of racing. Congratulations to Wally Magic Blue, TP52 Azzurra, Melges 40 Inga From Sweden, ClubSwan 50 Earlybird, and Swan 45 Elena Nova for your first place overall finish. In San Diego, CA, close competition at the Yachting Cup challenged sailors in the Pac52 fleet, with Invisible Hand placing on top of the podium. The Yachting Cup was the first event of the year for the Pac52 class. The fleet will meet again in Long Beach, CA at the end of June. Beautiful sea breeze and perfect waves for surfing at Antigua Sailing Week gave sailors great racing and ideal conditions, and North powered clients winning across six classes. A special congratulations to 3Di-powered Grand Prix clients for their podium sweep in CSA 1; Warrior claiming first overall, Black Pearl for her second place finish, and Riff Raff, placing third. Warrior also claimed the new race record in the famous Peters & May Round The Island Race. North-power dominated first and second place in CSA 2, with Farr 115 Sojana* and VO60 Ambersail. CSA 3 also saw competitive sailing, with Farr 65 Spirit of Juno taking the win. Lord Nelson Trophy winner Sojana* was also the best performing yacht in Antigua. CSA 4 second place finisher was RP 37 TAZ, powered by 3Di. Check out our favorite photos from around the world. PALMA VELA- In the Wally division, Magic Blue with Toni Cacace out-performed her competition placing 1st overall, just one point ahead of J One, with owner Piers Richardson. © Mauro Melandri / ZGN PALMA VELA- ClubSwan 50, Earlybird with skipper Hendrik Brandis and team swept her fleet winning the title, and Morten Kielland’s Mathilde placed 2nd overall, shown here battling with OneGroup’s Stefan Heidenreich who finished third. © Maria Muina/Sail Racing Palma Vela PALMA VELA- Swan 45 class was dominated by Elena Nova with skipper Christian Plump. © Maria Muina/Sail Racing Palma Vela PALMA VELA-TP52’s first place finisher, Alberto Roemmers and team on Azzurra came out ahead in this highly competitive fleet. Santi Lange, tactician of Azzurra, champion of class TP52: “I’m very happy, obviously. I had a lot of pressure, there is always pressure, but this is good because I know that the team has worked very hard during the winter. They have done an incredible job to put the boat in the water . Others will move forward and we’ll have to keep doing it better; it’s about continuing to learn.” © Nico Martinez/Sail Racing Palma Vela 2018 PALMA VELA- Placing first in the Melges 40 Class, Inga from Sweden skippered by Richard Goransson excelled with flying colors. Cameron Appleton, tactician of Inga, champion of class Melges 40: “It was a long and complicated race. Very long days to complete nine of the ten regattas in difficult conditions. Sailing among other fleets has been complicated at times, but the competition has been really equal, and during the last race we became third. We were first all week, but it was hard. We have a good group of people aboard. We are improving little by little and we’re all learning.” © Melges / ZGN SAN DIEGO, CALIFORNIA, USA – Pac52 winner of the Yachting Cup, Frank Slootman’s Invisible Hand shown here battling out of the leeward mark with Tom Holthus’ BadPak. © Bronny Daniels / Joysailing ANTIGUA SAILING WEEK-Stephen Murray Jr.’s Warrior broke the Peters & May Round the Island race record at Sailing Week, also placing first overall in CSA 1. ANTIGUA SAILING WEEK- Stefan Jentsch’s Carkeek 47 Black Pearl 2nd Place CSA 1. ANTIGUA SAILING WEEK – Loz Marriott’s Sojana*, Farr 115 wins the Lord Nelson Trophy for best performing yacht, also placing 1st in CSA 2. ANTIGUA SAILING WEEK- Bernard Evan-Wong’s RP37 TAZ, 2nd Place CSA 4 ANTIGUA SAILING WEEK- Brian McMaster’s Riff Raff, Cookson 50 placed 3rd in CSA 1 READ MORE

NORTH CLIENTS ALL OVER THE ANNAPOLIS NOOD PODIUM Exceptional Service Delivered by the North Team John Brim, overall winner of the 2018 Annapolis NOOD. His J/70 Rimette is fully powered by North Sails. The 2018 edition of the Helly Hansen NOOD Regatta in Annapolis was dominated by North sails clients on the water and the North team also did an amazing job sailing with clients, servicing sails that needed overnight repair, holding debriefs, docktalks, and much more. As we congratulate all our clients for their great performances (North-powered boats dominated the podiums, see scoreboard below), we also want to congratulate our Annapolis team for the job well done: Chris Larson did an awesome job with the weather. He sailed on the winning Farr 30 Ramrod and helped giving the North Sails awards at the parties. Allan Terhune sailed on the winning J/111 with Pete Colby on Velocity and held the J/ 111 dock talk. Allan also gave the Pursuit Race trophy out on Saturday. Steve Pickel sailed with Cuyler Morris in the Etchells competing against our one design sail designer Ched Proctor. Steve was at the North tent each night talking with clients. Zeke Horowitz won the J/22 class and ran two docktalks. Zeke also gave the North Boat of the Day award out to the AYC Youth Team, Helly Hansen Sponsored, in the J/80 class. Will Keyworth drove North Sails coach Chuck Allen around in the power boat. Having Wilbur take Chuck around was like having a local knowledge guru. Not only did Wilbur know what the breeze was doing or going to do, he also knew many of the boats in all classes. Chuck, by the way, did a great job taking photos and debriefing sailors. A huge shout out to Ridgely McKenzie and Bill Birmingham, the Annapolis North Sails Service team. Bill was there each day at the truck and got sails back together for the next morning. Always smiling and engaging the clients. The key to any event is the local presence of the North Team. We have a great group in Annapolis and everyone stepped their game up. A huge thank you to Lorraine McKenna from the North Sails Marketing team for helping putting all together. North Sails’ commitment to the NOOD Regattas continue stronger than ever. Next stop, see you at the NOOD Marblehead in June. Martin Roesch’s team Velocity, J/111 Class winners powered by North 3Di, sailing with North expert Allan Terhune.   Annapolis YC Juniors, winners of the North Sails Boat of the Day with North expert Zeke Horowitz.   2018 HELLY HANSEN ANNAPOLIS NOOD J/70 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10 / Jonh Brim – Regatta Overall Winner! J/70 Corinthian 1,2 / Jennifer & Ray Wulff J/22 1, 2, 3, 4*, 5, 6, 7, 10 / Zeke Horowitz VIPER 640 1*, 2, 3, 4, 8, 9 / Mary Ewenson ETCHELLS 1*, 2, 3, 4, 6, 7 / Matt Lalumiere J/111 1,2 / Martin Roesch FARR 30 1, 2 / Rodrick Jabin J/105 1, 2, 3, 4 / Cedric Lewis/ Fredrik Salvesen J/30 1, 2, 3 / Bob Rutsch * Denotes Partial North Sails Inventory   J/30 winners – Bob Rutsch’s Team Bepop powered by North 3Di.   Great times at the North tent!   USA 53408 Auntie Jean – James Sagerholm & Jerry Christofel, winners on the J/35 class   Jon Opert, winner of the North Rally Race on his Hanse 372 “Orion”   J22 “Uncle Fluffy” skippered by Zeke Horowitz wins the J22 Class. Read Zeke’s Takeawys on the J/22   READ MORE

Annapolis NOOD: Road to the J/22 Worlds Zeke Horowitz on overcoming the challenges of Chesapeake Bay J22 “Uncle Fluffy” skippered by Zeke Horowitz wins the J22 Class This year’s edition of the Helly Hansen Annapolis NOOD brought almost 200 boats to the Chesapeake Bay for one of the biggest one design festival events of the year. Among the 14 one design classes, the J/22 class was the largest with 32 boats competing. There is lots of excitement amongst the J/22 class as we approach the 2018 World Championship in Annapolis this September. While, as usual, the J/22 fleet was focused on having fun and visiting with old friends, there was definitely a sense of urgency as every team wanted to give it their all and get some solid practice in at the Worlds venue. Day 1 brought a beautiful southerly to the mouth of the Severn River where our course was set and run by the Race Committee from the Severn Sailing Association. With a dismal forecast for days 2 and 3, the RC was determined to get as much racing in as possible. Every start went off with an I over Z penalty which led to lots of letters on the score-card after the 5 race day. While the breeze was certainly the best of the 3-day regatta, it was anything but steady on our course. The holes on the course were absolutely tragic and it wasn’t uncommon to see a competitor five boat lengths away from you going twice your speed. Combined with the typical Chesapeake Bay chop, this made for some pretty frustrating moments. Patience was key and the left side paid almost every time. It was imperative that the helmsman stay 100% focused on sail trim and tell tales so that the boat was always moving as fast as possible while the tactician kept their head out of the boat to find the pressure and avoid the holes. With upwind current most of the day, it made starting at the pin relatively easy because you could set up lower in the starting box and let the current help carry you up to the line. Since the left side of the course was so favored, it really came down to execution. If you could nail a pin end start and get left, you would usually be in the top group at the weather mark. Of course, as soon as we figured this was a 100% game plan, the final race saw another wind reset and the boats that came out of the right won the first beat! Welcome to Annapolis! Days 2 and 3 saw a very similar forecast with light winds out of the North and some rain showers throughout the day. Pre-race homework including watching the fleets in front of us was key to deciding on our game plan. It seemed like often times the fleet would start in a left shift, but the pressure would wind them right shortly after the start -ultimately leading to more pressure at the top left. We saw this repeatedly with the fleets in front of us so our general game plan was to start middle-boat so we could take advantage of the initial right pressure and get us to the left at the top. Of course our game plan didn’t always work out due to some bad starts and some pretty whacky conditions with several total glass-offs and fleet inversions. Nonetheless it was a great lesson in pre-race home work and how important it is to develop a solid game plan based on what you’ve learned. Our team managed to squeak out a victory over the immensely competitive group that raced at this regatta. But much like the rest of the group here, the primary focus was on coming away with some good lessons that can be applied to the rest of the season as we prepare for the Worlds. Here are a few takeaways from our team that we look forward to improving upon on the road to the Worlds: Don’t underestimate the impact a large fleet has on wind speed and direction. Especially in light air, the group of boats all gathered on the starting line drastically decreases the wind speed and makes your angle of attack to the starting line greater. Keep this in mind to avoid being late and in the second (or third) row at the start. Take the time to perfect your rig-tune before each race and always error on the softer side. The J/22 has a pretty sensitive “groove” as it pertains to rig tune so it’s crucial to do numerous checks before each race to make sure you have the right amount of “dangle” in your leeward shroud and side sag (or poke) in the middle of the mast. It’s better to be caught too loose than too tight! Define the roles on your team. Boat speed is king and that should be the helmsman’s primary focus. There are big gains to be made from minor tweaks in sail trim set up and accurate driving. Don’t let the driver look around too much! It’s the responsibility of the tactician and other crew(s) to make sure the boat is in the right places on the course. Be conservative and avoid big mistakes! Often times at the end of a regatta it’s the team that made the fewest big mistakes that comes away with the hardware. Keep this mind in the starting area and at marks especially. If you are fast, you can get away with conservative starting and tactics and that is always the recipe for success! Feel free to contact Zeke, our local Annapolis J/22 expert if you need assistance getting ready to the Worlds. Learn more about North’s fast J/22 sails. Helly Hansen Annapolis NOOD J/22 Class – Powered By North Sails 1 Uncle Fluffy / Zeke Horowitz 2 Hot Toddy / Jeff Todd 3 Dusty / Pete Levesque 4 Scooby / JR Maxwell* 5 Rythmic Pumping / Aden King 6 Mo’ Money / Victor Snyder 7 The Jug 4 1 / Chris Doyle 10 Capstan Consulting / Brad Julian * Denotes Partial North Sails Inventory READ MORE

ANTIGUA SAILING WEEK 2018 North-powered Clients Celebrate Antigua Style, Dominating Six Division Class Wins, Honorable Awards, And A New Race Record 116 Teams from all over the world arrived in Antigua for the 51st edition of Sailing Week. Not only a great showing for the visiting sailors, but the local racing fleet showed their true colors in representation- making for a fantastic week of competitive island racing. Each day the racing was amazing, with breezes ranging from 16-25 knots with 12-foot swells, giving sailors a real taste of Antigua. With 54 courses to choose from, race committee volunteers kept the sailors on their toes each day with long, exciting, and very different races that allowed for some of the most breathtaking views. Seven races were completed by the end of the week, giving teams a forgiving discard, which made the scoresheet very competitive in each class. Round the island with Warrior- New race record! Starting the week off in a fast way- client Stephen Murray, Jr.’s modified VO 70 Warrior came out hot in the Peters & May Round the Island Race, a 53-mile course, in a record time of 3 hours 55 minutes and 38 seconds, blowing away the previous race record held by Peter Harrison’s British superyacht Sojana* by over 42 minutes! With breeze reaching 25 knots, no one could hang with the Warrior or Anthony McVeigh’s GF51 trimaran 2 2 Tango, who swept line honors in the multihull division. Congratulations to both teams for your stedfast performances, kicking off Antigua Sailing Week 2018. Starting with CSA 1, clients Stefan Jentzsch’s Carkeek 47 Black Pearl came in 2nd, followed by Brian McMaster’s Cookson 50 Riff Raff in second and Eduardo Plass’ Camiranga, a Soto 65, in third. In CSA 2, client Sojana* claimed the fame, taking 1st overall as well as the Lord Nelson Trophy for best racing class yacht. Ambersail, with owner Simonas Stepnavicius, was close behind in 2nd. CSA 3 class win was awarded to Arran Chapman’s Spirit of Juno*, a Farr 65, followed by Oyster Starry Night of the Caribbean. IN CSA 4 RP37 TAZ claimed a podium position, placing 2nd in class after an unexpected rig failure in the last race on Friday, giving Dingo a chance to move in for the kill. Swan 48 Sleeper X, Winner of CSA 5 powered by 3Di In CSA 5 Jonty and Vicky Layfield’s 3Di-powered Swan 48 Sleeper X haunted our dreams with an impressive first place streak, followed by Scarlett Island Girl, a Dufour 45e, with owners Ross Applebey and Ossie Stewart who sailed a great regatta. In third was Rob Butler’s modified Reflex 38 Touch 2 Play Racing* from Collingwood, Ontario. Touch 2 Play* also claimed the CSA Travellers Trophy, for best overall results across the board in the Caribbean circuit this year. CSA 7 was dominated by locals on NSA Spirit, with owner Jules Mitchell with a solid lead over 2nd place finishers Maella, X-yacht 34 with Raphael Magras, followed by David Cullen’s Pocket Rocket, a J/109. In CSA 8 Biwi Magic with Robbie Ferron, a modified 6-meter and local topped the fleet with 10 points after one discard. Our multihull clients had their fair share of fun too, with Robert Szustkowksi’s R-Six taking first place followed by Thirst, a Gunboat 55 with owner Seamus Hourihan. Congratulations to our clients for your outstanding performances across the board. Another fun sailing week with new friends, spot-on teamwork, and beautiful racing- that’s a wrap! *indicates partial inventories Heading upwind with CSA 5 Sojana* , winner of the Lord Nelson Trophy Scarlet Island Girl, 2nd in CSA 5 Perfect racing conditions- with the best views! READ MORE

MIKE INGHAM WINS 2018 J/24 NORTH AMERICANS Tough conditions, three bullets to secure the title in a tight ending The 2018 J/24 North American Championship were hosted by Charleston Yacht Club. For those that have not sailed there before there is a LOT of current, it is shifty and there are obstacles such as land, towers, and barges that all come into plan. It is a place where you need to sail heads up and have a sense of humor. You are going to make mistakes – lots of them, there is no avoiding them! But with all that, boat speed matters. We had good speed and with that, we often won our side. Even if we were wrong, we could get out alive to claw back. Another advantage of speed in that crazy stuff is that we could break free from our pack and were able to then take advantage of a shift or other opportunity. Conditions were flat water and all genny (no blade), but within that, we had a wide range of velocity form almost drifter through top end of the genny. Since it was flat water, we set the genoa leads to “touch –touch”, meaning when we over-trimmed the genoa, it touched the spreader and the chain plate at the same time. Then we sheeted hard on both main and genoa because we were now looking for power, and when we can get away with it in flat water, the J24 likes to sail high. But with all those shifts and the wind up and down a lot, shifting gears was the key to consistent speed. Here are the priorities we came up with: Shifting Gears in Underpowered Conditions (0-about 8kts) Body weight first. We tried to move crew weight to keep a constant heel of 5 degrees or maybe even a little less. I would say we sailed almost uncomfortably flat. My helm was neutral or even a had to push a little. I had the team move to keep that heel and they would make their best stab at it and I would fine tune it with “2 in” (meaning 2 crew would lean in), “3 out” (meaning all 3 were fully hiked) We trimmed the genoa tight, maybe 3” off the spreader, but would ease both main and genoa a little for some waves or to help through any transition. With any puffs, we would trim a little tighter to keep the leaches tight, in lulls we would ease to keep the leaches from getting too tight. Shifting Gears in Overpowered Conditions (8kts +) “Full hike” would let the team know that I need them all to hike as hard as they could and that would also be a reminder to myself that my mode has changed from underpowered to overpowered. If I am looking to depower my first move is the backstay. With the backstay on, I would trim the main a little more because while the backstay flattens the sail, it also opens the leach too much. Conversely I had to remember to ease the mainsheet when easing the backstay so the leach would not be too hooked. If that was not enough to depower, pinching a little in that flat water seemed ok. The cunningham and genoa halyard went on too to help depower. My last resort was easing the sheets. We rarely had to do so this weekend, and I only do this if I have exhausted all the other depower options. We talked about this at our dock talk after racing Saturday. See video below. Learn more about North’s fast J/24 sails. 2018 J/24 North Americans 1. Mike Ingham 2. Will Welles 3. John Mollicone 4. Carter White * 5. Nicolas Cubria * 6. Andrew Carey 7. Robby Brown 8. Steve Kirkpatrick 10. Kenneth Porter * Denotes Partial North Sails Inventory READ MORE

TEST DRIVING THE IC37 BY MELGES Ken Read’s First Impressions on the New Melges IC37 Class Last week us “industry pros” got to test-drive the IC37 by Melges, and the boat blew us away. Hats off to Lynn Bowser and the Westerly Marine builders, and designer Mark Mills. My first impression is the entire project team has gone beyond expectations and delivered a boat of which the New York Yacht Club is going to be exceptionally proud. Speaking on behalf of our entire company, North Sails is honored to have been selected by the NYYC as a partner in this project, along with our sister company Southern Spars. We took the assignment very seriously and knew that we had to deliver a perfect product. I am proud to say our company has met the challenge and then some. Talk is cheap, but creating a one design concept with perfectly matched products isn’t easy. The final product arrived, and we were able to go sailing without any surprises. I’m incredibly impressed with the talent of Mike Marshall and Dale Morris, the two young designers from North Sails and Southern Spars assigned to this project. These are milestone moments for a company when the new generation of designers and engineers are jumping out of the nest fast and taking on new projects. Mike and Dale have spent six months matching a sail plan to a rig tune to make one mainsail, one jib, and one asymmetric work for the IC37. And they nailed it. For a sailmaker, there are no other words to describe a perfect fit on the first try. On day two boat designer Mark Mills joined us for a full day of sailing in Newport. Mark gets it; the balance of the boat and weight placement is exactly as described seven or eight months ago. Both North Sails and Mills are using super advanced tools to aid their design vision. This is scientific sailmaking at its best. The beauty of designing modern race boats, when done correctly and with the right amount of time given, the guesswork is removed. Gone are the days of the dreaded, “Oh my god, I hope this fits,” or “I hope this works.” We’re not designing on a napkin anymore. You can say it till you’re blue in the face…we have the tools to create perfection, but you’ve got to bring that to life with smart people. And we did, as a company. And I’m very, very proud of the result. Huge hats off to the planning committee for allowing the industry team to have the first sail and put the IC37 through its paces. The committee gave us the chance to get it right, and I think it’s going to pay dividends once all the club members get on the boat. So what’s next? Turn this boat over to the NYYC and its members for this boat’s intended use, a fun, one design platform for Corinthian sailors, and for Melges Performance Sailboats to grow this class beyond the club and create a Corinthian class with global reach. Learn more about the IC37 products from North Sails. READ MORE

NORTH BOATS DOMINATE ANNAPOLIS ONE-DESIGN SEASON OPENER Fast Sails, Happy Clients On Sunday April 29th, Annapolis Yacht Club held their Annual Spring One Design Regatta at the mouth of the Severn River. Always a popular event, this year’s edition brought about 50 boats out of the wood work to shake off the winter cob webs. Though it still felt like winter out there as competitors were greeted with brisk temperatures in the high 40’s accompanied by a North West wind that approached 20 knots at times. Racing was challenging as the RC did a masterful job combining five different starts onto one course. The fleets included J/22s, J/70s, J/30s, J/105s and Etchells. On top of a very shifty and puffy breeze, competitors also had to navigate a very strong current that was moving right to left across the race course for the 3 race series. The keys to success were staying up current on the starting line, keeping the boat in the pressure, and avoiding the heavy traffic whenever possible. North Sails clients dominated the event and they look forward to keeping the momentum rolling into the Annapolis NOOD. Comments from Etchells Champ, Jeff Borland: Race one started a bit tough, got fouled, then hit the mark right after the gun went off. Did our turn, the had to duck three or four J/105s who had just come through the gate. We gathered our wits, and got the boat moving and headed out right as the rest of the fleet went left. Our boat speed was super, and a bit of luck with a slight right shift at the top of the beat, and we rounded in second. A little difficulty getting the kite up with a new bow person, and Jose Fuentes snuck by us into second. Turned into a horse race from there, and we couldn’t get by Jose to get the 2nd back. Race 2 saw a better start, and we went back to the right again as the fleet went left. The right paid again at the top, and with our great speed, we rounded in first, and never looked back. Race 3 saw just two of us on the start line, two boats missed the short AP that the RC put in so that we wouldn’t end up starting with the J/105s coming through the gate – good call by the RC! It was a match race around the course between ourselves and Caramba!, but Jose just never gave us a break to get by him. However, the second was enough to tie us up with Ca$$h Money, and since we both had equal finishes of 1, 2, and 3 – we won the tie break by beating them in the last race. Learn more about our Etchells designs. Comments by the J/70 Champs, Ray and Jenn Wullf: Sunday offered a great tune-up for our J/70 team in preparation for the Annapolis NOOD & 2018 training for the Worlds. While it was far from the Sunny, 80+ degree temps of Saturday, the breezy, shifty conditions & chop gave our team an excellent opportunity to practice our set up, communications & knock off some rust after some months off the water. “Thank you to Zeke Horowitz for braving the less-than-ideal conditions to sail with us. We really appreciated his expert advice & help in optimizing our North set up. His insights were valuable in improving our upwind & downwind sailing as we start our 2018 season.” Learn more about our J/70 designs. Annapolis Annual Spring One Design Regatta Etchells 1,2,3,4 / Jeff Borland J/22 1,3,4,5 / Peter McChesney J/30 1,2,3,4,5,6 / Jeff & Amy Stryker J/70 1,2,3,4,5 / Ray & Jenn Wulff J/105 2,3,4,5 * Denotes Partial North Sails Inventory READ MORE

2018 SOLO SPRING CUP Lawrence Creaser Shares Some Tips on Making the Solo Go Faster When not working on the production floor in Gosport, or selling sails to customers, Lawrence Creaser enjoys sailing a number of One Design boats including the Solo Class. Thirty-eight boats from a variety of nations ventured to Medemblik for the weekends racing. Although the rain didn’t hold off, the wind showed up with light to medium conditions across the weekend. The race committee managed to fit in seven races allowing one discard on the scoreboard. Lawrence completed the regatta with 5-2-1-1-(9)-2-6 giving him a two point lead ahead of second placed Pete Mitchell. Lawrence uses the North P-2 Solo sail. We spoke to Lawrence about the regatta and his Solo sailing. If you are interested in any North Solo products, get in touch with Lawrence today! READ MORE

3Di SHINES AT MELGES 20 WORLD LEAGUE New Mi-2 Mainsail Powers Brontolo Racing to win the first event in the 2018 Melges 20 World League Act One of the Melges 20 World League in Forio D’Ischia served as the debut event for the new North Sails Mi-2 3Di RAW mainsail. With 5-11 knots of wind across the weekend, the new mainsail proved fast and powerful in the exact conditions it was designed for and Filippo Pacinotti’s Brontolo Racing, powered by the new Mi-2 mainsail, played the light winds to their advantage, finishing the weekend with an impressive 1-2-(3)-1-1-3, giving them a massive 12 points advantage over the second placed boat. “North Sails has super products in the standard shapes. I’d rather invest in more training days to be sure we are ready speedwise and on top of the fleet using North products.” – Filippo Pacinotti, winner The new Mi-2 3Di RAW Mainsail is an upgrade of the first 3Di mainsail for the Melges 20 class. The design has been refined to be more forgiving in the lighter wind but without compromising its heavy wind performance. Using the North Sails Suite our designers made changes to both the mold shape and the 3Di tape layouts. The Mi-2 better matches the flying shape of the World Championship winning Mi-16 3DL mainsail. “It was a great weekend for North clients! North boats won five out of the six races and Filippo won the event with an incredible series of results. Their worst score was a third place!” said North Sails expert Giulio Desiderato. Click here to find out more about our Melges 20 products and the shop the winning Mi-2 design. Full results READ MORE

ADD NEW COLOR TO YOUR DOWNWIND PERFORMANCE Cool Shades J/70 Spinnaker Special Save Up to $650! For a limited time, North Sails is offering special pricing on colored championship-winning J/70 AP-1 Spinnaker available in the colors listed below. Ask about adding the extremely successful J-6HC Jib and save up to $650. Fill out the form below and one of our J/70 experts will contact you. This promotion is valid in the United States only. Colors and quantities are limited. Ends May 15, 2019. I’m Interested In The Cool Shades J/70 Spinnaker Special I'm Interested In The J/70 Spinnaker Promotion Last Name * First Name * Email * Phone Preferred Method of Contact Email Me Call Me Would you like to add a championship-winning J-6HC Jib at a special pricing? Yes No Submit READ MORE

2018 Camellia Cup Great success for Team Fusion and North Santana 20 designs North Sails Santana 20 customer Mark Erdrich and team Fusion won the 52nd Annual Camellia Cup Regatta sailed in the beautiful Folsom Lake. They also won the overall Keelboat Perpetual Trophy to sweep the major awards for the event. Mark Werder and team finished 3rd overall also powered by North Santana 20 designs. Learn more about North Sails Santana 20 sails. For more information or to order your new Santana 20 sails contact our Santana 20 experts. Team Fusion, 2018 Camellia Cup champions Mark Werder and team – 3rd place READ MORE

JENN & RAY WULFF – HOW THEY MAKE “JOINT CUSTODY” WORK An entertaining and educational interview with the 2018 Corinthian J/70 Midwinters Champions If you have sailed a J/70 and have not run into (figuratively, not literally) Jenn and Ray Wulff then you need to get out to more regattas! This Annapolis based couple runs the fun, “family-centric”, goal-oriented program that is “Joint Custody”. Their Corinthian program has earned them a place on everyone’s “who are the boats to beat” list at every major event. Coming off their win as the Top Corinthian team at the 2018 Midwinters, Ray and Jenn share their thoughts on the importance of practice, the goal of developing a team and having a “deep bench” along with their 3 top tips for the approaching summer season. What was it that first attracted you to the J/70 class? Ray: Jenn was racing in Key West on a big boat and saw the J/70s planing around the race course. Within a day of returning to Annapolis, Jenn let me know that we were going to sell our current boat, we were buying a boat, and she asked my help in her getting back into driving as the J/70 seemed like a boat where anyone could drive or crew, regardless of physical size or age (Jenn is 5’2”. She had been crewing for me & sailing with other teams for years in J/22s, Mumm 30s, Farr 40s and other boats. She hadn’t driven since junior sailing and wanted to get back on the tiller). Additionally, we were looking for a one-design sport boat where we didn’t need a crane or a gin pole to go sailing and that had a good group of people. The J/70 seemed like a strong fit. What is it that you enjoy most about racing in this class? Ray: Definitely, the people! It is an awesome fleet with every level from rank beginner to World champion and everyone in between. The boat is super accessible in that anyone can drive & crew – no matter size or age. There’s also a lot of camaraderie in the class. Everyone shares with each other what they are working on getting sorted which is great. Jenn: We are ALWAYS learning!! It is very easy to sail the 70 well. There is enough information provided by sailmakers, experts, and videos to get you up to speed. That being said, to sail the boat at a very high level, you always have to be learning. The evolution of the class, how to sail the boat, and sail design is constantly evolving for the better. It’s fun to always be learning & having the opportunity to train with others & develop together. You’ve spent a lot of time sailing Corinthian against all the top teams in the World, what is your mindset going into a regatta where all the “top dogs” are there? Ray: I think we try to focus on our process and adjust as we see the top teams improving theirs. Jenn has drilled this into our brains, “Trust the process.” What I mean by that is to have a plan for the season, regatta, day, and race. Having this mindset lets you focus on YOUR race, and not get to distracted by the players in the fleet. We also seek to learn from the pros and top teams. We view it as them raising the bar makes us all better. How do you prioritize your time preparing for events? Do you practice? Do you do local events? Do you select a certain number of “priority events” at the beginning of a year? Jenn: Good question. The biggest adjustment is planning our schedule long in advance for the regattas that require days off. With everyone working, having that schedule out early lets people plan their schedules, see what they can commit to, and plan logistics. Ray: When the class schedule comes out, we try to scope four major events a year and see how we can have the same crew for those. Interspersed are local events and possible practice regattas which can benefit the majors. We also try to build a deep bench of crew knowing that everyone has jobs with limited time off, it’s important to be able to have consistent crew across a variety of events. You have sailed with a number of different crew over the last few years, but the two of you are the staple on “Joint Custody.” How do you delegate the roles and divvy up jobs when adding new crew? Jenn: I think it depends on the regatta. If we have our regular main trimmer on board, we try to fit new crew into other roles. If our regular main trimmer isn’t there, I slide back to that role and work with the team we have. We try to keep people as consistent as possible and focus on our consistent process, but also recognize that everyone have jobs and can’t be available for every event. We line up crew well in advance and try to have a few core folks for each position. Ray provides great consistency as he’s the tactician and can also be a main or jib trimmer when needed. Ray: We had a crew have to bow out due to illness for the Midwinters. Beforehand we asked her to write up what her roles and responsibilities were and we provided that to our fill in. It really helped that person get up to speed and let us know all the things they were What are 3 tips you would give to any J/70 team when approaching a season? Have a large bench and always grow it. Everyone has busy lives so there is no way you will have the same crew every regatta so make sure you have a large bench to choose from. Schedule out the season early and reach out to your “A-Team” to see their availability. (Can I emphasize early!). From there you can see what holes you may need to fill. Value your crew’s time. They are taking time away from their families, jobs, other hobbies. Have the boat, sails, equipment ready to go. Make sure housing, travel, and logistics are sorted out. Respecting the crew’s time is paramount in building a strong Corinthian team. And remember to have fun! Develop your goals for the season & for each regatta. Have a plan & stick to it & always reach out to the top teams and pros/sailmakers to ask questions & for help. We’ve progressed a lot by asking others for tips & having a tuning partner at each regatta. A huge thank you to Jenn and Ray! Learn more about the North Sails J/70 sails. READ MORE

FLYING SCOT MIDWINTERS: AN EXERCISE IN PATIENCE Maximizing success in big fleet racing with unpredictable conditions Zeke and Jay Horowitz, 2018 Flying Scot Midwinter champions As a 9 year old learning to race on Sarasota Bay, I learned quickly what a beautiful venue it was to race small sailboats. From the tropical colors, warm climate, and warmer hospitality, the Sarasota Sailing Squadron has always been one of my favorite places to go back to visit and sail. Having done so much sailing there over my life, I thought I had the venue pretty dialed in from a predictability standpoint. If it’s out of the North or South, it is a boat speed race – limit boat handling, play a side, and be conservative. If it is from the West, it’s a seabreeze – play the oscillations and look for puffs coming off of Longboat Key. If it is from the East, favor the left but keep your eyes open as the offshore breeze can be all over the place. Or so I thought….. This year’s Flying Scot Midwinters was anything but predictable and the key to success was patience along with quick problem solving and a “never say die” approach to the shifts. PRO Fairlie Brinkley and his team on the Race Committee did a masterful job of keeping the racing square and fair through 40+ degree shifts and wind speeds that didn’t always get along with the class! DAY 1 We all knew that day 1 of racing was a “survival day” with light winds predicted out of the East – the most unstable direction on Sarasota Bay. With no discards in the series, it was going to be imperative to try to avoid the big mistakes and stay as conservative as possible to try to keep the point total down. The regatta was not going to be won on Day 1 but it could certainly be lost if you got caught on the wrong side of a beat. Doing our homework before each race was super important. We found it very useful to be out on the race course early so we could sail up the beat a couple of times and learn what the wind was doing. We found that there were definitely shifts in both directions but the shift that seemed to stay the longest was from the right. We also learned that getting into the velocity (which is pretty easy to see on the sea green waters of Sarasota Bay) was of paramount importance. It was also key to remember not to go too much into “cover the fleet mode” near the top of the race course. There were too many shifts and velocity changes in the last quarter of the beat with hundreds of boat lengths to be gained or lost. Taking in all that we learned in our pre-race home work we developed a game plan to error towards the right side but keep our heads out of the boat and when all else failed – point the boat at the mark. Something that sounds very basic but when you can be confident that the wind will generally not stay steady for more than about 2 minutes, it’s crucial to spend every minute on YOUR lifted tack. Even if other boats had more of a lift or more velocity – there was nothing you could do about it. So just point your boat at the mark, be patient, and look for the next shot of pressure. Throughout the 2 races, we found ourselves in some tough spots where the frustration threatened to get the better of me. But we tried to remain patient and remember our homework. A bit of discipline was needed to to keep “hitting singles” instead of going for a home run. This mentality allowed us to pick off the few boats in each race to finish the day having accomplished our goal – SURVIVING! DAY 2.. Too much wind, no racing. DAY 3 With day 2 cancelled due to high winds, we knew day 3 was going to be a long 3 race day. With a direction predicted to stay mostly out of the South, I thought I could rely on my years of experience on Sarasota Bay and plan on leaning on boat speed and good starts to bang out some good races. But this day proved to be a real challenge as the breeze was anything but steady. After the first beat of the first race, it was clear that the sea breeze was going to have its way with us throughout the afternoon. With the sea breeze trying to pull the wind hard right, and the gradient fighting to keep the breeze out of the SE, we saw wind shifts upwards of 40 degrees with velocity differences in a range of 10 knots. About 3 minutes after the start of the first race, we found ourselves about 500 yards behind the leaders. And we had a great start! After a couple minutes of pure panic, we remembered that if it was possible to get that far behind so quickly, it was sure possible to make it back quickly too! We were committed to the left side so we found our opportunities to get back to the right and in touch with the fleet when we could so that we could have a chance at a big gainer on the downwind. It is crucial to remember that in this sort of condition, the downwind legs have as much to be gained as the upwinds legs. Keep your eyes looking back and find the big pressure. Don’t be afraid to change course drastically (by gybing or heating up) in order to get into the maximum pressure. Keeping our heads out of the boat, we were able to rally on the run and then see the big pressure working its way down the right side before we turned to go back upwind. Committing hard to the right allowed us to get back into the top three and hang onto it for the final run. This comeback proved to be the saving race of our regatta. For the rest of the day we favored the right as the sea breeze kept trying to work its way onto the bay, but we found several nice gains by finding some of the remaining gradient on the left. This was a day that left most of the fleet with raging headaches as you could never stop thinking and planning ahead for your next move. While boatspeed is always king, this regatta had everything to do with keeping your head out of the boat and playing the proverbial chess game to set yourself up for your next play. We worked on dividing the race course into ¼ ‘s with the top ¼ being about 1000 yards past the weather mark. By continuously looking at each ¼ we were able to try to plan out the next step based on what we saw at that moment. For sure, our predictions were not always correct, but keeping patience and quick thinking at a premium, we could keep the boat in spots where we wouldn’t lose too much if we got it wrong, but that we were in a position to make big gains if we got it right. This approach let us hit lots of singles throughout the week without the accidental strike-out by going for a home run. This was an important reminder about how to approach big fleet racing in unpredictable conditions. A HUGE thank you goes out to the Sarasota Sailing Squadron and all it’s volunteers. We will be sure to go back at every possible opportunity to race our Flying Scot. 2018 Flying Scot Midwinters 1. Zeke Horowitz / Jay Horowitz 2. David Ames / PJ Buhler * 3. Jeff Linton / Andy Hayward 6. Tyler Andrews / Andy Fox 8.John Kreidler / John Wake 9 .Ned Johnston / Ryan Donahue 10. Tom McNally / Cindy Taylor / Mike Taylor * Denotes Partial North Sails Inventory Full results Learn more about North’s Flying Scot designs. 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

MONACO WINTER SERIES CHAMPION INTERVIEW Lera Kovalenko and Team Art Tube – A Great Start To a New Hobby For some of us, sailing is something that we learn at a young age with parents and relatives, or we catch the bug for racing in our early teens. For others, the fantastic sport is gifted to us later in life. Lera Kovalenko, female Russian J/70 sailor first started sailing just 3 years ago, and since has been taking the European J/70 fleet by storm, with her team onboard Art Tube. The team took the lead in the Monaco Sports Boat series from the very first event and maintained their winning streak through the end of the series. Art Tube dominated the overall standings across the board, with an outstanding and impressive run on the scoreboard after claiming 15 bullets across the three event series! We spoke to Lera after the regatta to get the full scoop on how she got started racing sailboats and what contributed to her amazing success this year at the Monaco Sportsboat Winter Series. How long have you been sailing for and what got you into sailing? I started sailing 3 years ago and have been sailing with my team for the past 2 years ago when we started racing as Art Tube team. What has been the key to your successes so far? My team is the main key success factor. It’s a great fortune for me to race with professionals who have a pool of experience, high self-discipline, high demand on me and on each other and being results oriented. What has been your favourite event this season? I really enjoyed the Italian J/70 series, but I also liked racing in England and I would like to return there again. Why did you choose to go with North Sails? We chose to use North Sails because all the leaders in the class race with North and we are definitely pleased with the choice! What’s your most helpful tip for new sailors hoping to climb to the top? Make sure you train at every opportunity! Giulio Desiderato, North Sails J/70 expert commented on Lera’s performance over the winter season: “I met Lera two winters ago in Monaco, sailing with the J/70 and from the beginning the feeling was that she was really determined to improve day by day and regatta by regatta. During the last Winter Series in Monaco I heard that she’s started sailing just three years ago. I was really surprised, Art Tube won all the event sailed this winter in Monaco! I asked her what is the key of all this victories and I had the clear perception that the team work the method and determination to training hard are the keys to achieve good results. I wish to Lera and all her team the best!” Art Tube is powered by a full North Sails inventory consisting of the XCS-1 Mainsail, J-6 Jib and AP-1 Spinnaker. If you are interested in any North Sails J/70 products visit the class page to find your local class expert. READ MORE

J/24 EASTER REGATTA Paul Abdullah’s Team Tarheel Finishes Strong With Five Bullets Easter came earlier this year but didn’t stop anyone from having a great time at the 2018 J/24 Easter Regatta at the Columbia Sailing Club. Eighteen teams were blessed to fabulous conditions and the excellent hospitality from the club and its members who made all feel very welcome. Friday’s conditions started out 10-15 knots and slowly dropped to 7-12 as the day went on. The Saturday’s forecast wasn’t great, but what do those weathermen know! The winds blew and the PRO was able to get another four races off. Team Tarheel started the regatta strong with a 1-2-1-1 and remained strong on Saturday with a 2-1-1-2. There was little breeze early Sunday morning and the PRO postponed waiting until the wind filled in. After 20 minutes passed, the RC decided it was time to race. Team Tarheel closed it out finishing 3rd, and using that as their drop. The RC sent the fleet in with the 2018 Easter Regatta in the books. We caught up with Tarheel’s skipper Paul Abdullah: Paul, 5 bullets! What were the 3 key factors for team Tarheel to have such success? Our boat speed was incredible! Knowing what mode to sail in with each pressure line approaching was important. Also, we attacked the wind instead of waiting for it to come to us. Which North designs did you use? We used the North Fat Head Mainsail, SD-TH Genoa and FR-2 Spinnaker. Boat speed and pointing was excellent. Do you have any tips for the North Americans in Charleston? I would always stress boat prep. Make sure everything works well for your team. Replace any lines or blocks that aren’t working properly. Charleston has a lot of current. Understand the depths of the harbor and where you can “hide” from current. Thanks Paul and congratulations for a brilliant regatta! Learn more about the North fast J/24 designs. 2018 J/24 Easter Regatta 1. Paul Abdullah 3. James Howard 4. Christopher Stone 6. Steve Wood 9. Bill Derr Full Results READ MORE

ALTEA WINS MELGES 24 EUROPEAN SERIES ACT 1 Andrea Racchelli and Team Altea Nails the Series in Punta Ala The event in Punta Ala marks the start of the European summer sailing season for the Melges 24 class. Despite variable conditions across the 3-day regatta, the race committee completed nine races. A battle between Altea and the Hungarian FGF Sailing Team broke out, however Altea lead by Andrea Racchelli repeated their success from 2009 to take the win in Punta Ala. Andrea is a veteran to the Melges 24 class having sailed in the boats for nearly 20 years! He now also acts as class president in Italy. We spoke to Andrea about his team and asked for a few tips for sailors in the class. How long have you been racing the boat and why did you choose to sail the Melges 24? I have been sailing Melges 24 since 2001. We bought the first boat at the end of 2000, at that time the Melges 24 was the best one design class, with a lot of great sailors competing. The boat was so modern compared to other one design boats like the J/24, which for us was a big challenge. Tell us a little about your team; who does what on the boat and why you chose this team. The Altea team was born in 1997. During all these years many people sailed on our boats, but always as a group of friends! I’m the helm and tactician of the boat and the team manager. The trimmer is Enzo Bonini – we have sailed together since 1992. In Punta Ala the bowman was Alberto Verna while the pit was Tiziano Auguadro, the oldest member of the group. He has been with us for many adventures. Finally we had the new entry Marta Conti, she will be with us for sure also in the future. During next season we will have onboard also Michele Gregoratto, Filippo Togni e Matteo Ramian. In the light/medium wind conditions that you had in Punta Ala, what would your top tip be for going fast upwind and downwind? On Melges 24 the setup of the boat and the boat handling is very important. Having the full crew hiking is the secret to have good speed upwind. On the downwind you have to work hard on the angle to keep boat speed always right. Of course you need very good sails, fresh as possible! How do you set-up the rig for a days racing and what adjustments would you make throughout the day? On Melges 24 you always have to change setup during racing. I have a base setup for 8 knots of wind. We always dock out with that and change tensions for every change of conditions. (For more information on Melges 24 tuning, check out the Melges 24 North Sails tuning guide) Which North Sails products do you use? Why did you choose North Sails and what is it that makes you keep using them? At the moment I use AP-3 mainsail, J-7+ jib and P-2 Spinnaker most of time, however sometimes theP-1. I chose North Sails in 2002 because North is the most experienced sailmaker in the class and a great team of experts working on the sails. What tips would you give to new teams coming into this highly competitive fleet? Train hard on maneuvering, always try and keep the crew consistent. Always ask class experts about initial setup and then work on it yourself and most important, have fun! What events do you have coming up in the calendar and what can we expect from you and your team this season? The two main events will be the World Championship in Victoria (Canada) and the European Championship in Riva del Garda (Italy). Our best result was 2nd at the Worlds in 2015 and so we will try to do better than this! For more information for the Melges 24 class and the North Sails products, visit our class page and speak to your local expert. Full results READ MORE

THE TACTICIAN ROLE Michael Menninger, tactician on SCIMITAR, 2017 World Champion and 4-time Etchells Winter Series winner Michael Menninger is on a roll. In September of last year the young professional sailor and tactician won the Etchells Worlds in San Francisco with Steve Benjamin. Just a couple of weeks ago Michael and SCIMITAR team wrapped up an overall win of 2017-2018 Etchells Biscayne Bay series, the de facto winter championship for the class. Using North Sails at all these events their team has been truly dominant. Chris Snow from North One Design caught up with Michael to get some insights sailing for one of the worlds best. Would you say you’re kind of like the quarterback in a way for the team? A little bit. I mean I’m super lucky to sail with someone like Benj, who has so much experience and knowledge already. He is the quarterback in a way because he does all the organization behind the scenes. Sailing is seemingly always on his mind, and he’s always thinking of ways to improve the team, sails, parts, etc. He is also the best driver I’ve ever sailed with because he’s not only very skilled but also very receptive and trusting with all the crew. He never dictates or tells us what to do. He is always really quiet and making sure that he is driving to the best of his ability, and then listening to us on where to go and what to do. During regattas, I guess you could say the football gets passed, and I take on the role of the the quarterback. I just try and make sure that everyone is rested, calm, and ready to race. Before the start, what’s the discussion on board like? What kind of things are you guys talking about together before the racing starts? We monitor a few things: the geometry of the race course, as well as the wind strength and how our rig tune, sail and batten selection matches up with the conditions. We also closely monitor our wind forecasts to see how they are matching up with our observations, and it can help us guess what we expect to see next. In your role as tactician, how do you manage the last couple critical minutes before the start? What type of information are you giving to the team and what are you getting from them? This is, for sure, the biggest moment in the whole race. I come up with a general plan of where to start. Sometimes, it’s very specific and sometimes it isn’t, but it’s nice to have some sort of plan. A main priority for me is just to stay clear of any big packs and making sure we keep our destiny in our own hands. I find if you have a very specific plan, sometimes it will take you into a crowded situation and then you have greater odds of getting mixed up with another boat or two and not being able to execute on the important things, like hitting the line with speed. That being said, our top priority is to always be in our own water and do what we can to control the boats around us. So once we get into a comfortable place on the line, it’s all about time and distance and managing our hole from that point forward. What I’m doing at this point is just painting a picture of what we will do next, and take in information such as time, and distance to the line. I’m basically trying to keep us in relatively low-risk situations from 2:00 – 1:00 to go to the start. I think it’s a really big advantage to have four people on the boat because we have more eyes. We have someone spotting for poachers and hookers. A poacher is someone that is coming in on port and can potentially tack to leeward of you and take up your hole to leeward. And a hooker is someone who is reaching down the line behind you on starboard who is going faster through the water than you and can potentially hook you and control you. Someone is calling the time, and in some cases, we put Ian on the bow so they can monitor our line sight. If we’re in the middle of the line, it’s nearly impossible to judge how far away you are, and it’s really helpful to have someone on the bow telling us how many boat lengths we have. Given all this information, I dictate which mode we should be in and I work with Benj and the jib trimmer on what needs to be done in those final seconds. I am the voice on the boat so the communication at this stage needs to be clear. If we are controlling the boats around us, the goal is to hit the line at speed at the gun. It sounds like you would rather start in an uncongested area versus completely at the favored end. Yea most of the time. It’s so hard to come back in this fleet, if you start in 30th, it is really unlikely that you’re gonna get back to the top eight. So just being able to start and go straight for longer than most, and pick the next best decision and try to get on the next shift, may get you into 15th place right away. Staying clear, keeping our options open and making sure we can pass boats on every leg and not start out at 30th or 40th, is a big priority. In such a tight fleet there are many times upwind and crossing situations where you have to decide whether or not to cross-tack or allow another boat to cross even though you have right-of-way. How do you typically make these decisions? The two biggest things that I monitor are where is the max pressure on the course and if we are lifted or headed. Knowing those two things will help you make a lot of good decisions. Sometimes I will sit in a compromised lane for a long time just to stay on the lifted tack, or if I know it will bring me into better pressure or the next shift sooner. I try my best to be patient, but if you see something that you are confident in you should act immediately such as sailing to the pressure. Ian is kind of my eyes for macro pressure. Focusing on boat-speed, staying in mode with Benj, and trimming the main keeps me pretty busy so having another set of eyes looking forward is key. I rely on the guys up forward with just keeping me honest where the best pressure is. I think you have to be ready to take some transoms in order to stay in the best pressure. If you can do that you will pass all the boats that are hoping something will come their way even if they are sailing away from the pressure. Don’t be hopeful. Is Ian the second person back? Yes, he’s the second person back. Previously we had Dave on the jib and now we have Johnny on the jib with Ian just behind. Ian is pretty much just hiking upwind so he has the time to keep his head out of the boat. The jib trimmer is also busy trying to adjust the jib and rig so we can keep the boat at max power. We have the jib trimmer calling micro pressure, counting down the puffs. That’s really helpful for me because there is a lot of different controls to play once a puff hits you (the traveler, the mainsheet, the cunningham, the backstay). Ideally, finding out how strong a puff is going hit us and for how long it gives me time to change the mainsail as the puff is actually hitting us instead of after. The last third or quarter of the first beat is critical. The boats are still close together and getting around the top mark in good shape can make or break your race. How do you handle this part of the race? Do you have any pointers on that? I think it goes back to are lifted or are you in the best pressure. You may think that getting out to an edge for clean air and a clean rounding may be best, but if you are sailing away from the best pressure, then that’s obviously no good. It’s pretty tough. You have to imagine the race course without any other boats and ask yourself, what would you do if you were out there alone? If there’s more pressure on the left, you have to go there. You have to spend a tack to go to that pressure and then do your best from that point on. On the flip side of that, if you have 20 boats going to a single puff, you definitely don’t want to sail behind them all. You want to make sure you are leading them back to the next shift or the next layline. If there’s a puff on the left and there are literally 20 boats in that puff that are taking it back, I don’t think you really want to take all the transoms just to get in that puff because you’ll still be behind them. In that case, you really want to lay up underneath, see if you can get a little bit of the puff on the edge, and be in a position to where, once that puff goes away, the people that are a little bit compromised out of that 20 boat pack are going to be slowly pushed back behind you. One last thing is to really avoid the laylines at all costs. Since these boats are so windshift-driven and especially in a place like Miami, where the wind’s oscillating all the time and oscillations can be pretty short, getting out to a layline early means that you’re going to miss the last shift and lose boats. How do you play the downwinds? How early do you decide which gate mark to go to? I spend a lot of my time looking behind us, just to make sure that we are in a clear lane. Ian on the bow is also looking back a lot and helping me with the macro pressure. One other thing downwind is overstanding is a massive penalty in these boats. Big penalty both upwind and downwind, really. I’m always trying to lead people back to the middle in most cases unless there is big pressure on the side. As for the gates, sometimes I leave that decision pretty late. I am open-minded on either gate and it can be really difficult to tell which one is closer. I try to not be overly committed to a gate until I’m really sure of which one is going to be favored, and a huge factor in making that decision is which turn is cleaner. Cleaner means which rounding will get you into clearer air and the clearest water as soon as possible. For example, let’s just say that the majority of the fleet is on the course right side looking upwind, and as you approach the gates there is a right-hand shift making a left turn, favored. A lot of people may think that making a left turn would be better because of the shift and the mark is further upwind. But if it takes you into 25 spinnakers, and chop from all those boats coming downwind, that’s not really good either. In that particular situation, I’d be taking a good look at the other turn, as it could potentially get me into clear and clean water sooner. It seems to me if you’re rounding directly behind five boats or so, it’s extremely difficult to get the boat going. It turns into a massive pinch fest, and everyone’s going really slow. If you compound that with a lot of boats coming downwind and giving you bad air and more chop, then that’s so painful. If you can take the other rounding, even though it’s not quite as favored, but you have a little bit more room to breathe, you can get the boat moving quicker, then that’s something to really take into consideration. Actually, I made this mistake on Sunday of the Midwinters on the very last race. I chose the gate to get some more pressure and the shift but it wasn’t quite as clean and we lost a boat that was way behind us. It was super frustrating because I felt like I made the correct decision at the time based on the wind strength and the shifts. If you sail in a place like San Diego or San Francisco you really have to make sure that you’re going to be rounding a favored gate. That’s going to take you to a side that’s clearly going to pay. In a place that’s oscillating, making sure your rounding is the clearest, it should be a very high priority as well. You’re just getting started in your sailing career. Is there anybody that you could credit with influencing you in sailing? Definitely. My family got me into sailing and have given me the tools to succeed from an early age. In the recent years, there hasn’t really been anyone guiding me per say. Sailing’s a great sport because there are so many amazing things to do. You have America’s Cup, Volvo and offshore racing, high-performance sailing like the Moth fleet, the Olympics, professional one-design sailing. They’re all fantastic and have incredible competition. I think being guided would be easier if you wanted to do just one thing, such as the Olympics. I feel like for myself and for a lot of other sailors who want to keep their options open, there really isn’t a guidebook or a right thing to do and a wrong thing to do. For me, I just try my hardest to be the best teammate I can be and help our team win in any way that I can, and see where it takes me. In the last few years, I’d have to say a big thank you to Argyle Campbell who gave me a start in the Etchells fleet. He trusted me to put a team together and that was my first year ever sailing Etchells. We ended up winning the JAG series that year too. Lastly, a huge thank you to Heidi and Benj for giving me all the opportunity I could hope for. Sailing on one of the best Etchells programs is amazing, and bringing me onboard their TP52 Spooky as a tactician has been a fantastic experience. It’s all been a fun ride these last two years and it has opened the door to other sailing opportunities which I’m really excited for such as doing tactics on Rio for the TransPac 52 West Coast Series. I’m looking forward to sailing more in the Etchells class and also expanding into other classes as well. It’s all been good. Michael, thanks so much and we wish you the best of luck in all your upcoming adventures! READ MORE