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NORTH SAILS BRISBANE JOINS THE NORTH SAILS GROUP The Local Agent is purchased by North Technology Group The North Sails Group is pleased to announce that North Sails Brisbane will become the latest loft to join the company. Founded in 1993 as Bradford Prentice, the loft set up by Mark Bradford and Vaughan Prentice has long since established itself as the largest sailmaker in Queensland and since 2001 they have been operating as a local agent of North Sails. Following the 2017 acquisition of North Sails Australia, which included both the Sydney and Melbourne businesses, today’s announcement sees the Brisbane team join the Group as a fully serviced, North Sails loft. The loft has manufactured, sold, and serviced thousands of sails up and down the Queensland coast. The team pride themselves on their ability to understand their clients needs and find a sail solution that works for any size of boat, from the smallest dinghy through multihulls, right up to the racing super maxis and everything in between. In line with the North Sails Group ethos, the acquisition of the loft is aimed at giving customers an enhanced experience – while still dealing with Mark, Vaughan and the team on the ground they will also benefit from the shared technology and wealth of knowledge from within the Group. The growing global company, well known for its revolutionary North 3Di sails, has a network of lofts unrivaled by any other sailmaker in the world and continues to invest in innovation and technology, which in turn creates the market leading sails clients have come to expect. Mark Bradford commented: “Vaughan and I have greatly enjoyed setting up and running what has become North Sails Brisbane but we are hugely excited by this next step to giving our clients an even better service. We want to make sure that anyone that walks into our loft ends up with a sail perfectly suited to their sailing needs and part of that is making sure we are at the cutting edge of new technologies and able to offer the latest and greatest sails possible. We believe by joining the North Sails Group we can do that and all the staff at North Sails Brisbane are hugely looking forward to all that this new stage will bring.” Ken Read, North Sails Group President commented: “The core of our whole business is understanding the local culture and sailor by delivering sail solutions that exceeds their expectations. We are delighted that North Sails Brisbane is joining North Sails Group helping us to further develop our network and enhance our global customer experience. As we continue to push the boundaries of technology and put a huge amount of focus into research and development, we are excited to be able to share this with our lofts and customers around the world. I am delighted to welcome Mark, Vaughan and their team to the North Sails Group and look forward to working with them in the coming years.” READ MORE

VX ONE MIDWINTERS CHAMPIONSHIP North Sails powers clients to the top in big breeze on Sarasota Bay The VX One Midwinters, hosted by Sarasota Sailing Squadron, was a wet and wild one with strong breezes ranging between 15-18 knots giving sailors a thrill all weekend long. Sailors felt the need for speed in this fun and exciting one design class, hiking hard in the fight to be number one at the end of the day. North-powered clients deemed to be fastest, placing 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6*, 7, and 9th out of 23 teams. North Sails VX One expert, Jackson Benvenutti joined Richard Heausler’s team Second Line placing second overall, just two points away from first place finishers Jeff Eiber, on Calvin Ball. Jeff stated: “Going into this regatta I felt very fortunate to have my son sailing with me. So my primary goal was to keep the communication and psychology 100% positive and focus on enjoying our time together both in the boat and onshore. As the regatta progressed we noticed that the more time we spent thinking, looking around, and talking, the better we sailed or at least the easier it seemed to go the right way. “We were very quick off the wind and having a blast too! Not capsizing in the jibes let us pass lots of boats downwind so we survived the windy day with 11 points. The next two days were in moderate wind so even though we were a little slower upwind with old sails and less weight we were still one of the fastest boats downwind. I was also happy with the performance of our 2 year old, very high mileage North sails. The VX is a very crew weight-wind speed sensitive boat. Of course it feels good to win but I feel an even bigger sense of satisfaction from sailing with my son and enjoying the warm camaraderie of my fellow VX sailors”, said Jeff. To top off the podium in third place was Sam Padnos on TWD, also very close behind keeping the racing very close and exciting. Saturday was above all the windiest days and many teams experienced a little capsizing exercise during racing. Jackson’s team ended up in the drink a few times, but was still able to hang on to their positioning. Jackson stated, “Flipping over three times in two races was certainly humbling and a bit of a reality check on our (lack of) weight in the big breeze. But we were in the mindset to live to fight another day and take advantage of the slightly lighter forecast for the next two days of the regatta. That common saying ‘you can’t win a regatta on the first day, but you can certainly lose it’ came to mind. We knew we had a bit of a hole to dig out of, but felt like we still had a chance to do well.” After the weekend, Jackson reflected on some key points that contributed to his teams’ success over the weekend. Along with not giving up, here’s what he had to say about rig tuning, body placement, sail trim, and the true power of hiking hard. Jackson’s 10 Takeaways: 1) Make sure the main halyard is all the way up! The mast bends a lot, which makes the mainsail fall down a little bit. Rig a halyard that is a bit thicker than the standard diameter spectra halyard where it goes around the cleat. To achieve this, we inserted a core inside the main halyard about 2 feet long where the halyard fit around the cleat when the mainsail was fully hoisted. This will also help with the line slipping over the cleat and gave us a bit of a better grip to pull it up those last few centimeters. In the breezier conditions, about 80% of the fleet had their halyards slipping below max hoist. 2) Batten tension is crucial and should be monitored to assure that you never have any vertical wrinkles along the batten pockets, especially the full-length battens! Using stiffer battens for the top battens in the main and jib will also help flatten out the top of both sails in the big breeze! 3) Cap shroud tension is important. We actually bottomed out our cap shrouds after 19.5 turns from the base setting, and would have liked to put about another 6 turns on if we could have! Ideally, the shrouds would be a little bit shorter, trimming a 1/2 inch off both studs will help achieve more cap shroud tension. However, you have to turn the lowers as well if you are cranking on the caps. If you don’t, you’ll end up with too much mast bend and over-bend wrinkles in your main, especially when you apply proper vang tension. Not having proper lower and checkstay tension will allow the mast to bend too much, and will actually decrease the headstay tension you are trying to achieve (indicated when the mainsail begins to show overbend wrinkles which extend from the middle of the luff near the spreaders and run towards the clew). Generally, the best ratio of cap shrouds to lower shrouds seemed to be 3:1. That means 1 turn on the lowers for every 3 turns on the caps. 4) In chop the boat sailed well flat with the bow down and the sheets eased, in particular, the mainsheet. 5) When executing the planing/bow down mode upwind with the mainsheet eased to keep the boat flat, the jib cannot be trimmed too hard or else the slot will be closed off. The best way to keep the top of the jib open was to move the sheet down on the clewboard of the jib. Our sheet lived in the bottom 3 holes of the clewboard and felt especially fast one hole up from the bottom in the 15-18 knot breeze. This allowed us to flatten the bottom of the jib, keep the top twisted open, and inhaul the jib properly to the sweet spot (around 6 degrees of sheeting angle). 6) Trimming and easing both sails together upwind proved to be very fast! Easing the jib and main together as a puff hits allowed the boat to transfer the extra wind velocity into forward boat speed without the boat heeling over too much. Plus, this keeps the keel deeper in the water. We found that allowing the boat to go fast forward through the water (instead of trying to ride a puff up with the sheets in and feathering) would make the keel become more efficient, which in turn provided height. In short, your pointing would come from speed. 7) Downwind the boat was very sensitive to weight movement. Being aggressive with your fore and aft movements really worked well. Move forward to initiate planing, slide aft while planing, and then move forward again to prolong planing. In marginal planing conditions, if the skipper has to turn up to keep planing, you should be moving forward. If he has to turn down to keep the boat at the proper angle of heel, you should be moving aft. Sometimes it was possible to get the bow up and over a wave that you might not have been able to get over with a short-lived slide forward. 8) Keep the gears changing! On the last day of the midwinters, the breeze was pretty puffy. This caused the boat to go from underpowered to overpowered very quickly, and vice versa. The key in those conditions is to constantly be looking at the wind that will be immediately affecting your sails and be proactive about the changes in velocity (not reactive)! The jib halyard tension and main cunningham are very easy to adjust and should be adjusted constantly in those conditions. Our boat is rigged up so that the jib halyard and main cunningham are actually the same continuous line. This makes it easy to keep track of where that line is, if I grab one, I have both of them. The adjustments on the luff on both of the sails would range from wrinkles in 50% to completely smooth, which will properly change the shape of your sails for the given wind condition. Basically, the boat will either be overpowered or underpowered, so you want a looser luff when you’re underpowered and a firmer, smooth luff when you’re overpowered. 9) Jib trim downwind is key. I think most people overlook it and focus more on the bigger sails, the kite, and mainsail. However, if the jib is under trimmed, then you are losing power and speed that you could easily have and you’re also dragging the sail through the air which is actually slowing you down! If the jib is over trimmed (which is worse than under trimmed) it completely closes off the slot which then essentially acts as a handbrake to your boat. An over-trimmed jib downwind will kill both the flow over the kite and the flow over the main. Not good! The best jib trim is with the car all the way down on the track, and then trim the sheet so that the top 1/5th of the jib is spilling open and slightly luffing. This trim technique will ensure a few things: the jib is trimmed in a way that keeps the groove wide open downwind so the driver can actively steer to the pressure changes, it will provide extra power in the sail plan to help sail slightly lower, and will keep the breeze flowing through the slots! The jib will need small adjustments every now and then as the boat goes through puffs and lulls. The main point is, don’t ignore the jib downwind! 10) There is no good substitute for hiking hard and good physical fitness. It’s simple, the harder you hike, the flatter you keep the boat, the less you slide sideways and the better the keel works! Hiking hard also means you can sail the boat with a little less weight, which can pay huge dividends on the downwind legs. Being physically unfit not only means you can’t sail the boat to its full potential, but it creates a snowball effect due to fatigue where you can’t make the boat go fast enough, your mind can’t process information as fast, and you make bad decisions. Body-weight workouts are worth their weight in gold in a class like the VX One. Staying well fed and properly hydrated also helps a ton in fighting fatigue. The VX One is a physically demanding boat! Interested in our products? Contact your local VX expert today! VX One Midwinter Championship 1 Calvin Ball / Jeff Eiber 2 Second Line / Richard Heausler 3 TWD / Sam Padnos 4 VX One / John Potter 5 Chuck Wagon / Phip Hallowell 6* Isabelita Con Queso / Christopher Alexander 7 Character 3.0 / Justin Quigg 8 Wild Deuces / Paul Currie 9 GiddyUP / Kevin Gillman * Denotes Partial North Sails Inventory Interested in joining the VX One Class? READ MORE

NORTH SAILS LLEGA PRIMERO A HOBART © Rolex/Studio Borlenghi El supermaxi de 100 pies LDV Comanche ha logrado un histórico récord en la Rolex Sydney Hobart 2017. El barco patroneado por Jim Cooney, y dotado con velas North Sails, completó el legendario recorrido de 628 millas en 1 día, 9 horas, 15 minutos y 24 segundos, la mejor marca en los 73 años de historia de la clásica oceánica del Hemisferio Sur. Una flota de 102 barcos participó en la salida desde la bahía de Sídney, una tradición navideña que se celebra ininterrumpidamente cada 26 de diciembre desde 1945. La victoria absoluta correspondió a otro cliente North Sails: el TP52 Ichi Ban de Matt Allen. READ MORE

PREMIO PARA LA 3Di NORDAC La 3Di NORDAC no deja de recibir reconocimiento internacional. La última incorporación al muestrario de velas North Sails para cruceros de pequeña y mediana eslora ha sido elegida por la prestigiosa revista náutica SAIL como ganadora del Pittman Innovation Award. En opinión de Charles J. Doane, editor de la revista SAIL: “Con la nueva 3Di NORDAC, North Sails combina las magníficas virtudes de coste-efectividad y durabilidad de las velas tradicionales con el proceso de fabricación 3Di aplicado al poliéster, un acierto seguro para navegación de crucero”. Más de 1.600 pedidos desde su lanzamiento en junio de 2017 confirman el éxito de la 3Di NORDAC entre nuestros clientes. Para más información sobre la 3Di NORDAC, contacta con nuestros expertos. READ MORE

BRILLANTE 2017, ESPERANZADOR 2018 © Vincent Curutchet Repasamos cómo ha sido 2017 y lo que nos espera en 2018. El pasado año, North Sails reforzó su catálogo de velas para crucero con la revolucionaria 3Di Nordac, que no deja de recibir reconocimiento internacional. A nivel deportivo, despidió un año excepcional con un nuevo récord estratosférico logrado con velas 3Di, el firmado por François Gabart al completar la circunnavegación del planeta en 42 días, 16 horas, 40 minutos y 35 segundos. Para conseguir semejante hito de la navegación, Gabart completó la vuelta al mundo a un impresionante promedio de 27 nudos de velocidad. Su trimarán de 100 pies de eslora Macif voló con velas 3Di en una nueva demostración de rendimiento y de la tecnología exclusiva North Sails. Y de durabilidad: la mayor del Macif ya había navegado 47.000 millas antes de empezar la circunnavegación que supuso el récord, y que mejoró en casi una semana la establecida apenas un año antes por el SODEBO 4 de Thomas Coville, también con velas 3Di. Las velas North Sails 3Di han batido nada menos que 24 récords mundiales desde 2014. El de Gabart se une a dos establecidos a principios de año: el IDEC de Francis Joyon lograba el trofeo Jules Verne por la circunnavegación absoluta más rápida de la historia (40 días, 23 horas, 30 minutos y 30 segundos) y Armel Le Cléac establecía el récord de vuelta al mundo en solitario para un monocasco durante la Vendée Globe, (74 días, 3 horas, 36 minutos y 46 segundos). Otras marcas de 2017 para recordar son las dos establecidas durante la Transpac Race: el Mighty Merlone de HL Enloe batió el récord de multicascos (intocable durante 20 años), y el Comanche de Jim Clark el de monocascos. Ambos optaron por velas 3Di RAW. A nivel comercial, North Sails reforzó en junio su catálogo de velas para crucero con la 3Di Nordac, un producto que por primera vez combina la tecnología 3Di y el poliéster, y que está recibiendo unánime reconocimiento internacional. También en nuestro país, como explica Luís Martínez Doreste, director comercial de North Sails España: “Cerramos el año con una excelente aceptación de la nueva 3Di Nordac, que hemos vendido con éxito especialmente en las áreas de Canarias, Andalucía, Levante y Cataluña. Es un gran producto y nuestros clientes están muy satisfechos”. La nueva vela para crucero colaboró en la consecución de unos buenos resultados de ventas en la campaña 2017: “El balance de 2017 para North Sails en España ha sido muy bueno, hemos cumplido nuestros objetivos comerciales y logrado grandes éxitos deportivos, especialmente en One Design. De cara a 2018 esperamos la llegada de interesantes novedades que completarán nuestra oferta actual, y estamos convencidos de que recibirán una magnífica aceptación por parte de nuestros clientes”. READ MORE

THE CANADA’S CUP TROPHY AT THE 2018 TORONTO BOAT SHOW The Canada’s Cup is the premier match racing trophy for the Great Lakes. The Cup was deeded in 1896 to be awarded in perpetuity to a winner of a series of match races between a yacht representing a Canadian yacht club and one representing an American club, both to be located on the Great Lakes. The prestigious event has been contested 24 times between the United States and Canada; USA holds the edge, 13 to 11. WHAT: Come and see the oldest and most prestigious Great Lakes sailing trophy, the Canada’s Cup, and learn about exciting changes for the Canada’s Cup Event. Be introduced to the Melges IC37, the new boat that has been selected for the event for 2020, 2022, 2024. WHEN: Friday, Jan 19th – 1600 – 1900 hours. Saturday, Jan 20 – 1200 – 1600 hours. Sunday, Jan 21 – 1200 – 1600 hours. WHERE: North Sails Booth #1623 READ MORE

HUGH BEATON EXPLAINS 3Di NORDAC AT 2018 TORONTO BOAT SHOW The first weekend of the 2018 Toronto Boat Show was a great success despite the weather! Our Toronto team had a great time with customers, both familiar and new. Lots of interest was seen with our NEW 3Di NORDAC product. To learn more about it, see where Hugh Beaton explains the technology of 3Di NORDAC. Interested in our products? Contact your local expert today. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HIJNWrYAtqU&feature=youtu.be READ MORE

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THE POWER OF A PERFECT ROLL TACK Boat Handling Goes a Long Way The Viper 640 class has seen a lot of growth in the last couple of years largely in part to its grassroots feel, its fun-loving fleet members, and its dedicated class management. A nice list of destination venues like Bermuda and Florida doesn’t hurt either! But the true draw to this class is the boat itself. It is a proper sport boat with the feel of a planing dinghy with the stability of a small keelboat. There is no “low and slow” mode in the Viper 640. Even in under 10 knots of breeze, you always feel like you are flying downwind and, as it soon as it is over 10 knots, hang on to your hats! Like any other racing class, the teams that consistently find the top of the podium on a Viper 640 are the ones that demonstrate superior boat speed but also, like a high-performance dinghy, the boat handling skills are nearly just as important as the boat speed factor. A lot can be gained on the Viper race track from executing your boat handling at a high level. Don’t Underestimate the Power of a Perfect Light Air Roll Tack We’ve all been a victim to that the hotshot team coming at us on port tack on the first beat in lighter air conditions. We’re thinking, “no problem, we are on starboard, they are either going to have to duck us or do a slow tack to leeward and we’ll roll right over the top.” Only to end up seeing that smirk on the helmsman’s face as they look back at us after ultimately pinching us off and sending us back to the middle of the course. How did they do that?! The perfect roll tack… That’s how! Learning the skills of executing a perfect roll tack often times begins in our junior sailing days – be it Opti’s, Lasers, or some other dingy. Then it has to be translated into different boats and with different teams. But the fundamentals remain very similar: A perfect rate of turn A well-timed “bump” from the crew weight The perfect amount of back wind on the jib Hitting the exit angle Easing the sails Flattening the boat together and effectively without over flattening It’s that simple! Here is the breakdown of executing a perfect roll tack in light air in the Viper 640: Once we’ve communicated that the tack is coming, we try to be patient and find a nice flat spot to start the turn. We give the mainsheet a bit of trim to close the leech and help the boat start to turn up. We might lean our body weight to leeward just a tad, but we don’t aggressively heel the boat to leeward. The initial tiller movement is quite slow as we try to let the boat carry its momentum into the wind as long as possible. No one moves until we have turned all the way through head to wind and the jib starts to backwind. When the jib backwinds, the helmsman accelerates the turn (pushing it all the way into the bridle if using the aft mainsheet set-up) and the crew now, smoothly but deliberately, moves their weight hard to the rail (on the new leeward side). It’s critical to wait to do this “bump” until the jib has backwinded because now we are using the pressure from the wind to help us generate the roll. If we roll too early, it slows the turn down and we don’t get the leverage from the wind to help generate a powerful roll. When we think the boat has now reached its maximum heel, the jib trimmer will now switch the jib, the main trimmer will release the main, and the team will hop to the new weather side and use their shoulders as much as possible to pump the boat back to flat. It is crucial not to let the boat over-flatten. Depending on how much wind there is, you’ll have to decide how many crew members are needed to flatten. It is also crucial that both sheets stay eased as you bring the boat back to flat because the boat will experience an apparent wind shift aft as the mast comes back to vertical. You need to keep the leeches open to allow for maximum acceleration. Once the boat is flat and you’ve hit your exit angle, you can trim the sails back into the normal upwind look. Remember that the Viper really likes to sail low angles upwind when it is light, leaning on the jib for power. So we try to avoid coming out of the tack at a lower angle. If you come out of the tack to close to the wind, you will be underpowered and down speed. READ MORE

Designer Mike Marshall explains 3Di sail development When notified that North Sails would be the official sailmaker for the Melges IC37 class, the design team realized we had a challenging task before us. An inventory of only three sails – one main, one jib, and one spinnaker – and only one standing rigging tuning adjustment allowed during class regattas (the mast ram). Given these requirements, how could we design a set of sails to cover the entire wind range when racing this 37-foot one-design boat? Fortunately, we had all the tools we needed with North’s 3Di technology and the North Design Suite of modeling software. It was clear from the outset that 3Di was the only option for sails that could take the loads of a 37-foot boat yet perform well in winds anywhere from 5 to 25 knots. With 3Di, tapes are oriented in the direction of the loadings, giving outstanding stretch resistance, and Aramid and Dyneema fibers provide exceptional durability. So the 3Di decision was an easy one. Next we got to work perfecting sail shape through aero-elastic modeling. In a seven-step process passed down from years of America’s Cup development, the Melges IC37 sails were modeled in a variety of wind conditions. Thanks to a close relationship with Southern Spars we had access to very detailed mast information, such as mechanical properties and rigging attachment points, which allowed us to design sails that would perfectly fit the mast of the Melges IC37. Here are the seven steps in the sail development process: Step 1: Build a model of the rig. Using North’s Desman program, we created a complete three-dimensional model of the spars and rigging. Step 2: Determine the base rig tune of the mast. Through our partnership with Southern Spars, we obtained the maximum loaded tuning and rigging specifications for the Melges IC37 and ran it through the program Membrain, to determine the maximum and minimum mast bend from tuning. This, in turn, provided the minimum and maximum mast ram positions and the range of mast bends and headstay sags the sails would see up the wind range. . Step 3: Design the sails and place them on the rig. Using the program Spiral, we specified a shape for each sail. This software defines a sail’s three-dimensional shape as a “molded” surface without any wind pressure or load applied. Step 4: Define the structure of the sails. Using the software module Warps, we selected 3Di construction and created the taping layout of the sails. The structure of a sail is as important as its designed shape, because these two factors must work together to achieve the sail’s “flying shape.”     Step 5: (left) Apply wind pressure to the sails and rig. We used the program Flow to introduce wind pressure over each sail’s three-dimensional mold and produce a pressure map on the sail’s surface. This pressure field was then linked to the program Membrain, to see what effects wind pressure would have on the molded sail shape. Step 6: (right) Apply a pressure map to the molded sail shape. Using Membrain , we took the rig and sail model developed in the first four steps and applied the pressure field from Step 5. Membrain considers the specific properties of the sail’s construction, adds in wind pressure, and shows how the sails will deform (stretch) when they are loaded. Step 7: Carry out aero-elastic coupling. Once a sail’s flying shape is tuned and trimmed in Membrain, the deformed (pressurized) shape is sent back to Flow. This shape is different than the molded shape created in Spiral (without any wind pressure), so Flow recalculates a pressure map, which is then sent back to Membrain and applied to the sail to get a new deformed shape. This process is called aero-elastic coupling. Within the North Design Suite, the computer keeps going back and forth between Flow and Membrain until there is little or no additional change in Membrain’s deformed sail shape. At this point, we know that the sail shape is in balance with the wind loads on the sail. After carefully considering multiple design options and running many load cases, we developed a set of sails for the Melges IC37 that would optimally fit the range of mast bends and perform well from 5 knots of breeze all the way up to 25 knots. We also determined the tuning for the mast, all before the first boat even left the mold. North’s 3Di technology and North Design Suite go hand-in-hand and we are excited to see our work come to life when Hull #1 hits the water in a few weeks. What goes on behind the curtain tends to go unnoticed, but with the new launch on the horizon, our designers are proud to introduce to you the new North-powered Melges IC37 Class, the newest addition to Corinthian one design competition, with industry-leading technology that sailboat owners and crew will love. Find out more on the Melges IC37, or speak with your local expert today. READ MORE

NORTH SAILS ANERKENDES MED SAIL PITTMAN INNOVATION AWARD Prisen, der de seneste år er gået til meget forskellige produkter, men overvejende til det nyeste elektroniske vidunder, går i år til vores innovative tursejl, 3Di NORDAC. Begrundelsen er, at North Sails har taget den avancerede teknologi udviklet til sejlads på højeste niveau til at udnytte polyesterens egenskaber fuldt ud, og kreeret en produktlinje, så alle nu kan få glæde af den. © Amory Ross I går, 17. januar 2018, annoncerede SAIL Magazine, at deres Pittmans innovationspris går til North Sails i år. ”Med deres nye 3Di NORDAC-sejl har North kombineret omkostningsniveauet og den lange holdbarhed fra de traditionelle sejl med 3Di-processen ved at bygge dem i ren polyester, hvor polyesterfilamenter i polyester-resin danner den grundlæggende 3Di-tape”, som SAILs redaktør Charles J Doane formulerer det. ”Resultatet er et sejl med lang holdbarhed, der er lettere, mere formstabilt og mere mug-resistent, end traditionelle vævede sejl er – win, win for tursejlerne kloden rundt.” Siden juni 2017, hvor vi lancerede 3Di NORDAC, har de revolutionerende sejl vagt stor begejstring blandt både sejlere og branchens eksperter. Vi har modtaget flere ordre og priser i løbet af den relativt korte periode, end vi havde turdet håbe på. At dommerne fra SAIL Magazine nu også anerkender muligheden for, at flere sejlere kan gøre brug af den unikke 3Di-teknologi, bekræfter, at nytænkning på et traditionelt marked var tiltrængt. North Sails’ øverst chef, Dan Neri, har følgende kommentar til prisen: “I 2015 så vi muligheden for at kunne revolutionere udbuddet på cruising-markedet. Vi var overbeviste om, at vi havde udviklet noget helt unikt med 3Di Nordac og det har vi hermed fået bekræftet.” Han fortsætter: ”3Di NORDAC ligner de velkendte hvide sejl, men har en glattere, stærkere og mere formstabil facon samtidig med, at prisen er konkurrencedygtig. Vi vil gerne takke komitéen for at anerkende dette unikke produkt med Pittmans innovationspris. Kontrol over bådens drivkraft med sejl, der responderer er essensen i den oplevelse, som vi ønsker at give tursejlere. Med mere balance, mindre pres på roret, mindre afdrift og lettere håndtering leverer 3Di NORDAC lige præcis det!” ”Andre sejlmagere vil nok argumentere for, at Aramid og Dyneema danner ”bedre” sejl, og at polyester ikke er avanceret nok eller har egenskaberne. North Sails er overbeviste om, at polyester stadig er det rette materiale til tursejl. En hver form for nedbrydning – stræk, kompression, knæk eller krymp – af sejlet mindsker dets ydeevne. Fokus på at forstærke sejlet i belastningsretningen er nødvendig. 3Di-sejl er betydelig mere strækresistente, end noget andet sejl i verden. Polyester har lang holdbarhed (UV-, knæk-, slid- og strækresistens), er let og nemt at forme. Sejlerne kan nyde godt af den stærke overfalde, den stabile facon og de integrerede reb, der holder formen og letter håndteringen i al slags vejr.” Læs mere om 3Di NORDAC READ MORE

NORTH SAILS CLAIMS SAIL PITTMAN INNOVATION AWARD The Dacron sail reinvented: revolutionizing the cruising market by offering 3Di technology to the wider sailing community at an affordable price © Amory Ross NEWPORT, January 17th 2018: North Sails 3Di NORDAC is already recognized as game changing cruising technology and has claimed yet another coveted prize. The revolutionary polyester sail, designed for small to medium sized cruising boats, was yesterday announced as a winner of SAIL Magazine’s renowned Pittman Innovation Awards. Since 3Di NORDAC was launched in June 2017, the sail has seen unparalleled success with cruisers and industry experts, claiming awards and stellar sales in a short space of time, with more than 1600 orders placed since being introduced. The SAIL judges recognized that 3Di NORDAC offers the wider sailing community the unique 3Di technology developed on the race course: “With its new 3Di NORDAC sails, North has combined the great cost-effectiveness and durability of traditional sails with the 3Di process by building them entirely in polyester, with polyester filaments set in polyester resin in the 3Di structural tape,” said SAIL editor Charles J. Doane. “The result is an affordable all-polyester sail that is lighter, less stretchy, more durable and more mildew-resistant than traditional woven polyester sails - a win-win for cruising sailors everywhere.” Commenting on the award victory, North Sails CEO Dan Neri added, “In 2015 we saw a real opportunity to create product differentiation in the cruising market and we felt confident we had developed something special with 3Di NORDAC. We are pleased by the response from the cruising community.” 3Di NORDAC is a familiar-looking white sail, boasting stronger, smoother, longer lasting shape, and priced to compete within the cruising market. We would like to thank the SAIL Pittman Innovation Awards for celebrating this great product. Controlling your sail power with responsive sails is the hallmark of the North Sails cruising experience. 3Di NORDAC sails deliver this experience with less heel, less helm, less leeway and lighter, more easily-handled Dacron sails than ever before. 3Di NORDAC product does this without sacrificing the durability that is critically important to cruising sailors. Many sailmakers might argue that Aramid or Dyneema yarn deliver a “better” sail, and that polyester is too low tech and offers no interesting properties. North Sails believes polyester remains the right material for the cruising market. Sail distortion of any type - stretch, compression, shear or shrink - has a negative effect on sail performance. Most sails concentrate on resisting loads in the stretch (tension) direction. Ounce for ounce, 3Di sails have significantly more resistance to stretch than any other sail made in the world today. Polyester is high durability (UV resistant, flex, abrasion, toughness), soft, lightweight and forgiving to handle. Sailors enjoy the rugged external rip stop surface of 3Di NORDAC, zero risk of delamination, perfect sail shape and integrated reefs for better reefed sail shape. Learn more about 3Di NORDAC READ MORE

MAGPIE DOMINATES ETCHELLS AUSTRALIAN CHAMPIONSHIP North Sails Clients Sweep the podium, Graeme wins another National Title The Swan River Etchells fleet in Fremantle, Western Australia put on a show with sunshine, crystal clear water, great racing conditions, and hospitality for the 2018 Etchells Australian Championships. This race track will be hosting the 2020 Worlds Championship and has proved it will make a wonderful venue for the competition in a few years time. The teams experienced variable conditions, from 10 to 20+ knots, testing the local and visiting sailors. The winning team of Graeme Taylor, James Mayo and Richard Allanson sailing Magpie never found it hard to turn on the speed, leading the event from day one. They finished the 7-race event with a total of 15 points overall and a 9-point lead over the second place. The team This Thing of Ours with David Turton, Josh Torpy and Klause Lorenz finished second overall, and local team, The Croc with Michael Manford, Dean McAullay and Nick Gray rounded off the podium finishes placing third overall. North Sails is proud to have powered all 3 top teams! Three-time Australian National Champion Graeme Taylor will now focus on the next World Championships later this year in Queensland Australia, where he hopes to better his 2nd place from the recent Worlds in San Francisco. Graeme uses PC-FM Mainsail, GM Medium-Heavy Jib and LM-2L Jib. North Sails is committed to the Etchells class working non-stop to provide the fastest sails and the best service to our clients worldwide. For more information about our products contact your local North Sails Etchells expert. Full Results READ MORE

A Matilde Bandeira (POR2696) e o Salvador Baptista-Fernandes (POR2697) do Clube de Vela do Tejo, estão de Parabéns pela sua prestação na II PAR Centro - Classe Optimist, que teve lugar no Barreiro durante os dias 13 e 14 de Janeiro. A regata de apuramento regional foi a primeira em que os velejadores participaram depois da Clínica North Sails, que decorreu em Cascais no passado mês de Dezembro. Ambos provaram que estiveram atentos e retiraram dessa experiência valor acrescentado para o seu desempenho em prova. Aliado ao seu desempenho global enquanto velejadores foi, também, a capacidade de análise técnica das velas que, fortemente, contribuiu para o sucesso da performance nas mais variadas condições de vento, enfrentadas no campo de regata. A Matilde e o Salvador tiverem, então, durante este fim-de-semana a oportunidade de colocar em prática o que aprenderam na Clínica. Os velejadores provaram estar mais familiarizados e com maior conhecimento na abordagem das suas velas, neste caso os modelos R-1 (POR2696) e R-4 ((POR2697). O detalhes foram bem trabalhados e os resultados ficaram registados! À Matilde pelo seu 1ºLugar Feminino (1ºAno com upgrade); 2ºLugar Geral (1ºAno com upgrade) e 10ºLugar Geral a nível Regional e ao Salvador pela sua vitória numa das regatas da prova e pelo 7ºLugar Geral a nível Regional, os nossos Parabéns! All Photo Credits: Luis Fráguas READ MORE

North Sails com Hugo Rocha no Estágio de Natal de 420, em Cascais A North Sails participou em dois dias do Estágio de Natal do Clube Naval de Cascais para a Classe 420, que decorreu de 19 a 22 de Dezembro. A convite do CNCascais, a North Sails marcou presença com o Hugo Rocha que trabalhou, em conjunto com o treinador da equipa Pedro Cruz, diversas abordagens nesta classe One Design, contribuindo para a melhoria da performance dos velejadores. A Naturea Sailing Team - Mafalda Gonçalves/ Maria Pereira do CNSesimbra e a dupla Francisco Rodrigues/ Tiago Alves do CVBarreiro - tiveram, também, a oportunidade de se juntarem a este estágio, sendo as equipas convidadas da North Sails/ CNCascais. "Como velejador e como Class Expert da North Sails é um prazer poder participar neste tipo de iniciativas e verificar que há um grande potencial nos velejadores portugueses, espero ter a oportunidade para colaborar mais vezes. Agradeço ao CNCascais pela iniciativa e pelo apoio a este estágio." Hugo Rocha As sete equipas tiveram a oportunidade de experienciar novas formas de optimização das suas velas, sendo que o balanço final foi bastante positivo. Já conhece as diferentes velas North Sails One Design para 420? Photo Credits: Naturea Sailing Team "Estágio muito positivo, pois aprendemos bastante, com especial foco na afinação das velas e no equilíbrio do barco. Andámos com todos os tipos de vento, o que foi muito bom para compararmos velocidades com os restantes barcos. Experiência a repetir!" Mafalda Gonçalves/ Naturea Sailing Team Photo Credits: Clube Naval de Cascais Agradecemos ao Clube Naval de Cascais pela oportunidade que proporcionou e pelo seu interesse nas nossas Clínicas. Caso queria ter mais informação sobre Clínicas North Sails não deixe de nos contactar! Para apoio ao registo deste evento utilizámos o semí-rígido Zodiac 5.5Pro. da Yachtworks a quem deixamos o nosso agradecimento. READ MORE

INTERVIEW WITH B14 WORLD CHAMPION NICK CRAIG Seven bullets at the Worlds in Tasmania After eight races, Nick Craig and Toby Lewis won the B14 World Championship with all bullets on the scoreboard. The event gave the 30 boat fleet a mixture of conditions, however in general on the breezy end of the forecast, which was ideal conditions for the skiff class. Nick and Toby are familiar faces when it comes to the front end of the fleet in One Design racing, with victories in multiple national and international events in a variety of boats. They were also champions of the Endeavour Trophy in 2008 – the annual Champion of Champions event in the UK. We caught up with Nick after the Worlds: How long have you been sailing in the B14 Class? I sailed the B14 for a few years around a decade ago and got back into the class a couple of years ago. I had missed the downwind buzz and great international racing and socials. Which sail designs do you use and what is it that you like about them? We use the North LGM-8 3DL mainsail, LJ-4D Dacron jib and the SS-04 kite. I think our rig setup is very powered up but controllable in breeze (with these sails), which gives great pace in every wind condition. The SS-04 kite is really quick downwind! What was venue like to sail at and what would be your top tip for the venue? It was an excellent venue – we had sunshine and great wind almost every day :-). Everyone at the sailing club was really friendly, the family made friends and had a good time and we had fun touring around seeing Penguins and amazing beaches! It is quite tidal with some shallows in odd places at low water so it is worth gaining some local knowledge through racing there, looking at tidal charts and talking to people. After a successful start to the year, what’s your goal for the rest of 2018? Do some more great racing in competitive classes – we are lined up to sail in the Merlin Nationals, GP14 and D-One Worlds What are your top tips for sailing a B14 upwind & downwind? Upwind in light winds the B14 is quite similar to slow boats – take the shifts and pressure and she likes a surprising amount of leech tension. In breeze, the B14 is very different to anything else I sail upwind and a lot of fun! Pressure is king over shifts and tacks should be made sparingly as you come off the plane. When going upwind, you are looking to stay on a “high plane”: bow down, touch of windward heel and ease sails to get the boat planing and then gradually sheet in to plane close to the wind. Constant trimming is needed unless the wind is very steady. Downwind we try to steer the boat through sail trim and body movement to avoid rudder use. Toby is a fantastic kite trimmer which frees me up to look for pressure and try to map a path down the run to stay in the most pressure You have had great success in multiple classes, what is your secret? No great secret – outstanding crews, lots of hours on the water, sailing in competitive fleets and always trying new things and seeking to learn. Thank you Nick and congratulations to yourself and Toby! Find out about North fast B14 sails. Full results READ MORE

COME VISIT YOUR TEAM AT THE 2018 TORONTO BOAT SHOW Our team including Hugh Beaton, Geoff Moore, Mike Wolfs, Louisa Sonosky (pictured above) are on site for the entire show to help you find the right sail for your needs. Take advantage of North Sails Boat Show Special by placing your order today for preferred pricing. Looking for cruising sails? Check out our award winning 3Di NORDAC for a better cruising experience. 3Di NORDAC reinvents the traditional dacron cruising sail providing more aerodynamic shape without compromising control, speed and comfort; rather it enhances and improves all the above. Order the revolutionary cruising product today! Stop by booth 1623 in the Sailfest area during your visit to the show! Interested in our products? Visit us at the Toronto Boat Show or Contact our local loft today! READ MORE

NYUTVECKLADE SEGEL BLEV GULD VÄRT I VM FÖR FAREAST 28 FarEast 28R är ett relativt nytt inslag på världens kappseglingsbanor. Klassens allra första VM avgjordes i Malmö i början av augusti. Regattan samlade 22 båtar från sex olika länder, och när krutröken skingrats visade det sig att det var svenska Team Griffin som stod högst upp på pallen och kunde inkassera förstapriset – en splitter ny FarEast 28R. Rorsman ombord var Martin Strandberg, och han ackompanjerades av Marcus Löfgren, Henrik Ekström, Björn Jönsson och Johan Lindell. Fem spikar och fem andraplatser av tio räknade seglingar innebar att det här gänget rodde hem en ganska klar seger. Ändå var ingenting klart förrän efter sista seglingen. I bagaget hade de nämligen en lite onödig disk; under sista länsen på tredje seglingen råkade de passera startlinjen, omedvetna om att det var förbjudet i seglingsföreskrifterna. Det gav dem inga fördelar, men regler är regler och disken var självklar. Och det innebar att de fick segla större delen av regattan kniven på strupen, vilket inte precis gjorde deras prestation mindre. Namnet Martin Strandberg klingar kanske bekant. Inte konstigt i så fall. Martin är projektledare på Svenska seglarförbundet och jobbar med att skapa möjligheter för seglare i Skåne mellan 15 och 25 år att utvecklas i sina seglingskarriärer. Han om någon vet vad det innebär; Martin har kappseglat i hela sitt liv, har deltagit i två OS och ett Americas Cup och på meritlistan finns VM-medaljer i både Optimistjolle och Farr 30. Under ett antal år drev han dessutom North Loftet i Lomma, så han har koll på det där med segel också. Alla som känner Martin vet att han är en person som inte lämnar någonting åt slumpen. Det gäller allt från träning till utrustning. Seglen är förstås inget undantag. Och efter sina år på North visste han till vem han skulle vända sig för att få riktigt snabba segel till VM. En svår men intressant utmaning Att utveckla segel till en såpass ny båttyp som FarEast 28 är bland det mest intressanta man kan göra som segeldesigner. Att säga att man börjar med ett vitt papper stämmer visserligen inte – inom North-koncernen har vi tillgång till en gigantisk databank baserad på alla tänkbara typer av båtar – men alla klasser har ändå lite olika förutsättningar, och ingen vet med säkerhet hur ett riktigt snabbt segel ska se ut. Så det var en svår men intressant uppgift som vi på North Sails tog i tu med tillsammans med Martin Strandberg. Första FarEast 28:an kom till Sverige för ett par år sedan, och vi hade redan producerat ett antal segelställ. Men nu var det ett VM som väntade, vilket gjorde att ambitionsnivån fick skruvas upp ytterligare ett par snäpp. Målen inför 2017 var förstås att vinna VM, men också att lägga grunden till en första trimguide, baserad på framför allt Martins erfarenheter. Krysstället består av storsegel och en enda fock. Ytmässigt är båda seglen rejält tilltagna med stora akterrundor. Klassreglerna säger att storseglet ska kunna revas och det är tillåtet med rev även i focken. Det där sista var något vi avstod från, men att rev i focken överhuvud taget är på tapeten antyder att de här båtarna kan vara utmanande att segla när det brallar lite. Däremot har vi lagt in ett litet ”trimrev” i förliket på focken. En bit upp på förliket har vi satt ett cunninghamhål, som gör det möjligt att korta förliket cirka två decimeter. När det dras ner i botten flyttas hela seglet lite neråt och lite framåt. På så sätt minskas det krängande momentet samtidigt som draget i fockskotet riktas mer bakåt, vilket öppnar upp seglet. Ett storseglet kan trimmas näsan helt plant, men fockar blir djupare ju mer det blåser. Båda seglen byggdes i 3Di Raw, med bland annat aramid som bärande fiber. Resultatet är ett lätt och extremt stumt segel, vilket gör det möjligt att lägga in lite mer form än med ett mer flexibelt material som ger med sig när vinden ökar. Fortsättning följer Så här i efterhand kan vi konstatera att det viktigaste målet – att vinna VM – nåddes. Seglen kändes lättrimmade och gick bra i både lätt och hård vind. Det betyder inte att seglen är perfekta. Klassen är fortfarande relativt ny och vi inbillar oss inte att vi redan nu har lyckats ta fram en optimal segeldesign. Så enkelt är det inte. Tittar man på segelutvecklingen i äldre klasser som Express eller 606 så ser man att designen fortfarande uppdateras. Riggtrim, segeldesign och material ändras allt eftersom seglarna i klassen utvecklar hur båtarna ska seglas optimalt. Om fem år kommer en FarEast 28 garanterat segla märkbart snabbare än idag, både på kryss och undanvind. Det känns som att det finns mycket kvar att göra i den här klassen, säger Martin Angsell, som tillsammans med Martin Strandberg jobbade fram den nya designen. Men klassen växer såväl internationellt som på hemmaplan och Team Griffin har beslutat sig för att satsa vidare. Dessutom ligger det en FarEast 28:a precis utanför loftet på Lidingö. Och allt detta innebär att det finns goda möjligheter driva segelutvecklingen ytterligare ett par steg framåt de närmaste åren. Som testbänk är FarEast 28 intressant även av andra anledningar. Båten är liten och lätt och krafterna på seglen är relativt små, vilket öppnar upp för segel med andra materialkombinationer än tidigare. 3Di-teknologin utvecklas snabbt just nu, inte minst på materialsidan, säger Martin Angsell. Kompositkonstruktionen i 3Di-seglen gör dem väldigt stumma, oavsett vilka fiberkombinationer som används. För mindre båtar handlar det nu faktiskt om att minska stumheten i vissa delar av seglet, för att på sått få ett lättrimmat segel med formstabilitet som täcker hela vindregistret som seglet ska användas i. Numera är till exempel inte bara undervant och diagonaler som håller tillbaks mastböjen – med ett 3Di-segel påverkas detta även med hur mycket riktad fiber vi har lagt in diagonalt. Med erfarenheter från 3Di Endurance Nordac (som byggs med fiber av polyester) kommer det att introduceras Raw (race)-serier baserade på polyester. Detta ger oss ytterligare möjligheter. North Sails One Design har testat dessa segel i ett antal stora internationella entypsklasser under 2017. Utvärderingarna har visat sig motsvara våra högt ställda förväntningar och vi kommer att introducera detta som en färdig produkt 2018, även för segel i Fareast 28-klassen. READ MORE

J/70 WINTER SERIES EVENT #2 Tips for Marginal Planing Conditions Joel Ronning’s team Catapult, winner of the US Winter Series event #2. Photo Chris Howell The J/70 Class came back for the action at event #2 of the Davis Island Winter Series in Tampa, Florida. Starting the event off with a bullet, Joel Ronning’s Catapult was ready to take on the 52-boat fleet. A cold front kept things on the chilly side, but with a nice 12-18 knot breeze out of the NE and flat seas, ideal conditions for all teams would be presented for the weekend. The competition was as high as usual. Sailors were eager to get off the line in a clear lane so they could choose their own destiny. After six races, Catapult lived up to their name and stayed clear of the fleet, scoring a total of nine points after one discard. Still having no races out of the top five the entire weekend, they were untouchable and had unbelievable speed. The XCS-1 mainsail, the J-6 jib and AP-1 spinnaker was a common weapon of choice for J/70 teams this weekend, with outstanding results. North powered clients to 1,3, 5*, 6,7,8*,9 overall, sweeping the fleet full storm. Congratulations to our clients for these outstanding performances throughout the weekend in shifty-puffy conditions. As always, teams had their share of tricks to get them around the race course. North Sails Tim Healy joined John Heaton’s team Empeiria for the weekend and shared some tips with us afterward. Here is what he had to say about maximizing crew technique in flat water marginal planing conditions. Tips for Marginal Planing Conditions in 14-16 knots, flat water At the top of the beat it is important to recognize what side of the course has best pressure. Plan A: If no jibe is the call, then complete a normal set and quickly determine if you are in a planing puff or not, keeping in mind that you still have to protect your lane to weather. Plan B: If you decide on a quick jibe, set up on the offset leg so you won’t get overlapped to windward with any boat. It is also important to sail higher, early in the offset leg, so the spinnaker can be set before the offset mark and fill as early as possible. This will allow a jibe at the offset mark to ensure no one will jibe inside you. If you are in a planing puff, leave the jib out. Once you get planing get more vang on to maximize your power by keeping the main leech from spilling open. You should notice your leech telltales starting to stall then ease off a bit. This will give more power once you are up on a plane, allow you to sail lower while planing and will keep you planing longer as the wind fades off. Things to keep in mind on crew weight placement: In marginal or ”lazy” planing conditions, keep crew weight forward. The three forward crew should only move fore and aft in the cockpit section in front of the winch. Helmsman should be hip up to winch to-two feet behind it. The less wind the farther forward the entire crew needs to move. As your planing puff dies, turn up gradually to maintain power and heel angle. If puff continues to die and you need to start searching up for pressure/power, look upwind and determine if there is another puff coming quickly that you can connect with. If a puff is not coming your way, then quickly go into displacement mode. Furl jib Bear away to max downwind angle Ease main out and adjust vang for proper twist Weight in for a flat boat and weight max forward Make sure your backstay is fully eased When your are in displacement mode, it might be a good time to think about going wing-on-wing. This will allow you to ride the 8-13 knot puff back down to the center of the course and away from the pack. It works well in these marginal planing conditions because it allows you to separate from other boats that may be searching too high to stay on a plane. You will be sailing close to DDW, while they are sailing high (on a reach) searching for the next planing puff. This is an opportunity to gain a lot of distance from your closest competitors. Once the next puff is identified as a ‘planing puff’, wait until it hits then it’s time to take immediate action: Unfurl jib (under trim till planing to keep it from disturbing the air flow around spinnaker). Turn boat up to get planing at the same time all the crew weight is moved to the weather rail. Find the correct heading based on heel angle. No more than 12 degrees of heel when puff hits then less than 10 degrees to get planing. Keep in mind that a planing boat should be flat and have no more than 10 degrees of heel. Spin can be eased to see curl when puff first hits. When planing trim in to eliminate that curl. Only test curl from time to time. This keeps the spin leech from twisting too far open and depowering. Once planing, trim vang on and trim in the jib, being careful not to overtrim. See you at the next regatta! Please do not hesitate to contact Tim or the North Sails J/70 experts with go fast questions or product information. J/70 2017-18 US Winter Series – Event 2 1 Catapult / Joel Ronning 3 Savasana / Brian Keane 5* Powerplay Racing / Peter Cunningham 6 Stampede / Bruno Pasquinelli 7 Scamp / Will Welles 8* Minor Threat / Jeff Janov 10 Building A / Josh Goldman * Denotes Partial North Sails Inventory Full Results Sail22 Porch Series with North U – J/70 experts Tim Healy, Eric Doyle and Jackson Benvenutti READ MORE

NORTH SAILS EXCLUSIVE SAIL SUPPLIER FOR THE NEW IC37 BY MELGES North Sails to Deliver the First Set of Sails in Early 2018 North Sails is a proud to be the exclusive sail supplier to the new IC37 by Melges. A fun, modern 37-foot race boat, this exciting new class will make its debut in the spring of 2018. The first 20 hulls have been purchased by the New York Yacht Club for the 2019 Rolex New York Yacht Club Invitational Cup, and it is Melges’ expectation to grow the class to an international audience over time. North Sails President Ken Read and One Design experts have been working with boat designer Mark Mills and the New York Yacht Club to design an inventory that best supports this Corinthian focused class. North Sails will deliver the first set of sails in early 2018. “The IC37 by Melges is a perfect example of a class that will be accessible to the masses,” commented Ken Read. “We have designed high performance yet cost controlled inventory that puts focus on smarts and crew work, rather than managing a large sail inventory. The class will enforce a strict one-design rule, limiting expensive sail development arms races. As exclusive supplier to events like the Volvo Ocean Race, America’s Cup, M32 circuit, and Extreme Sailing Series, the choice of North Sails as a supplier ensures IC37 owners will have industry-leading technology.” Learn more about the IC37 by Melges by visiting MelgesIC37Class.com READ MORE

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NORTH U VINTEREN 2018 Mandag 15. januar starter vi opp vinterens North U Forum foredragsserie. En gang i måneden, vinteren igjennom holder vi et spennende kveldsseminar i våre lokaler i Leangbukta, Asker. På programmet nå i januar står riktig og god seiltrim. Vil du vinne regattaer må du gjøre få feil, seile fort og taktisk i riktig retning. Riktig seiltrim gir god fart og da blir det enklere å seile godt taktisk. Speed makes you look good! Dette North U Forum viser deg hvordan på en god og lett forklart måte. Benytt anledning til å få kjennskap til teknikkene, systemene og trimmetips som benyttes av de beste båtene og ombord i de beste lagene. Dette vil sette deg og mannskapet ditt i stand til å komme raskere i mål i årets regattaer! Sted: With Marine , Leangbukta Maritime Senter Dato: 15. januar 2018 Tid: 19.00 - 21.00 Foredragsholder: Thomas Nilsson North U Forum er åpent for alle og begrenset til 100 deltagere. Prisen er kr 100,- Betaling Vipps til With Marine 96644. Påmelding er bindene og gjøres på link under: PÅMELDING NB! Det blir North U Forum også 12. februar (båthåndtering) og 12. mars (tema ikke fastsatt). Sett derfor et stort kryss i kalenderen disse datoene. READ MORE

MEET MR HODGSON Matt Hodgson kan kanske beskrivas som en klassisk sailbum. Han har i vart fall fört ett ganska kringflackande liv, och segling och segel är egentligen det enda han har ägnat sig åt sedan han lämnade skolan. Men nu börjar han närma sig de trettio och är stabilt parkerad på landbacken, åtminstone under veckodagarna. Sedan februari 2017 jobbar han nämligen som säljare på vårt Lidingöloft. Man kan säga att cirkeln därmed är sluten. För det var just här hans karriär började för nästan exakt elva år sedan. Sydney-Lidingö på enkel biljett Matt är född i Melbourne och uppvuxen på landet utanför Sydney. Det är inget dåligt ställe om man gillar att segla, men han bestämde sig redan i tonåren för att han skulle till Europa. Ambitionen var att bli professionell seglare och han trodde att möjligheterna för det var större här än i Australien. Så vid 18 års ålder satte sig Matt på ett plan – och hamnade hos oss på Lidingö. Han hade ingen erfarenhet av branschen och kunde inte ett ord svenska. Men att bli segelmakare ingick i planerna för proffskarriären, och det faktum att vi strax därefter fick i uppdrag att göra seglen till Team Ericsson i Volvo Ocean Race gjorde inte saken sämre. Det blev 21 ganska intensiva månader hos oss. Men så småningom ebbade Ericsson-projektet ut och Matt sökte sig vidare i både världen och karriären. Det var nu livet i kappsäck tog fart på allvar. Sedan dess har han varit med om lite av varje, både som professionell seglare och segelmakare. Som seglare har han exempelvis slagit alla tänkbara hastighetsrekord med den franska foilande trimaranen l´Hydroptére. Ett särskilt minnesvärt datum är den 4 september 2009 då de seglade 500 meter med en snittfart på 51,36 knop, vilket innebar världsrekord. De slog även rekordet över en sjömil (50.17 knop). Andra meriter som ligger Matt nära om hjärtat är en silvermedalj i classic-klassen på R8-VM 2014, ett antal guld på finska mästerskap och en andraplats i Tour de France 2011, som i Frankrike rankas som en av de absolut mest prestigefyllda seglingstävlingarna. Tekniskt sett är en foilande flerskrovsbåt och en klassisk R-båt ungefär så långt ifrån varandra man kan komma inom seglingen, och däremellan har Matt täckt in det mesta, från superyachts och TP 52:or till entyp och mindre IRC- och ORCi-båtar. Han har seglat mycket i Frankrike, Finland och Italien, men en hel del även i Sverige och Australien. Segling med livet som insats Segling är inte någon särskilt farlig sport men Matt har varit illa ute ett par gånger. Som när han 2008 gjorde sitt första Gotland Runt. Racet tog slut utanför Hoburgen när trimaranen han seglade – en SeaCart 30 – började brinna. Hela mittskrovet försvann, och i det låg all säkerhetsutrustning, inklusive livflotte, flytvästar och nödraketer. De fem personerna i besättningen blev sittandes på ena sidoskrovet i sju timmar innan de plockades upp av en av Gotland Runt-deltagarna. ”Kändisadvokat hjälte i sjödrama” löd rubriken i Aftonbladet, ty i besättningen som undsatte de nödställda ingick advokaten Claes Borgström. Det är tydligen seglare av den kalibern som krävs för att massmedia ska intressera sig för kappsegling. Det där kunde slutat riktigt illa. Än värre var när han blev upphissad i l´Hydroptéres 27 meter höga mast och schackeln till båtmansstolen plötsligt brast. Han föll fritt någon meter men lyckades mirakulöst få armarna om förstaget. Allting gick oerhört fort, men när Matt tänker tillbaka på händelsen är det som att se en film i ultrarapid. Ögonblicket när han hängde i förstaget och tittade ner på däck är nästan som en stillbild. ”Jag kommer aldrig glömma ansiktsuttrycken på killarna nere på däck”, säger han. ”De var övertygade om att jag skulle dö.” På något sätt lyckades han ändå fira sig ner genom att glida längs förstaget och landade förhållandevis välbehållen på däck. Men det tog på krafterna och chocken satt i länge. ”Jag darrade som ett löv och har aldrig varit så utpumpad i hela mitt liv.” Ärmarna på jackan han hade på sig var full av brännmärken och händerna blodiga. Ärren är kvar än idag och utgör en ständig påminnelse om att ingen är odödlig. Massor av branschrutin Äventyren i segelbranschen har varit betydligt beskedligare. Matt har varvat professionell segling med jobb som segelmakare och har som sådan varit runt lite varstans. Efter den första vändan hos oss på Lidingö gick han till North Sails på Palma de Mallorca, ett loft som är specialiserat på superyachts. Han har jobbat på Doyle i Melbourne och ett tag var han på Gransegel i Stockholm. Den längsta perioden har han annars ägnat åt Doyle Sails i Helsingfors, som han ägde och drev under tre-fyra år. Det var en rolig men intensiv tid med otroligt mycket jobb. Kanske lite väl mycket, framför allt med tanke på att han vid det här laget hade bildat familj. Så han avslutade sitt engagemang i Helsingfors och började titta sig runt efter alternativ. När så Björn Österberg slutade på North Sails Lidingö för att ta hand om skidshopen i Funäsdalen blev det en position ledig, och sedan februari i år är Matt tillbaka på loftet där allting på sätt och vis började. Skillnaden är att han nu är elva år äldre och betydligt mer erfaren – och att han numera faktiskt pratar riktigt bra svenska. READ MORE

SVENSK INNOVATION I VOLVO OCEAN RACE Rent tekniskt innehåller årets upplaga av Volvo Ocean Race inga större nyheter. Man seglar ju i samma 65 fots entypsbåtar som förra gången, och även segelgarderoben, som utvecklats och levererats av North Sails, ser ungefär likadan ut som tidigare. Dock med ett undantag: I år är båtarna utrustade med varsin Jib Zero – en segeltyp som innan starten beskrevs som ”revolutionerande”, och som rapporterats ha satt griller i huvudet på besättningarna, eftersom de inte riktigt vet hur (och när) seglet ska användas för att ge maximal effekt. Frågan är bara hur nytt det egentligen är. Segeltypen har nämligen funnits i över fem år. Och det är faktiskt en svensk uppfinning. Jakten på ett segel som inte fanns Det hela började 2012, då North-loftet på Lidingö fick i uppdrag av den dåvarande Dufour-importören att sätta fart på en Dufour 36 Performance, som då var ny på marknaden. Det är en ganska tidstypisk cruiser/racer, ritad av Umberto Felci, med rak stäv, bred akter och djup T-köl. Dessutom fin invändigt och med ett tilltalande utseende. Typiskt är också att den precis som många andra båtar med ursprung på kontinenten kan upplevas som en smula underriggad, i alla fall för kappsegling i Stockholms skärgård. Eftersom vanten är placerade i relingen går det inte att segla med överlappande genua, och detta innebar att vi nu stod inför ett problem som det inte fanns någon känd lösning på. Öppna bogar gick att hantera. Man kunde alltid hänga på exempelvis en Code Zero. Men man måste ju faktiskt räkna med att det även blåser framifrån ibland. Första steget blev att maximera ytan på den befintliga riggen, men det gjorde bara marginell nytta. ”Vi insåg att det krävdes något mer drastiskt”, säger Martin Angsell som jobbade med projektet. Uppgiften kunde definieras ungefär så här: Vad som behövs är ett plant segel som är betydligt större än focken – och som trots den breda stagningen kan skotas så nära centrumlinjen att det blir ett effektivt bidevindsegel. Och något sådant segel fanns inte. Men det sägs ju att nöden är uppfinningarnas moder, och till slut kom man på en lösning som så här i efterhand kan verka enkel och nästan självklar: Om vi inte kan förlänga underliket bakåt, därför att vanten sitter i vägen, så får vi väl förlänga det framåt istället! Till saken hör att Dufour 36P är originalutrustad med ett utskjutbart peke, så det var lätt gjort. Lösningen blev alltså att skota seglet på den befintliga fockskotskenan men halsa det på peket och hissa det från masttoppen. På så sätt kunde ytan ökas med över 30 procent. Och det gjorde susen. Seglet gjorde väl inte Dufour 36:an till någon blekskenare, men besättningen behövde i alla fall inte känna sig slagen på förhand bara för prognosen lovade lätta vindar. Hur fungerar det i praktiken? Idag har vi på North Sails Sverige fem års erfarenhet av det här seglet. Det är inte det vanligaste seglet i sortimentet, men det har används på en lång rad båtar, som exempelvis XP33, J/111, Aspect 40, Farr 400 och Ker 40+. Det kommer också ingå i segelgarderoben på den nya J/121 under Seapilot2Star 2018. ”En Jib Zero är ett riktigt vasst vapen på kryss upp till cirka 7–8 knops vind”, säger Martin. På öppna bogar fungerar seglet som ett reaching-segel”, och det kan då riggas upp på en ’Reaching Strut’ som ökar skotvinkeln (se bild). På kryss ligger maxstyrkan någonstans kring 10–12 knop. Dels därför att den vanliga focken vid den ”crossovern” är minst lika snabb, dels därför att krafterna börjar bli väl stora. Det handlar inte bara om att saker och ting ska hålla, utan även om att få upp tillräckligt hög förstagsspänning. Det är ju ett främst ett bidevindsegel, byggt i stabila material, och även om det bara används i lättare vindar, så innebär det ändå att alla ingående delar – peke, mast, fall, avlastare med mera – utsätts för hårda belastningar. Ju stummare desto bättre, lyder den enkla regeln. Peket bör ha någon form av stagning neråt, och det skadar inte om fallet kan avlastas i toppen med ett fallås. Prestandamässigt gör seglet stor skillnad i det lägre vindregistret. Även mättalet påverkas förstås, men Martin tycker att seglet bedöms ganska rättvist enligt både SRS och ORCi. Att man trots detta sällan ser seglet på de mest ambitiösa ORCi-båtarna beror på att de ofta har siktet inställt på internationella mästerskap som EM och VM. Och där sätter seglingsföreskrifterna stopp för seglingar under sex knops vind. Eftersom seglet halsas framför förstaget måste det dessutom rullas både in och ut vid varje stagvändning, vilket gör det mindre lämpligt för bankappsegling i tajta fält. Även namnet uppfanns på Lidingö Det finns många fördelar med att vara en del i världens största segelföretag. En handlar just om utveckling: Det sitter ständigt klyftigt folk runt om i världen och funderar på hur segel kan förbättras, och det finns system som säkerställer att bra idéer förs ut i hela organisationen. Det är klart att innovationer ofta kommer från de stora projekten i exempelvis Americas Cup och att de först så småningom hamnar på exempelvis en Dufour 36:a i Stockholms skärgård. Men ibland kan det alltså gå andra vägen. Även beteckningen på seglet har för övrigt svenskt ursprung. Martin minns hur de brukade sitta i lunchrummet och spåna på namn. De fastnade till slut för just Jib Zero. Förutom att det beskriver ganska väl vad det är för typ av segel ska man nog se det som en liten blinkning till Code Zero. Idag är det en stapelvara hos världens alla segelmakare, men faktum är att även det seglet en gång i tiden utvecklades på Lidingö. READ MORE

NORTH ETCHELLS DESIGNS DOMINATE FLEET IN MIAMI Jim Cunningham shows excellent performance at the 2018 Sid Doren Thirty-eight teams made their way to Miami for the second event of the prestigious 2017-2018 Key Biscayne Series – the Sid Doren Memorial Regatta. There were Winter storms up and down the East Coast, some stretching as south as Miami, and big breeze and cooler temps were forecasted. Team Lifted with skipper Jim Cunningham and crew of Jeff Madrigali, Mark Ivey and Serena Vilage repeated their win at the first event of the winter series, the Louis Piana Cup back in December, by sweeping the 38-boat fleet in five races using the North PC-FM mainsail, GM jib and Full Radial spinnaker. “We are proud of the results North clients are achieving with our designs. Nine of the top ten boats used full North Sails inventories”, said North expert Skip Dieball. “For my team on War Canoe, we used a brand new PC-FM main. Our speed was noticeably better and we were happy with a third place finish. The radial head really allows for more control in the upper section”. 2018 Sid Doren Memorial Regatta 1 Lifted / Jim Cunningham 2 SCIMITAR / Steve Benjamin 3 War Canoe / Michael Goldfarb 4 Tiburon / Mark Watson 5 Skanky Gene / Jay Cross 6 Gumption3 / Kevin Grainger 8 Blacadder II / Andrew Cumming 9 America Jane II / Scott Kaufman 10 Freedom / Craig Mense * Denotes Partial North Sails Inventory Full Results Find out more about our regatta-winning Etchells products READ MORE

NORTH SAILS OFFICIAL PERFORMANCE PARTNER FOR 2018 NEWPORT-BERMUDA © Yann Riou North Sails, the world’s leading sailmaker, today announced that it will join the prestigious Newport to Bermuda Race as Performance Partner for the 2018 edition. The event is a 635-mile biennial distance race that draws an international fleet and includes a range of yachts from Super Maxis to Corinthian cruisers. The race, that prides itself on accessibility for a wide variety of sailors, is a great test of blue-water seamanship from historic Newport to the beautiful shores of Bermuda. As Performance Partner, North Sails will be working with participants to help them optimize their offshore sail inventories. North will be hosting three seminars where North Sails experts, and race veterans, will be on hand to answer questions and discuss sail choices and weather routing for the race. The seminars will be held in Annapolis, MD, Portsmouth, RI and Stamford, CT. North Sails has a long history with the Newport Bermuda Race, powering a huge number of boats including many to race victories. Most recently, Comanche carried a full North Sails inventory when she set the current race record and Warrior Won was fully outfitted with North Sails when she captured the St David’s Lighthouse Division in 2016. North Sails has more offshore miles, around the world records and ocean racing victories than all other sailmakers combined and prides itself on having the best sail solutions for boats across the spectrum. Much of North Sails’ offshore success can be attributed to their unique 3Di technology that delivers speed, durability and reliability for all that use it. “The Newport Bermuda Race a classic a race on par with the likes of the Fastnet, Sydney-Hobart and Transpac,” said North Sails President and race record holder Ken Read. “The East Coast can serve up a variety of weather conditions in mid-June and having a sail inventory that can take you through a variety of conditions is a game changer. With a range of 3Di upwind and recently introduced downwind sails, North offers a high performance yet incredibly durable choice that we believe can make the race enjoyable for all participants.” Those interested in attending one of the Performance Seminars, click here. READ MORE

Clínica Optimist em Cascais Photo Credit: SailCascais Nos passados dias 08, 09 e 10 de Dezembro de 2017, realizámos uma Clínica de Optimist para os velejadores do CVTejo. A acção teve lugar em Cascais, com o apoio da Marina de Cascais e da Yachtworks. O especialista da North Sails, Vicente Pinheiro, colocou como principal objectivo desafiar os velejadores a ganhar velocidade através do optimização da utilização da sua vela e para tal realizámos um programa teórico-prático, durante três dias. Neste início de época, os velejadores tiveram a oportunidade de participar numa acção de conceito e dinâmica diferente, aprendendo a fazer uma focagem mais técnica na sua vela e a retirar dela o maior potencial. Os velejadores foram desafiados a observar a sua vela de uma forma mais científica e técnica, experienciando a noção de “causa-efeito” nas diferentes actividades realizadas. Contrariando o habitual cenário de vento forte de Cascais, ao longo dos três dias fomos presenteados com ventos de 6 a 16 nós de O/NE, permitindo que se trabalhassem diferentes afinações das velas. Focados no desafio do aumento da autonomia do velejador e do estímulo do trabalho em equipa na água trabalhamos as North Sails R-1 e R-4. O balanço final foi bastante positivo,os velejadores conseguiram identificar os seus progressos em termos de aquisição de novos conteúdos e conceitos e demonstrar a sua aplicabilidade dentro de água. Salvador, 11 anos, utiliza a vela R-4 “ Eu gostei do fim-de-semana porque aprendi noções técnicas sobre as velas e de como as potencializar. Aprendi como andar com mais velocidade a partir do que a vela tem para dar. Gostei!” Deixamos aqui o nosso especial agradecimento à Marina de Cascais que disponibilizou as suas instalações e à Yachtworksque cedeu o seu semí-rígido Zodiac 5.5Pro, contribuindo para o grande sucesso deste evento! Dezembro 2017 READ MORE

CLEAN SWEEP AT 420 WORLDS Teams powered by North Sails win all three divisions Nia Jerwood & Monique DeVries © Bernie Kaaks The 420 Worlds in Fremantle, Australia, kicked off the 2018 season for the 420 class. The big breeze event with big swell made for exciting sailing conditions for the fleets. The Spanish teams came out with fighting spirit, dominating the top three of the Open division and winning the U17 fleet. In the Open, a run of consistent top 10 results half of which in the podium position, ensured North Sails jockey’s Enrique Lujan & Pablo Lujan the win. In the U17 fleet another consistent event was raced by Martin Wizner & Pedro Ameneiro giving them a 3 point clearance securing the first place. In the Women’s fleet Australians, Nia Jerwood & Monique DeVries had the home side advantage and used this to come away with the women’s title. Although they were tied on points with second placed boat, 6 bullets on their scoreboard ensured their victory. Congratulations to all teams sailing with North Sails inventories and good luck for the rest of 2018, this was a fantastic start to the season. North designs used by the World Champions: Open: M-9 mainsail, J-13 jib, S-05 Spinnaker Ladies: M-9 mainsail, J-12 jib, S-01 Spinnaker U17: M-9 mainsail, J-12 jib, S-05 Spinnaker If you are interested in any North Sails 420 products, contact your class expert. Enrique Lujan & Pablo Lujan © Bernie Kaaks Martin Wizner & Pedro Ameneiro © Bernie Kaaks 420 World Championship Open 1 Enrique Lujan & Pablo Lujan 2* Albert Torres & Francisco Mulet 4 Enzo Balanger & Gaultier Tallieu 5 Thomas Andre & Justin Baradat 9 Eduard Ferrer & Carlos De Maqua 10 Elias Aretz & Pablo Garcia Ladies 1 Nia Jerwood & Monique DeVries 4 Sophie McIntosh & Orla Mulholland-Patterson 6 Sophie Jackson & Laura Thomson 7 María Caba & Pilar Caba 8 Solène Mariani & Maude Schmid 9 Clara Olive & Solenza Mariani Under 17 1 Martin Wizner & Pedro Ameneiro 4 Pol Marsans & Alex Marsans 5 Jack Lewis & Charlie Bacon 7 Tommaso Salvette & Giovanni Sandrini 8 Ariadni-Paraskevi Spanaki & Myrto Papadopoulou * Denotes Partial North Sails Inventory READ MORE

NYTTÅRSSEILAS I STAVANGER - VI ER MED! 6. januar er det igjen klart for årets første regatta i Stavanger! Fars Cortina, vinner av Nyttårseilasen 2016 Tradisjonen tro stiller North Sails med mikrofon og kameramann for å dokumentere det hele. Filmen vil bli vist på De røde sjøhusene etter seiling. Vi tar med oss North Sails bilen, så det vil være mulig å levere inn seil til service. Ta kontakt med Henrik Terjesen (tlf 90914942) / Christen (tlf 90730000) for innlevering av seil eller hvis det skulle være noen andre spørsmål. Vi gleder oss!!! Lever inn seil for service, vask eller reparasjon. Ekspertkommentator Christen With under Nyttårsseilasen i 2016 READ MORE

LONG TIME NORTH CUSTOMER WINS ROLEX SYDNEY HOBART Winning the RSHYR takes determination, preparation, and a well thought-out sail inventory Matt Allen, a long-time North Sails customer, first won the Rolex Sydney Hobart Race 34 years ago. In 2017, he finally repeated the achievement on Ichi Ban when they were named overall winner of the Rolex Sydney Hobart Race. It was a fitting honor for a boat whose name translates to “number one” in Japanese. The win this year was even sweeter considering that Matt’s new TP52 is only three months old. Billy Sykes, a member of the North Sails team in Sydney (AUS), was part of Matt’s crew on the legendary race. We recently caught up with Billy to talk about what it takes to win the RSHYR on a brand-new boat. “The boat was fresh out the packet, which always brings the opportunity for things to go wrong because gear has not been tried and tested. But we managed to put all those things behind us and come away with the win for Matt, which was a great thing.” Can you take us through the race and any key decisions the team made? “The RSHYR is 628 nautical miles and unlike inshore racing, the start isn’t everything. That was certainly good for us as we were well out the back door at the beginning. But we know Sydney Harbor well and we managed to wiggle through and get back into a competitive position by the time we got to the top mark. I think we were the first to actually put up our (new) 3Di RAW Code Zero. Matt had ordered that sail for the race and there is no doubt it helped us get back to where we wanted to be – at the front. From there, we just kept consolidating the whole way. This race was quite unique for a number of reasons; firstly we got to the bottom of Green Cape at six AM the morning after the start, which is exceptional considering this is almost the halfway point. And secondly, we did the whole race in one weather system, which is pretty extraordinary for a 52 foot yacht. The moment we got our break was when we put up our A4 spinnaker again, which is our largest masthead spinnaker. We had a reef in the main and putting the A4 up was quite a big move, but Quest was pushing us really hard down the coast, so we didn’t have a chance to back off, we had to keep pushing too. We were on the edge of our seats with it up, as the sea state was all over the place and it was blowing hard. The other important moment was when sailing master Gordon McGuire and navigator Will Oxley made the decision to take us about 15 miles past the layline to set us up for a big shift. It was a great call that essentially got all of our time back on Quest. Then we got into Storm Bay and had our Code Zero and jib up around Cape Raoul up to the Iron Pot, and after we got past the Iron Pot we actually got becalmed in the Derwent for about 25 minutes which was really stressful for the whole team But we managed to get through that little transition back into the breeze and get through to the finish.” How was the mood onboard after crossing the finish line in Hobart? “There was a bit of a nervous wait because we guesstimated we owed Quest about 40-45 minutes on corrected time. So we dropped the mainsail and were all pretty keen to hang around for the final result, because we knew if we beat Quest we would have a real chance to get the Tattersalls Cup. We had no control over the corrected finish times but to have made sure that we had as much time as possible on Quest was a real big deal.” What did you enjoy the most about the race, other than winning? “The challenge of downwind running pretty much the whole way. This is my twelfth RSHYR and I’ve never seen two years in a row where you’ve been hard running down to Tasman Island. We actually broke two race records this year; the ballasted record set and held by Brindabella in 1999 and the under 18.5 metre yacht record set by Yendys in 2008. The last bit into Tasman Island, hard running in 24 – 30 knots with our biggest masthead spinnaker up, was very challenging but also made for some amazing sailing.” In one article, Matt Allen attributed the win to the latest technology and design and the most amazing crew he’s ever sailed with. Can you explain what he meant about the latest technology and design? “Matt had a plan long before Ichi Ban came out of the shed. He bought the old Shogun and made quite a few changes to make it really ready for offshore sailing. Then after last year’s race Matt decided to build a new yacht and took all the things he’d learnt from the previous boats into the new Ichi Ban. It is a Botin design, Adolfo Carrau specifically who was behind it, and they did an exceptional job. The other part of the design would be the Southern Spars mast and working so closely with us on sails. All these things together made a huge difference in how hard we were able to push. In all the development, you’d have to also mention also Tim Sellers the boat captain. He did a great job getting the boat race ready in just three months. But the planning, thought and research that Matt and the team did before the build even started made Ichi Ban the race winning boat it is.” Can you give us a run through of the sail inventory and how it was matched to the conditions that you had? “Obviously we had the offshore main (North 3Di RAW 870), which already had one RSHYR on it. And the offshore A4 (NPL Downwind), which is a serious downwind sail we designed specifically for the RSHYR. The entire North Sails team worked hand-in-hand with Matt on his sail inventory; the mainsail, headsail, and spinnakers. Especially on what DPI we were going to use for each upwind sail. Matt was instrumental in making sure we constructed the headsails and spinnakers out of stronger materials, to give the sails a wider wind range offshore.” “The mainsail was bulletproof. We never really question the durability when suggesting a 3Di sail. An offshore race like the RSHYR is unforgiving on sails; chafe, high loads, etc. This main also did the 2016 race where it took an absolute beating. But we could go sailing with it tomorrow and there’d be no problem. Holding up in that type of pressure is proof what an exceptional product 3Di is.” READ MORE

SLÅTT, BRUTT, KNUST. Det er hva som skjedde med mange rekorder i 2017, et minneverdig år for våre kunder og North 3Di. I januar seilte Armel Le Cleác'h alene rundt jorden på 74 dager, 3 timer, 35 minutter og 46 sekunder og slo derved rekorden rundt jorden alene i en ettskrogsbåt. I sommer, falt rekordene raskere enn vi kunne følge med på; Round the Island (Isle of Wight), Transpac, Transatlantic og mange fler. Thomas Coville har nå rekorden i å slå flest rekorder innen seiling I løpet av et år! I desember rakk Francois Gabart julefeiringen i Frankrike da han med “MACIF” sikret seg “solo around-the-world record” ved å seile rundt Jorden på 42 dager, 16 timer, 40 minutter og 35 sekunder. Årets siste rekord gikk til LDV Comanche som satte ny rekord i Rolex Sydney - Hobart Races (1 dag, 9 timer, 15 minutter og 24 sekunder). Og med det, skåler vi for seilerne som flytter grensene sammen med produktet som gjør det mulig. READ MORE

Dutch Quarter Ton Cup 2018 Vanaf het eind van de jaren ’60 functioneert de ¼ ton klasse als een van de meest succesvolle zeilklassen die er wereldwijd is. Toegankelijk omdat de boten betaalbaar zijn en men geen grote bemanning nodig heeft om ermee te varen. In de jaren '80 en '90 is het een tijdje stil geweest rondom deze bijzondere klasse. Vanaf 2013 wordt echter jaarlijks de Dutch Quarter Ton Cup (DQTC) georganiseerd en er zijn voldoende tweedehands 1/4 tonners op de markt om deze competitie uit te breiden. DQTC In de jaren ’70 zeilden deze kleine kajuitboten in Nederland regelmatig wedstrijd. Velden van meer dan 20 bootjes waren geen uitzondering. Een hele tijd hebben maar weinig ¼ tonners wedstrijd gezeild, maar daar kwam in 2013 verandering toen de eerste DQTC werd georganiseerd. Het evenement was een groot succes en de organisatoren besloten hier mee verder te gaan. Het evenement is inmiddels uitgegroeid tot een kleine competitie, speciaal voor de vele jong bejaarde race orgels die in Nederland liggen. Er is gekozen voor een kleine competitie om ¼ ton eigenaren de kans te geven aan één of meerdere evenementen mee te doen. Tweedehands 1/4 tonners te koop In 2018 wordt de zesde editie van de DQTC georganiseerd en de organisatie hoopt wederom meer ¼ tonners te mogen begroeten dan in 2017. Er liggen genoeg snelle tweedehands 1/4 tonners te koop voor weinig, dat kan wellicht ook een handje helpen om mensen over de streep te trekken. Meer informatie is te vinden op www.kwarttonzeilers.nl Agenda Dutch Quarter Ton Cup 2018 Onderstaande vijf evenementen tellen mee voor de DQTC, de punten van maximaal drie evenementen tellen mee voor de eindstand van de DQTC 2018. 1. Almere Regatta, 2 - 3 juni @ Muiderzand 2. Deltaweekend, 8 - 10 juni @ Zierikzee 3. Blue Water App Regatta, 16 - 17 juni @ Lelystad 4. Pampus Regatta, 8 - 9 september @ Durgerdam 5. 1/4 Ton Klassenkampioenschap, 15 - 16 september @ Muiden 3Di NORDAC voor kleine tot middelgrote zeilboten Voor kleine tot middelgrote zeilboten transformeert 3Di NORDAC polyestervezel in prachtige naadloze zeilen uit één stuk, die uitermate sterk en duurzaam zijn en perfect voor performance cruising/club-racing toepassingen. North Sails 3Di NORDAC zeilen zijn dus ook uitermate geschikt voor 1/4 tonners met de ambitie om de DQTC te varen. Enkele 1/4 tonners die met North Sails 3D-zeilen varen zijn de SECOND WAVE - (3DL-3Di Race), de BLACK PEARL (3Di NORDAC) en de Furi - Dehler Sprinta (3DL). Hylke Steensma en zijn zwager zijn eigenaar van de BLACK PEARL en hebben voor de zeilen gekozen vanwege de kwaliteit van North Sails: "De zeilen zijn voor ons weliswaar helemaal nieuw maar we hebben er vertrouwen in." Neem voor meer informatie contact op met een North Sails expert in de buurt voor meer informatie! READ MORE

73rd SYDNEY TO HOBART: A YEAR LIKE NO OTHER North-powered clients raise the stakes higher than ever in 2017 with new records © Rolex / Carlo Borlenghi Months of preparation and weeks of anticipation culminated on Boxing Day for 102 yachts racing in the 2017 Sydney to Hobart Yacht Race. With wind speeds of 25-50 knots, sailors have to mentally prepare for a race as tough as this one from Sydney to Hobart, never forgetting the possibilities and unknown outcomes of their own fate. A legendary offshore race, the RSHYR puts sailors and their equipment to the ultimate test. The 73rd edition of the Rolex Sydney Hobart is one for the history (and record) books. This year the meteorologist outlook provided a forecast that favored the big boats. A race of broad reaching and downwind sailing with a high probability for records to fall; a forecast suited for yachts built to sail off the wind. Competition was tough for boats in the 45-55 foot range, an “easy race” by historical standard, but by no means is the RSHYR ever easy. Starting out light around 10 knots then building to 25 in the Bass Strait and coast of Tasman, clients put 3Di to the test. The top five boats and many in the fleet trusted North Sails 3Di to power their 628-mile adventure to Hobart. Being mostly a downwind race, 3Di launched the super-Maxis down the race track towards the finish line in Tasmania. LDV Comanche found her sweet spot using a full inventory of 3Di downwind, while Wild Oats XI and Black Jack have combined inventories of 3Di downwind and NPL gennakers. Five boats finished within the race record of 1 day, 13 hours, and 31 minutes set by Perpetual Loyal in 2016. A controversial protest saw LDV Comanche replace the on the water winner Wild Oats XI as line honors winner and new record honor. A tough race win, and for all, a race by the rule book. The new race record is 1 day, 9 hours, 15 minutes, and 24 seconds. Congratulations to Botin 52 Ichi Ban’s Matt Allen and crew for winning the overall corrected time Tattersall Trophy and having one of the fastest records for a boat their size in the history of the race. © Rolex / Carlo Borlenghi READ MORE

Bezoek North Sails op Boot Dusseldorf 20 t/m 28 januari 2018 Het North Sails team heet u van harte welkom op Boot Düsseldorf van 20 tot en met 28 januari. Onze experts zijn te vinden in hal 11, standnummer H24. Tijdens de beurs is er elke dag minimaal één expert uit de Benelux aanwezig. We laten u graag kennis te laten maken met onze nieuwe producten, waaronder de nieuwe 3Di NORDAC zeilen. Hebt u vragen of wilt u een afspraak met ons maken? Neem contact op met één van onze experts. 3Di NORDAC Afgelopen jaar introduceerden wij 3Di NORDAC, een innovatief en betaalbaar polyester zeil, gemaakt met onze unieke, gepatenteerde 3Di techologie. 3Di NORDAC combineert traditionele materialen met moderne, reeds bewezen 3Di productieprocessen en is speciaal ontwikkeld voor kleine en middelgrote toerboten. Dit baanbrekende product levert meer vormbehoud, duurzaamheid en comfort tijdens het zeilen. Bezoek ons op Boot Düsseldorf voor meer informatie. Meer informatie over Boot Dusseldorf vindt u op https://www.boat-duesseldorf.com READ MORE

AND THEY’RE OFF! A 102 boat fleet sets off in the 2017 Rolex Sydney Hobart Yacht Race The forecast at the start of the 73rd Rolex Sydney Hobart Yacht Race was cloudy with a chance of rain and potential to break race records. This Boxing Day tradition in Sydney drew a spectator crowd on land and lining the shore to see the 102 boat fleet off on their 628-mile slug to Hobart. While the big boats get the media coverage, the RSHYR draws a range of yachts sizes, yacht ages, and crew experience. There is something for everyone, and while the goal is to be first to finish, you first have to finish; not always easy in this famous race. We at North Sails wish all competitors good luck a safe journey. We’ll be on race and record watch in the meantime… Enjoy this selection of our favorite images from the start line in Sydney Harbour. The 102 boat fleets charges up Sydney Harbour before heading offshore. Our North Sails team in Australia says every sailor should have this race on their bucket list. We say the everyday sailing fan should have spectating in Sydney on their list! ©Rolex/Studio Borlenghi Peter Hamburg’s Black Jack and Jim Cooney’s LDV Comanche were locked together at the start. The Maxis are expected to take two-three days to finish, while the smaller boats in the fleet can take four, five, or six days. ©Rolex/Studio Borlenghi The RSHYR has three start lines. Wind and water are quite disturbed after the Maxis and the spectators following them. It makes for choppy conditions for the rest of the fleet. Seasick remedies anyone? ©Andrea Francolini Wild Oats XI was struck by lightning last Sunday, damaging many of her electronics. It was a full team effort to get her race ready. ©Andrea Francolini 628 miles. We hear the welcome in Hobart is unreal. ©Rolex READ MORE

KHALEESI: READY FOR RACING Equipped with 3Di ENDURANCE, Khaleesi is ready to take on the 628 nm race © Andrew Dally Andrew and Pauline Dally’s Khaleesi had a busy 2016, posting three second places before sadly breaking their mast during the Brisbane to Keppel Island Race. Since then, the team has notched up only one victory (the Bird Island Race, an 85 mile race in early December). Now, “with the expert setup by North Sails and Sydney Rigging,” Andrew explains, “we feel the boat is faster and with a bit of luck we might visit the podium again.” Khaleesi’s next podium opportunity is the Rolex Sydney Hobart Yacht Race (RSHYR). We caught up with her experienced skipper just days ahead of the start. Why did you go with 3Di ENDURANCE for your new mainsail? Our headsails are 3Di ENDURANCE and we have had them since 2014. Despite a recut on a couple of them they are still in good racing condition. Whilst it is heavier than 3Di RAW it allows us to be fast, but more importantly it has the longevity we need for our budget. What's the biggest difference you've noticed between that sail and your previous main? Durability. It’s fast and still able to deal with the rigors of hard offshore racing. Congratulations on winning the Bird Island Race – part of your preparation for Hobart. What’s Khaleesi’s secret? We attribute our success to a strong loyal crew that stayed with us while the mast was out of the boat, as well as to great preparation and fast sails. Who’s your closest competition for Hobart? St Jude . There is also another DK 46 is the race, Extasea, which we have beaten in previous matchups. © Andrew Dally READ MORE

PRE-RACE PREPARATIONS WITH NORTH SAILS AUSTRALIA Our Australia team is busy with sail modifications and inspections to prepare clients for the 73rd Sydney to Hobart The Sydney - Hobart is a bit different to preparing for any other event, just due to the type of weather that boats will see in the race. So a big part of it for us, whether it be on the smaller 30' yacht or all the way up to Wild Oats, Black Jack or one of the 100' footers, we are always just trying to get out with our clients and assess their heavy weather sail options. Making sure their mainsail reefing system works well and that the sails are not going to let them down in any way is very important for their success during Sydney-Hobart. The reason we do this is that the boat can sail all year out of Sydney, up and down the East Coast and never have to reef but guaranteed in the Sydney - Hobart race it is mandatory to have a reef, and to make sure it works and the crew knows how to use it. If not the first afternoon, then sometime during the first night this opportunity will arise, so our job in the lead up is to focus on making sure the boats are well prepared for the things that they wouldn't normally think to do. Our loft in Sydney is running 15 hour days getting all the boats and equipment ready. People have last minute service jobs on their sails that need sorting before they depart the dock. Wild Oats tore her spinnaker this week in the SOLAS big boat race so that is on its way in to be fixed up. Once the boats arrive in Hobart we have a loft called 42 South Marine, which will be ready to assist teams. They stay busy doing a lot of service work and repairs as the boats arrive into Hobart in order to get them turned around and back on their way. In slight contrast to us, our service teams in Hobart are down there from December 29th through January 5th to assist all incoming and outgoing race teams. Contact our local team today to make sure your sails are in tip-top condition to take on Sydney-Hobart. READ MORE

LIGHT AIR TIPS FROM THE 2018 WINTER SERIES OPENER North-powered clients, Jay Rhame and Peter Beardsley, dominate Viper 640 fleet in Sarasota Light winds challenged twenty-one teams for the first event for the Viper 640 Sarasota Winter Series. Saturday’s racing was cancelled due to the lack of wind, but four races were achieved in 2-7 knots on Sunday. Jay Rhame with crew Rachel and Peter Beardsley from Larchmont Yacht Club on Great Scott! dominated the event, winning all four races. North Sails Viper expert, Zeke Horowitz, caught up with Peter and Rachel Beardsley after racing to hear about their day on the water and what they did to win all four races. Peter, what was the key to your setup and why you were going so fast in the light air, both upwind and downwind? It was really light. We were at 22 on the uppers. I was sitting in the boat a lot more towards the middle. I was playing the fine tune on the jib a lot. We were able to windward sheet the jib as long as we had at least five knots, which was something that Zeke told us to do a long time ago that we didn’t have much success with it until today. It allowed us to lift off people. I felt like a puppeteer for a while there when I was playing the windward sheet, leeward sheet, and fine tuning simultaneously. We were able to really open our gage on people at the right time. We tried not to do too many maneuvers because it was so light, and every time you made a big move, it affected your boat speed drastically. We tried to only tack once or twice a beat to keep our speed up. Rachel, you were in the front of the boat. Tell us what you were looking for on the upwinds and the downwinds so you could avoid maneuvers but still get the overall strategy good enough so you can focus on speed? “Our goal was to minimize the numbers of maneuvers, so we talked about the wind and where we thought the pressure was, making sure that whatever the strategy that we stayed on our goal to minimize number of tacks and jibe.” I look at almost nothing else other than the kite when sailing downwind, but if we feel a little bit light the first thing we do, Jay and I, is to sit on the floor of the boat. Rachel, as our forward crew and tactician downwind, stands up on the foredeck with the best view. If we want to head up,we will all lean into leeward and try to use very little rudder. One of the weird things about today is that we usually have a mode where we lean to weather if we are going to fall off, and today we were never able to do that. It felt like it got half a knot lighter each race and we were almost never able to rock to weather to get it down. We were just trying to heat it up, heat it up and we kept our momentum on which was key. Give us the 3 biggest tips for light air Viper sailing for someone new to the boat: Don’t pinch upwind if you are under 6 knots. The boat likes to sail low and fast, we tack into 100 degrees in these conditions. Downwind: Allow at least 3-5 degrees of leeward heel. Place yourselves on centerline so the boat is more sensitive to the puffs. Pressure is key. Stay in the pressure and be cognisant of where the next puff is. You guys were the fastest boat on the water. Anything you might change for next time? The class changed the rule to allow a more vertical rudder bracket and we are going to install that before the January event and see how that goes. We are also going to move positions around the boat a little bit. Jay and I usually alternate driving in local events and we will do that in January and February. Rachel can do a lot more kite trimming with me up forward looking downwind. If all of us can do every job really well we know we are going to be faster as a team. Congratulations Peter, Jay and Rachel! Learn more about our products or contact your local expert 2018 Sarasota Winter Series – Event 1 1 Great Scott! / Jay Rhame / Peter Beardsley 3 Moxie / Zeke Horowitz 4 Merica / Paul Kleinschrodt 5 Coming In Hot / Michelle Lee 6 USA 264 / Jonathan Nye 7 Caterpillar / Peter Ill 8 USA 105 / William Stocke 9* Entourage / Nick Amendola * Denotes Partial North Sails Inventory Full results First Place Third place More photos READ MORE

ROLEX SYDNEY - HOBART RACE PREVIEW Alby Pratt, Sales Manager of North Sails Australia, previews this offshore classic © Andrea Francolini The SOLAS Big Boat Challenge on Sydney Harbour is always a spectacular preview to the Rolex Sydney - Hobart Yacht Race (RSHYR) . Are you surprised that Black Jack took the win over Wild Oats? It looks like Black Jack is a stronger boat upwind in lighter air and Wild Oats is stronger upwind in heavier air, probably due to the modifications that Wild Oats has done. The same applies downwind. Once upon a time, Wild Oats was a very strong light-air boat but she seems to have given some of that away. Mark Bradford and Vaughan Prentice from North Sails Brisbane both sail on Black Jack so they were obviously really happy to have won, but the SOLAS results shows a slight shift in focus for Wild Oats to optimize for the full range of conditions that they will see in the Sydney - Hobart. The RSHYR is one of the pinnacle offshore races in the world and one of the biggest sports events in Australia - what do you think makes this event so special and why should it be on every offshore sailor’s bucket list? There is a lot of history behind the race. This is the 73rd year; long enough to become a stalwart of offshore races. It is always a tough race-you know that you will get a range of conditions while you are out there. You are also pretty much guaranteed to be going upwind in heavy air at some point during the race; 30 knots plus for a period of time. And the smaller boats will likely see two weather transitions during the race so they will have to deal with two frontal systems, which makes it that much harder. When you do complete it, to have come through all that and arrive in Hobart the feeling of achievement is so much sweeter! The Aussies are famously welcoming - what is the race atmosphere like on the ground in the build up, out at sea, and at the finish? The race is a buzz around the Cruising Yacht Club of Australia (CYCA) with everyone getting ready and final preparations going on, but it is Christmas in a major city and the activity is more localized at the Sydney waterfront. That said because it is Christmas there is an awesome feeling of anticipation and fun; it is one of the things that makes it such a special event. There are quite a few boats from overseas competing this year, so there is a nice international feel to the whole event. When the race gets to Hobart it is crazy, as it takes over the whole city. There is no one who doesn't know about it. Everyone has a boat they are rooting for, a friend competing, stories from their own experiences or they just get caught up in the arrivals and the achievements of each of the boats as they make it across the Tasman Sea. It’s a really cool arrival city and one that every sailor should have on their bucket list. Any favorite memories of the race, as a spectator growing up or about racing yourself? I always remember 1998 because it was such a hard race. Unfortunately six guys lost their lives and I remember how tough it was. We did get second overall, but I remember it more for the brutal nature of the weather that was thrown at us. In 2005 I sailed on Wild Oats and we won line honors. We also won on handicap and broke the record. We had only launched the boat three weeks before the start of the race and we were racing against Alfa Romeo who were race favorites. So for us to beat them and take the record was pretty exciting. © Rolex / Daniel Forster You will be racing onboard Infotrack, (which as Perpetual Loyal broke the race record in 2016). What are your expectations? Any insights yet on conditions and how this will impact strategy and sail choice? Infotrack likes reaching, but it will be tough to beat LDV Comanche in those conditions as that is her sweet spot. If we get light air or any sort of transition where the boats are becalmed for a while, I think Black Jack will really come into her own. For all-round performance it is always hard to get past Wild Oats. It will be a really hard fight at the fastest end of the fleet. We start monitoring the weather pretty much from 10 days out and look at how that is going to play into our sail inventory. We are always looking to take sails off to lighten the boat, but you get such a broad mix of conditions in this race that you end up using every sail you have. All teams monitor in the final prep day and start fine tuning their inventory. The big boats take a lot of the headlines, but there will also be a battle for handicap winners, especially the Corinthian Class. Any boats you think we should be keeping an eye on? How does their preparation differ from the bigger boats? The boats to keep an eye on for handicap are: Matt Allen’s Ichi Ban, a brand new IRC 52 Khaleesi, DK46, Andrew Dally. Won the 90 mile warm up race in the SOLAS last weekend. St Jude, Noel Cornish’s boat The ‘little’ Wild Oats skippered by Troy Tindall cold also be a handicap champ Concubine, Jason and Shevaun Ward’s Mills 45, which given the right conditions will be right up there. Preparation isn’t dependent on size - we have the same priority to get all North Sails customers fully race ready and all their reefing, sail systems and sails working at 100% before they leave the dock. We have very experienced North Sails representatives going across the Tasman on LDV Comanche, Ichi Ban, Wild Oats, Black Jack, InfoTrack, and Concubine. The ‘little’ Wild Oats (66 footer) is also going with a new North Sails inventory, so we have. Sailing onboard gives us first-hand feedback on anything we can be doing better for future. @ Andrea Francolini READ MORE

HOME FOR THE HOLIDAYS…RECORD IN HAND 42 days. 16 hours. 40 minutes. 35 seconds. 3Di sails. © Vincent Curutchet François Gabart now owns a mind-blowing solo record pace. Gabart has broken the Around the World, Singlehanded record a few days shy of one year from Thomas Coville’s 2016 record of 49 days last December. Gabart’s accomplishment is most impressive, considering that Coville smashed eight days off a record previously set in 2008 by Francis Joyon, and this latest attempt falls only two days off the fully crewed around-the-world record. Gabart’s full inventory of North 3Di sails powered Macif around the world at an average of 27 knots. The mainsail on Macif had 47,000 miles on it before the start of this record attempt. This latest record is further proof that 3Di technology produces sails are the highest performance and most durable. 2017 saw many records broken, smashed and shattered. Congratulations to François Gabart and the entire Macif support crew, who we’re sure are already planning their next adventure. © Jean Marie Liot READ MORE

Team Brunel onthult Mondriaan zeil Het Nederlandse team Brunel onthulde tijdens de stopover in Kaapstad het nieuwe graphic design van de master code zero, het Mondriaan zeil. Op weg naar Den Haag vaart het team met het zeil geïnspireerd op de iconische werken van Piet Mondriaan. Bouwe Bekking: “Mondriaan was zijn tijd ver vooruit. Prachtig in zijn eenvoud en toch was zijn werk echt avontuurlijk. Hij durfde te vernieuwen, uit te dagen en anders te denken. Dat zijn eigenschappen die iedere zeezeiler echt aanspreken. Dat we op weg naar de ultieme bestemming met dit Mondriaan zeil varen en Den Haag op deze manier kunnen uitdragen is mooi.” Photo by Ugo Fonolla/Volvo Ocean Race. 11 December, 2017. Volvo Ocean Race Finish in Den Haag Op 24 juni 2018 finishen de zeven deelnemende teams in de Volvo Ocean Race voor het eerst in de historie in Den Haag. De stad is dan met recht de ultieme bestemming. Team Brunel is een van de deelnemers in deze legendarische race. Dit Nederlandse team zeilt vanaf Kaapstad richting de finish met een echt Haags voorzeil geïnspireerd op de iconische werken van Piet Mondriaan. READ MORE

A BEGINNER'S GUIDE TO NAVIGATING SYDNEY-HOBART © Andrea Francolini The Rolex Sydney-Hobart Race is one of the classic yachting events on the annual race calendar, arguably the most famous and difficult race taking place in the Southern Hemisphere. Its reputation is well deserved, giving all who enter it numerous challenges – not only in the level of competition the race draws, but also with many hurdles brought by Mother Nature. These environmental challenges take the form of fast changing and often strong winds, squalls, complex ocean currents, and potential for extremely rough, boat-breaking sea conditions. All that on top of what is often a more than 20 degree Celsius drop in air temperature from balmy Sydney to cool Hobart. Navigators of the race watch typical wind patterns of the Australian summer: a semi-permanent high pressure to the east over the Tasman Sea, and another over the Great Australian Bight west of Tasmania. Air flows anti-clockwise around these high pressure systems, which means there is a tendency for northerly winds off the Sydney coast and southerly winds west of Tasmania. Between these two high pressure areas there is normally an extension of the thermal low pressure from the hot interior of Australia, extending into NSW and pointing toward the Bass Strait. The patterns described above represents the average – that is, what you get if you average the weather maps over a long period of time in the Australian warm season. However, the actual weather on any given day is the result of modulations on the average pattern and disturbances (weather systems) embedded within the larger scale. SOUTHERN OCEAN CHILL One such important and common disturbance involves the northward intrusion of cold air out of the Southern Ocean. When cold air pushes north toward Tasmania, the Bass Strait, and southeastern Australia, some very abrupt and severe changes can result. Ahead of the cold fronts which mark the leading edge of a cold push, winds typically build from the north along the coast. Sometimes thunderstorms can develop over the hot interior of NSW and move east into the course from Sydney and south to Green Cape. Such storms have generated spectacular waterspouts on the course – an encounter with which is not only memorable, but potentially very dangerous. "Being ready to weather strong upwind sailing and very rough seas in the wake of a S’ly change are a must for any crew and boat taking on this race." As a cold front moves north and east across the race route, fast running conditions down the coast abruptly change to hard, very rough, upwind conditions. Not to mention the fact that squalls and much cooler air make sailing more difficult. These post-change encounters are a make or break point for some teams. Being ready to weather strong upwind sailing and very rough seas in the wake of a S’ly change are a must for any crew and boat taking on this race. TRICKS OFF TASMANIA Further down the track from crossing the Bass Strait to east of Tasmania, winds are no less challenging. Large ocean swells are common crossing the strait, and Gale or Storm force winds can occur - especially in the day or two following a front. Off Tasmania, winds can run the gambit from strong to exceedingly light. One certainty of sailing off Tasmania is that the wind will change. The weather patterns there are fast moving and can behave erratically. An area of no wind can exist within hundreds of meters of gale force gusts. Understanding how conditions will change and making a correct call at the last moment can make the difference in almost any team’s race. SURF OR SWIM Another important factor in the strategies for this race is often the East Australian Current (EAC). The EAC is a western boundary current similar to those found on the east coasts of most continental land masses around the world (Gulf Stream off North America; Brazilian Current off South America; Agulhas Current off South Africa, and; the Kuroshio off Asia). The EAC is a generally south-flowing current off the coast, typically extending from north of Sydney to the Bass Strait and off the east coast of Tasmania. While the current is always present in one form or another, its speed and position relative to the course can vary significantly. In addition, tight swirls or eddy's are typically present in proximity to the main current flow, and can result in areas of rotating water over ten miles wide, often delivering the opposite of what a skipper may expect. While the current doesn’t change much on a day-to-day basis – unlike the weather – it does vary over a period of weeks. Sometimes it is close to the coast and within reach of the fleet to take advantage of its southward flow. Other times, it is further offshore, and sailing out to it can be a gamble whether or not the favorable flow will be enough to offset the extra distance necessary to get to it. There is also a potential significant downside to being in the current – even if it is within reach. When winds are blowing from the south, very large and steep waves can develop within the EAC which can, at a minimum, slow progress or, in the worst case, be boat-breaking. Anytime there is a southerly change and strong upwind conditions in this race, sea state within the EAC is a significant factor. The crews will be closely monitoring the weather forecasts and EAC condition in the days leading up to the race. While the forecasts can be reliable, it is often the small differences that are more difficult to predict. That will combine with the level of seamanship on-board to determine how well a team does. "Having a fast boat and sails are of course a bonus, but being ready and able to handle whatever the weather and sea brings will make the difference." Chris Bedford is a well known sailing meteorologist and has advised many professional teams on inshore and offshore race routing, including the Abu Dhabi Ocean Racing 2014-2015 Volvo Ocean Race team. Read more from Chris at sailwx.com Contact your local North Sails experts to get your sails inspected and ready to take on the big race! READ MORE

J/70 US WINTER SERIES OPENER Key Tuning and Trimming Points from Savasana’s Trimmer Tim Healy Event one of the J/70 Winter Series at Davis Island was a great success for North Sails clients. With an approaching frontal system, teams were psyched to sail in big breeze that was forecasted. Seven races were completed in the highly competitive 53-boat fleet. It was tight racing throughout of the fleet but Brian Keane’s Savasana deemed to be the fastest of them all, taking first place with a 22-point lead from the rest of the pack. Two bullets and only one race out of the top five was an impressive way to end the regatta. We caught up with Savasana’s trimmer, Tim Healy, to see what he had to say about tuning and trimming points that helped them win the regatta. Tim provided the team’s top three tips that kept their boat sailing fast. Congratulations to our clients on starting the series off with a bang, sailing very well with outstanding results in some unpredictable frontal conditions. The North XCS-1 main, J-6 jib and AP-1 spinnaker were the most popular sails in the top 10. Boats powered by North finished 1,3,5,6,7,8*,9,10 and won 6 out the 7 races. Tim’s Top Tips for sailing in big breeze: Get the rig tune tight enough. We ended up at 28 on the uppers and 30 on the lowers. This allowed us to use a lot of backstay before we would get inversion wrinkles in the main. A lot of backstay tension, with a tight rig, translates into a tight headstay. A tight headstay keeps the jib from getting too deep which can overpower easily and drag the bow down in the puffs making the boat hard to control. If the rig is not tight enough, the mast will bend too easily when the backstay is applied resulting in inversion wrinkles in the main too early and the headstay never getting tight enough. Move jib leads back 1-2 holes and play/ease weather sheet in puffs. Moving the leads aft make the bottom of the jib flatter and the top twist off easier. When the top of the jib can twist in the big puffs, it dumps some of the excess power and allows the boat to be sailed flatter. The weather sheet should also be eased in the big puffs to open the slot, flattening the bottom of the jib more and adding more twist to the upper leech. In these big puffs it proved to be very fast, as the skipper would feather slightly in the sharp increase of pressure. If the jib had too much weather sheet or if the lead was too far forward, the boat would heel over too much. The main would need to be eased/luffed and the bow would be dragged down because the balance of the boat is thrown off. When the puff is over, the weather sheet can be pulled back on adding upper leech tension as well as depth to the bottom of the sail. Playing the weather sheet can all be done from the crew hiking on the weather rail without much movement. A steady crew that is sitting still and hiking is important for the mainsheet trimmer and helmsman to get in sync to balance out the helm and trim. Downwind – Leave backstay on if in overpowering windy conditions. This will not only keep the main flatter, but it will pull the luff of the spinnaker tighter as well. A tighter luff will flatten the overall shape of the spinnaker by moving the draft forward, making the leech of the spinnaker twist. Easing the traveler down all the way will make pumping more effective, and give the main trimmer more control of the main leech. When the traveler is all the way to leeward and the trimmer pumps the main, the boom not only comes in to weather but it also is being trimmed more effectively down. This acts like pulling the mainsheet and vang on at the same time. When the big puff hits, a quick ease of the main will open up the leech allowing the boat to stay under control and ripping with very little vang tension. Need to step up your game? Contact your local North Sails expert today for the latest products to get you up to speed for the winter sailing circuit. J/70 2017-18 US Winter Series – Event 1 1 Savasana / Brian Keane 3 Stampede / Bruno Pasquinelli 5 NINE / Oivind Lorentzen 6 Tea Dance Snake / Todd Jenner 7 Scamp / Will Welles 8* Flojito 3 JT / Jack Franco 9 Rimmette / John Brim 10 Polar / Doug Clark * Denotes Partial North Sails Inventory Full Results READ MORE

NORTH CLIENTS DOMINATE 2017-18 ETCHELLS BISCAYNE BAY SERIES OPENER Congratulations Jim Cunningham and team Lifted! North Sails 9 of top 10! The Louis Piana Cup, first stop of the 2017-18 Biscayne Bay Etchells Series, started out with a bang for Jim Cunningham and his team of Jeff Madrigali, Mark Ivey and Serena Vilage who took the regatta by one point over visiting Brit Lawrie Smith and his 3 amigo team of Richard Parslow, Goncalo Ribeiro and Graham Sutherland. Tight rigs and warm clothes were the call as five races were expertly run by former world Champion Stuart Childerly and his great team from Biscayne Bay Yacht Club. A very strong cold front delayed racing on Saturday by a couple of hours as the race committee wisely held the fleet on shore as dangerous thunderstorms with 50 knot gusts and tornadoes were moving down the state. Two races were completed with Jim and Lawrie atop the standings after the first day. Sunday brought an early start, unseasonably cool temperatures, and blustery strong winds. Steve Benjamin and his team showed some of his World Champion form to take the first race in 18-22 knot winds while the rest of the day was owned by Jose Fuentes with his crew of Luke Lawrence and Ian Liberty. In a dying and very shifty north westerly breeze they took control and won both of the final two races and pulled themselves into 3rd place overall—very impressive. Equally impressive was the fourth place all Corinthian team of Peter Vessella, Tracy Usher and Mark Callahan. The North Sails PC-Fm Radial Head mainsail used by the top teams continues delivering impressive performance. Most teams opted for either the GM 6.5 heavy air jib or the LM-2H radial head jib for the strong winds of the weekend. It wasn’t until the final run of the last race that teams choose to put up the VMG spinnaker instead of the Full Runner. 2017-18 Luis Piana Cup 1 Lifted / Jim Cunningham 2 Alfie / Lawrie Smith 3 Caramba / Jose Fuentes 4 Peter Vessella / Mahalaga 5 Lion Heart / Adrian Owles 6 SCIMITAR / Steve Benjamin 8 Blackadder II / Andrew Cumming 9 Freedom / Craig Mense 10 America Jane II / Scott Kaufman Full results READ MORE

Gustave’s Adventures in the Mediterranean The Aubert family indulges on their Mediterranean adventure aboard their Lavezzi “Gustave”, powered by 3Di NORDAC One couple, three young children, a catamaran, and six months sabbatical to make the most of the Mediterranean. That was the project in 2017 for Jérôme Aubert, 40, and his wife Hélène, 35. The couple have three children: Jeanne, Louise and Arthur, who are seven, five and two respectively. At the same time, Jérôme quickly became interested in a catamaran, for him the ideal platform to travel across the water with young children. Not necessarily an obvious choice for this sailing professional as he has been working at Harken for eight years where he is more accustomed to the rigors of monohull racing. Jérôme has in fact the perfect CV of a pure sailor: Optimist, Europe, Melges 24, Figaro – he took part in the Figaro Solitaire Race in 2006 and the Tour de France à la Voile. This long summer journey will therefore be a voyage of double discovery: the catamaran and cruising! He settled on a second hand Lavezzi 40 (built by Fountaine-Pajot): the boat was in great shape but the sails not so much. It was for this reason that the relationship with North Sails started. The sailmaker, at the time going through a test phase for its 3Di NORDAC, proposed a special price for a totally new sail plan, a square top mainsail with full battens and a furling solent. The sails were delivered to Saint Nazaire two days before taking the boat down to the Mediterranean. This wasn’t due to a late delivery, but thanks to a good weather window! The expected downwind breeze arrived in the Bay of Biscay, but a little punchy all the same: “We had 45 knots twice, on the nose” recalls Jérôme. “At times more than 15 knots surfing, an initiation of fire for new sails!” After 2 stopovers and 10 days sailing, Gustave arrived in Ibiza. It was from here that the family cruise started. On the agenda, the Balearic Islands of course, Sardinia, Sicily, Southern Italy, Montenegro, Albania, the Ionian Islands, the Peloponnese, the Amalfi Coast, Capri and Ischia, and Corsica. Hélène’s summary “167 days, 165 those were sunny, 4,800 miles sailed, seven countries, 15 pairs of sunglasses, 10 bottles of sun lotion, four tuna caught, five wasp stings, two stitches, 25 kilos of bananas.” Jérôme strived to sail in manageable conditions and with the wind from behind. By the end of the journey, Gustave had not used her engine and had practically never tacked. And even though the basis of sailing in the Mediterranean consists of little leaps from mooring to mooring, the Aubert family journey still counted some beautiful crossing, up to 310 miles. It was the perfect opportunity to test the new 3Di NORDAC sailing on a catamaran on an intensive cruise. “After 6,000 miles of sailing, they haven’t changed shape and handled the UV exposure very well,” noted Jérôme, “The same for the material around the forced slats, which held very well.” And with the sale of Gustave, to return to another cruise, presenting the beautiful North Sails 3Di NORDAC onboard is most definitely a plus.” READ MORE

INTERVIEW WITH CLASS 40 CHAMPION PHIL SHARP Imerys Clean Energy skipper Phil Sharp wins Class 40 Championship in the finale Transat Jacques Vabre © PhilSharpRacing.com We caught up with the skipper of Imerys Clean Energy, Phil Sharp, on his Class 40 win after completing the Transat Jacques Vabre, the final race of the 2017 Class 40 season. Powered by North Sails 3Di, Phil has been competing in Class 40 division for just two seasons now, and winning this year is quite the feat! Placing 1st overall, with a lead of 247 points after five events: Trophée Guyader, Normandy Channel Race, Les Sables Horta, Rolex Fastnet Race and the Transat Jacques Vabre, Phil looks forward to his next opportunity to shine. You are relatively new to Class 40. What does this achievement and quick rise to success mean to you? This is my second full season sailing in Class 40 which is now a very established and competitive offshore Class. I would say that it takes one full season to achieve that all-important reliability, and to really learn how to maximize the boats potential. It has been a lot of work over the last 18 months, so what we have achieved this year is really satisfying for everyone involved and it is really great to reap the rewards. What do you think enabled you to get the level of consistency you needed to win this series (preparation, hardware (including sails), decisions, weather etc) and with such a huge margin? If I compare this season against last, I think this year we really had the time to meticulously prepare the boat, particularly towards the end of the season. This meant that it was possible to spend the vast majority of the race focusing on strategy and speed, rather than fixing things, which is absolutely key. “The sails are fundamental in this equation – in order that you can race with real confidence you have to have sails you can rely on, that are well-tested and that you can push hard with.” What did North Sails do to support you in making an impact in Class 40? Where North Sails have been particularly supportive and professional to work with, is in the development process. It is virtually impossible to create the perfect sail out of the box, so they have given us some great support in listening and understanding to what we wanted, what we needed to improve, and optimizing the sails to meet our objectives. This has definitely given us important performance gains throughout the season. When did you take delivery of your sail inventory? Have you added or replaced any sails for the 2017 season, and your ultimate victory? We started building up an inventory from July 2016, when we started working with North Sails. This has been a gradual process replacing the sails that came with the boat, according to our budget. We have also worked with North Sails on developing and modifying new sails by tweaking the shape and looking at the effects on the water. “This was a real eye-opener and a great learning experience for me – to really see what a difference the sails could make to performance.” How did you feel about your sail inventory, how did it fare over the series and are there any changes you would like to make to it (and why)? I was actually really pleased with how everything performed in the TJV. In particular, two fractional sails that worked really well were our A6 and A5, which enabled us to push the boat hard during windy conditions. If anything, I would work on developing our reaching setup and perhaps refine the Code 0 for reaching, rather than upwind. What was your greatest memory of the TJV? Escaping the doldrums. We had had a pretty awful time to the west with seriously light airs, which pushed us back from 1st to 4th, with the boats to the east of us getting slightly more pressure for two days. The last night was particularly dreadful with lots of wind shifts and we were sure we had lost out. However, when we downloaded the positions the next morning it was a very nice surprise to see that we had pulled back into the lead with a 10 mile advantage, and had managed to break into the southeast trades before the others. We rewarded ourselves with a large portion of porridge that morning! Other than winning, what was your greatest achievement of the series? “Leading 12 of the 17 days of the TJV was a nice statistic to finish with. As well as being able to report zero sail damage at the end of an Atlantic race! Although that is largely North Sails achievement as well as ours!” So Phil, what’s up next for you? After a great season in Class 40 we feel it is a good time to move up to IMOCA 60 so we are working on attracting further support for a highly competitive entry towards the 2019 Barcelona World Race and the Vendee Globe 2020. © Carlo Borlenghi © Jean-Marie Liot / ALeA / TJV2017 READ MORE