Displaying items by tag: North Sails Ireland
North Sails Master Class in Offshore Sailing
Here at North Sails Ireland, we are delighted to see our offshore racing community responding proactively to the Cv19 pandemic. The Round Ireland race that's been rescheduled to Aug 22nd will be a highlight in the calendar! Fingers crossed that we will have the environment to allow it to go ahead come August. We are also hoping that a late-season ISORA programme may be possible.
Speaking of offshore racing, here is a real gem for Irish offshore sailors.............from our homes to yours, North Sails invites you to join us and our all-star line up for a master class in offshore sailing on Wednesday, April 22 at 9 pm GMT.
North Sails President, Volvo race veteran and industry-opinion leader, Ken Read, will host a discussion with 11th Hour Racing Team skipper Charlie Enright, and offshore veterans Rob Greenhalgh and Alberto Bolzan. You can only catch this expert group in one place.
Please register today and tune in to this exclusive talk for insights and take away expert tips from the best in sailing.
Sign up here: https://bit.ly/3bqO8As
From your team at North Sails Ireland - enjoy it and best wishes to everyone!
Here at North Sails Ireland, a large portion of our customer base is made up of a wide range of cruising sailors writes Maurice O'Connell.
They range from blue-water sailors who have circumnavigated the globe to coastal sailors who undertake short "hops" with friends and family.
Cruising sailors' requirements can be a little different from our "all-out" racing clients. Here at North Sails, we have an extensive range of cruising products that will deliver fast, reliable cruising for many many years.
Have you ever wondered about, "what should I be looking for in a cruising sail?". Well, here's the answer...North Sails invites all sailors to join our "10 Things To Look For In Cruising Sails" webinar.
This fun and informative webinar will be hosted by our colleagues Bob Meagher, Peter Grimm (North Sails Fort Lauderdale) and Austin Powers (North Sails Annapolis).
Read about them here:-
https://www.northsails.com/sailing/en/experts/peter-grimm-jr
https://www.northsails.com/sailing/en/experts/bob-meagher
https://www.northsails.com/sailing/en/experts/austin-powers
All are welcome to our webinar...........
With very best wishes from North Sails Ireland.
Please register here
Tune into North Sails Webinars
Our North Sails Moth webinar last week was a great success with "Mothies" from all over the world tuning in - including Irish Moth sailors from around the country!
The upcoming North Sails Webinar schedule can be found here
We'd love to see as many of you as possible clicking in to join in these fun and informative sessions.
North Sails Moth Masterclass From Rob Greenhalgh & Tom Slingsby (Worth Watching, No Matter What Boat You Sail!)
Tom Slingsby has won Olympic gold and numerous world titles in the Laser class. He has won the America's Cup as strategist with Team Oracle USA.
Last December, he flew his North Sails 3Di mainsail in a never seen before domination of the Moth World Championship
Rob Greenhalgh, now based in Sydney, is our North Sails Moth specialist. He himself has won numerous national and international titles (including the 2004 1720 Europeans!) and indeed represented Ireland as a member of Anthony O'Leary's "Antix" team in the 2008 Rolex Commodore's Cup. Rob is veteran of five Volvo Ocean races and was a member of the winning team in the 2005/6 edition on "ABN Amro 1".
North Sails Wins 2019 Irish Moth Nationals
Closer to home, Alistair Kissane from Howth Yacht Club (pictured below) won the 2019 Irish Moth nationals in Baltimore Sailing Club flying his North Sails Vi-8LA 3Di mainsail.
Please click on the link here to watch a fascinating North Sails video, narrated by Rob with special guest Tom Slingsby, on the technical aspects of setting up the new North Sails Vi-9DSX Moth sail and rig. No matter what boat you sail, this is well worth watching!
Join North Sails Moth Class Leader, National and European titleholder Rob Greenhalgh for the first of many live webinars, on Wednesday, March 25th at 8:00 pm GMT, register here
From all of us here at North Sails Ireland - stay safe and well.
North Sails Ireland: How to Remain Focused Racing Offshore
Offshore Sailing Guru Casey Smith shares his thoughts on how to remain focussed during long periods at sea in this latest North Sails article. When we get back to racing later in the season this could be really helpful for all of the ISORA and Round Ireland racers looking to up their game.
Day after day, mile after mile, distance racing reminds us of that never-ending feeling of being stuck in one place for extended periods of time. Hear more from Casey Smith (CS) how to cope with those long periods of isolation where you can only do so much. Casey is a two-time Volvo Ocean Race veteran and was a key member onboard during all of Comanche’s record runs and race wins. Casey knows a lot about being stuck out at sea, but still finds humour in the little things and gets his job done, which is most important.
We hope you enjoy the read here
North Sails Ireland - Let's Stay Connected
Greetings to all our North Sails Ireland sailing friends at home here in Ireland and around the world.
All of us are passionate about sailing and we can keep a calm head afloat when things get serious. Please join us in bringing that mindset into our lives on land these coming days and weeks. It is a tough time for us all. Stay connected everyone!
We will continue to provide you with customer service via the phone, text, email, Whatsapp or virtual meetings. Most of us are working remotely and ready to answer your questions and support you where possible.
We are preparing a schedule of content for you based on a variety of topics - cruising, technical topics, videos etc. We hope that you may find these interesting while we await getting back out on the water.
Our US colleague, Tom Davis, penned this informative piece about "What to Look for and How to Prolong the Life of the Material" in your spinnaker and ultimately when to replace it. We hope you like it. Click to read it here
From us all here at North Sails Ireland - stay safe and well, both mentally and physically.
Why are Racing Sails Black?
North Sails have been the market leader in sail technology for as long as I have been sailmaking, and that's a couple of years now! (started back in 1981). When a company like North Sails comes up with something new, the majority of the other sailmakers tend to try and follow. They cannot match the technology, so what's next? At least they can copy the colour!
Back in the '90s when 3DL was the leading race product with clear mylar films the sails were see-through. Then North Sails changed the film colour to a dark grey and the world followed, it took some time but the switch happened. The next step was to black mylar films and they all followed again......each time it took a while but eventually the market shifted to follow the leader.
When North Sails introduced 3Di sails roughly 10 years ago the look of sails changed dramatically to a matt black and this has continued across the majority of the North race product line today.
What we are now seeing in the race market is almost 100% Black sails.........North Sails are black for a reason, most of the others are only black to follow the leader with zero benefits to the client.
See what Per Anderson the head of 3Di development has to say on the subject here
What is The Difference Between Racing & Cruising Sails?
North Sails colleague and friend Neil Mackley has just written a really nice piece on the difference between racing and cruising sails that I wanted to share with Afloat readers writes Nigel Young of North Sails Ireland
Neil has been with North Sails since 1982 and as you might imagine knows a thing or two about sails...
Before I started North Sails Ireland in 2004 Neil was a regular visitor to Ireland looking after the clients here at that time. Neil attended the first few ICRA conferences with me when we were starting out here in Ireland and his experience in the industry is second to none. He can still be seen in Ireland often sailing with Nigel Biggs and the Half Ton fleet.
My own sailmaking career started in 1981 so we have seen all the industry changes together since that time. The big difference is that Neil was with North Sails for the full 38 years and I have been with three lofts, joining North Sails in 1994.
I hope you enjoy the article here and please do not hesitate to contact us with any questions you may have.
North Sails Go Mixed Short Handed Sailing
North Sails have recently teamed up with Beneteau in the USA to work together and promote shorthanded sailing writes Nigel Young.
Our own company president Ken Read has been leading from the front and getting stuck into this existing segment of sailing.
Here in Ireland, the short-handed sailing is growing in popularity and we have been involved in quite a few projects in recent months.
The sail requirements for these boats are quite different to "round the cans" inshore racing sails and generally they have to cover a much wider wind range than an inshore sail.
This is an area where the 3Di sails really score over the opposition. For their strength, 3Di is lighter than anything else on the market so you can still have a sail that's happy to fly in its designed shape in 12 knots TWS and choppy water but it is also strong enough to be reefed and used right up the range.
Reefs in Headsails are not uncommon and all sorts of other little tricks to make it easy to handle the sails when you can hardly keep your eyes open!
3Di copes better with rough handling and of course as you all know there is no plastic film to crack in 3Di sails which keeps them out of the service loft.
In fact, we have seen a major reduction in service work on the 3Di sails, some clients have 4-5-year-old sails that have never even seen the service loft!
For the full story please take a look at the article here
North Sails Ireland & The Sydney Hobart Winner 'Ichi Ban'
It was fantastic to see "Ichi Ban" win IRC overall in the Sydney Hobart race last week writes Maurice O'Connell. I raced this iconic race some years back on the IMX 40 "Nips 'n Tux" and it is a true classic offshore race.
"Ichi Ban" was powered 100% by North Sails and had NS colleagues Rob Greenhalgh and sail designer Dick Parker aboard. Here in North Sails Ireland, we have worked with "DP" on numerous projects over the years.
Most recently, these included including Brendan Coglan's Jeanneau Sunfast 3600 "YoYo", John O'Gorman's SF 3600 "Hot Cookie" and Seamus Fitzpatrick's Beneteau First 50 "Mermaid IV".
Rob Greenhalgh is also no stranger to Irish sailing having been a member of the Rolex Commodore's Cup-winning team on Anthony O'Leary's giant-killing Ker 39 "Antix" - also 100% powered by North Sails!
It was also great to see Howth man and "Ichi Ban" sailing master Gordon Maguire win his 4th "Hobart" - nice one Gordon!
Please click here for further info on "Ichi Ban"s Tattersall's Cup overall IRC victory.