Displaying items by tag: Terry Kohler

24th September 2016

North Sails Pays Tribute To Late Terry Kohler

#NorthSails - North Sails has paid tribute to Terry Kohler, owner of the company from 1984 to 2014, who died at his home in Wisconsin on Tuesday 20 September, aged 82.

Part of a business and political dynasty in his home state, Kohler was still at the helm of the company when it began supplying the sailing wardrobe for the Volvo Ocean Race. North Sails is now the exclusive sail supplier for the Volvo Ocean 65.

As a graduate of MIT, Kohler – who bought the company from Lowell North on the latter's retirement – saw the potential in marrying the latest technology with tried-and-tested deck knowledge to produce market-leading sails.

But he was also just as passionate about wildlife conservation, with he and his second wife Mary dedicating efforts to protect vulnerable marine species such as trumpeter swans, whooping cranes and Siberian cranes.

The North Sails website has more HERE.

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Esailing & Virtual Sailing information

The concept of e-sailing, or virtual sailing, is based on a computer game sailing challenge that has been around for more than a decade.

The research and development of software over this time means its popularity has taken off to the extent that it has now become a part of the sailing seascape and now allows people to take an 'active part' in some of the most famous regattas across the world such as the Vendée Globe, Route du Rhum, Sydney Hobart, Volvo Ocean Race, America’s Cup and some Olympic venues too, all from the comfort of their armchair.

The most popular model is the 'eSailing World Championship'. It is an annual esports competition, first held in 2018 and officially recognised by World Sailing, the sports governing body.

The eSailing World Championship is a yearly competition for virtual sailors competing on the Virtual Regatta Inshore game.

The contract to run the event was given to a private company, Virtual Regatta that had amassed tens of thousands of sailors playing offshore sailing routing game following major offshore races in real-time.

In April 2020, the company says on its website that it has 35,000 active players and 500,000 regattas sailed.

Virtual Regatta started in 2010 as a small team of passionate designers, engineers, and entrepreneurs gathered around the idea that virtual sailing sports games can mix with real races and real skippers.