Lookin’ good in da’ Hood

by Helen Hopcroft on 9 Mar 2007 Most successful big businesses start with a single good idea. The global company Hood Sailmakers was started by a sail maker who had the simple goal of making boats go better. Better means faster. And as Hood Australia’s Ian Lindsay says ‘that’s what it’s all about’.

In the 1950’s American sail maker Ted Hood was earning a living repairing sails for yachties of the Marblehead region in Massachusetts. He noticed that commercially available sail cloth did not hold its shape over time. He started wondering how he could change this.

Cotton was the main sail cloth fabric used at the time. It was prone to stretching when wet and when under load. Cotton, being a natural fibre, was particularly vulnerable to the corrosive effects of wind, water and salt.

Ted knew what he wanted; a strong, lightweight sail cloth that didn’t stretch under load. It needed to be durable enough to resist corrosion and strong enough to hold its shape despite frequent use.

Luckily Ted was able to enlist the help of his dad, Stedman Hood. Stedman, a chemist by profession, was nicknamed ‘The Professor’. He was employed by Monsanto and worked with polyester materials.

At his son’s urging he studied the problem of how to create better sail cloth. They came up with a simple solution that revolutionised the sailing industry.

Synthetic fibres would be woven into the sail cloth to improve strength and durability. Single strands of synthetic polyester fibre would be twisted into the thread that was used to weave the cloth. The synthetic fibres could be woven tighter than cotton which meant less stretch and stronger fabric.

Stedman invented a new type of loom and produced the first Dacron sail cloth. This was the start of the Hood fabric.

Sail-World spoke to Hood Australia’s Ian Lindsay about the development of Hood fabric.

‘The theory was the stronger the fabric and the less stretch you could have the better the sail would preform on the boat under load.’

‘So they set out, and his father designed these special water jet looms and designed this fabric, which was only 18 inches (approx 45 cm) wide….The reason they couldn’t go any wider was because that’s as tight as they could pre-pack the fibre, before it went into these water jet looms.’

In the early 1960’s Ted Hood visited Australia and met a sail maker called Joe Pearce. The two men decided to do business together. Joe acquired the rights to use Hood fabric, which he utilized during the America’s Cup Challenges of 1962 and 1966. Joe changed the name of his business to Hood Sailmakers Australia in June 1968. He was the first person to be granted a franchise outside of the United States.

‘And so that’s how Hood arrived in Australia.’

Sadly, Joe Pearce passed away in late 1969. The business was run by Peter Cole from 1970 to 1976. Then Cole decided to move into full time yacht designing. Management of the company passed to New Zealand sail maker Chris Bouzaid. He remained in the position until 1978.

‘Then he was given the opportunity to become the world president of the Hood group and work out of Marblehead in the States.’

Chris offered the business to Ian Lindsay and Ian Broad. Both men had been working for the company as sail makers for about a decade.

‘We have good knowledge of the product and how things were going. So we took over the company in 1978 and we’ve been here ever since.’


Since its inception, Hood has continued to experiment with new types of sail cloth. Some of these early experiments weren’t always successful.

‘Hood …in pioneering sail fabrics were the first people to make sails out of Kevlar. That was done in the very early 1970’s. The only thing wrong about it was that you couldn’t expose it to sunlight because it would deteriorate within about two months and then it would just tear like paper.’

‘Other developers of fabrics got into laminates and started to re work the Kevlar until they could make a stronger fabric.’

But other experiments proved more fruitful.

‘Hoods was also the first people to make sails out of Mylar. And then pioneered the use of Spectra fibre in Sails .Currently the use of Vektron has been growing in the Woven Dacron market.’

In the late 1980’s the company redesigned the looms and starting making fabric up to 90cm in width.

‘It’s cheaper to make a sail with a wider cloth than having a narrow one. But you can’t make the cloth any wider without losing the structural strength of the cloth.’


The company continues its focus on research and development. For the last five or six years Hood has been involved in the development of the next generation of sail cloth fabrics. Ian describes the fabrics as ‘excellent’ but says their cost means that they are unlikely to be released on the market.

‘Its going to cost too much to make sails out of it…. So that’s stopped the birth of a lot of new fabrics coming through the system.’


Hood Australia continues to maintain a strong presence in the local market.

‘We have the exclusive rights to the Hood fabric. That’s one of our major selling tools. …That’s why Hoods been so strong in the yachting scene.’

The Hood fabric has been a popular choice for many of the Whitsunday charter operators. Obviously the sails of charter boats see a lot of wear and tear. For commercial reasons the sails need to be easy to operate and long lasting.

‘One by one they’ve been replacing their sails with the Hood cloth. They’ve been very happy with the durability of the Hood cloth.’

Lindsay also attributes Hood Australia’s success to their ability to take on a range of jobs. The company makes sails for cruising, racing and commercial uses. They service an extremely wide range of vessels, from the smallest racing dinghies to a tall ship in the Indian Navy. They made the sails for Love & War, the handicap winner of this years Rolex Sydney Hobart and a full range of D4 Membrane sails for the high-tech TP52
Wot Yot.

‘We do cover a big spectrum of the market and I think that’s what makes us strong. The fact that we can get an order from a tall ship one day and a sail order for a maxi boat the next day. Right now we’re cutting a carbon sail for a Volvo 60…. At the same time were probably doing some sails for an 18’ dinghy class boat. That’s the way the business is.’

‘Whether you’re a high tech boat or a low tech boat. Whether you’re a Hobart racing guy or just out cruising around the world. We cover the whole market area. Others specialise in certain areas like dinghy class boats or high tech yacht racing… But we can cover the whole spectrum right through.’


Hood Sailmakers (Aust) P/L

Contact details
Address : Sydney Office: 19 West Street
City : Brookvale
State : NSW
Postcode : 2100
Country : Australia
Phone : +612 99050800
Fax : +612 9905 0900
Email : sails@hoodaustralia.com.au

http://www.hoodaustralia.com.au