North Sails NZ - A wealth of experience
by Zoe Hawkins on 4 Dec 2008
North Sails sponsor one of the MRX fleet used in the 2008 NZ Match Racing Championships Richard Gladwell
www.photosport.co.nz
This story sums up the experience of the Sales Team alone:
A member of Jud Smith’s 2007 World Champion Etchell crew, Norths’ Sales & Marketing Manager, and One-Design consultant Andrew Wills has raced one design boats since he was eight years old, moving from an Optimist through the National classes to the Laser Olympic class. He currently sails Etchells, Farr 40s, J24s, and three local one design classes: Young 88s, Farr 1020s and MRXs, and is coach to the New Zealand Optimist Team. Andrew has a marketing and international business degree and many sailing titles to his credit, including USA and Grade 1 regattas around the world. 'I have been a fan of Norths’ product since I was an eight year old Opti kid,' says Andrew.
Sales Consultant Jim Maloney, who joined the North Sails sales team in early 2008, has a long and exceptional sailing career. Originally from San Francisco, he has a number of North American titles to his name in dinghies, skiffs and one design keelers, and his love of sailing brought him to New Zealand in 1999, when he purchased a Lidgard 44 called ‘Hijacker’ and spent two and a half years cruising the South Pacific with his wife and three talented children – Jimmy (Royal NZ Yacht Squadron Youth Scheme member and champion teams racer), Alex (top girl and third overall, 2007 Optimist Worlds) and Andy (winner, 2008 Laser Radial Worlds). Jim learnt the art of sail making in what he calls the ‘olden days’ and lives next door to Murray’s Bay Sailing Club in Auckland’s North Shore.
Richard Bicknell, better known as Bicky, has been at the helm of North Sails since 2000 and like most members of his team, is a sought after racing sailor competing with client boats including maxis and superyachts on the grand prix race circuit.
He has lived and worked in the UK, Japan and New Zealand as a sailmaker and boatbuilder and joined New Zealand Challenge as a sailmaker for the 1992 America’s Cup.
Bicky has four Transats, two Sydney-Hobarts, two Fastnets, and numerous other offshore races, including a Volvo Ocean Race buildup with Newscorp under his belt in recent years, but started his sailing career like most Kiwi youth in a P-Class dinghy before turning to Javelin skiffs.
It’s all about the race for Paul Murray; he left school to do a sailmaking apprenticeship in 1986 and has fulfilled a 20-year professional sailing career that has taken in four America’s Cups, two Volvo Ocean Races – including with the winning Team EF skippered by Paul Cayard in 1997-98, and numerous international regattas such as the Sydney-Hobart, Transatlantics, Fastnets, Kenwood Cups and Maxi Worlds.
Like most New Zealand sailors, as a youngster Paul progressed through the ranks in dinghies, and bought his own JOG boat as an 18 year old, which he campaigned both here and in Australia.
Paul now works with North Sails so that he can be based in Auckland with his family.
Whether it’s the supermaxi ‘Maximus’, Transpac 52s, or his parent’s 55’ Gaff Rigged ketch, Josh Tucker has more than 60,000nm of offshore racing and cruising to his credit.
Growing up on the waters off New Zealand’s coast and schooled by correspondence, he raced Optimists and began working in sail lofts as a 17-year old, joining North Sails in 2000. He undertook his first keelboat race as a 14 year old, doing bow on the Wellington entry in the Tasman Triangle, and his first Sydney-Hobart two years later. A RNZYS Youth Scheme Graduate, he has sailed across the North and South Atlantic three times, across the South Pacific twice, and through the Southern Ocean under jury rig to Cape Horn, and spent a season on the ice in Alaska. Offshore races include two Sydney-Hobarts, Capetown to Rio, the Rolex Transatlantic, numerous Auckland to Fiji or Noumea races, the Fastnet and regattas such Hamilton Island Race Week, Cowes Week, Antigua Race Week and the Asian Racing Circuit. Locally, Josh has won the Young 88, Ross 930, Magic 25 and SR26 Nationals in recent years and competes in international matchrace competition.
'I am still doing a lot of international and local sailing and have 100% support from North Sails at every regatta or offshore race I do,' he says.
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