Doyle Australia announces a major expansion in Sydney

by Guy Waddilove on 21 Jul 2010 Doyle Sails Sydney is to undergo a significant transformation with the announcement of a strategic partnership with Doyle Sails New Zealand and the re-opening of its Rushcutters Bay loft. The partnership will see Doyle's presence in Sydney grow considerably enabling the company to give better service to its customers and to give its local customers direct access to Doyle's patented Stratis laminated sails, developed and custom built at Doyle's Auckland plant exclusively for Doyle lofts worldwide.

John Hearne, a name long associated with Doyle in Sydney and well known identity in the Sydney sailing scene, is a key partner in the expansion heading the customer relations team as Sales Manager. John has 30 years experience in the sail making industry and has been involved in all facets of the business. He remains an active sailor with many regatta wins to his credit and has competed in almost every race on the east coast of Australia numerous times.

John Hearne comments; 'Working with Doyle NZ gives us access to both their sail design team, headed by Richard Bouzaid, which is held in high regard internationally, and their Stratis plant, is one of the largest sail laminating plants in the world. The company has invested heavily in the design and development of their Stratis laminates and they continue to push forward with innovation with two full time chemists at the Auckland plant. For me sharing resources in this way means I can provide my customers with the leading edge in sail technology and design and for my customers it means stronger, lighter, more efficient and longer lasting sails.

'In addition to supplying custom laminated sails out of Auckland, we will be running a full service and repair facility at our newly refurbished sail loft in Neild Avenue, very close to Rushcutters Bay along with a free pick up and drop off service for sails from all of the major yacht clubs. The location of the loft is important as it is convenient for the CYC; everyone is welcome to come up and have a look at their sails on the floor and discuss them with our staff.'

Guy Waddilove has been brought in as General Manager to implement the strategies which have proven successful in New Zealand. This will include improving levels of customer service, promoting Doyle's Stratis products throughout Australia and ensuring that Doyle Sydney works closely with its sister lofts around Australia to provide a united front, which will give the group better bargaining power and therefore better value for customers. Guy Waddilove spent 15 years aboard large sailing yachts working around the globe, and has more recently been involved in the build and management of large yacht projects. He is a qualified marine surveyor and also writes technical articles for various yachting publications.

Doyle Sails New Zealand has a 21,000 sq ft temperature and humidity controlled plant in Auckland producing its patented Stratis fibre-aligned laminated sails. The loft produced the sails for recently launched 58 metre sailing yacht Kokomo including the massive 2,227 square meter gennaker, one of the the largest sails ever produced.

Doyle has seen success locally and internationally on the regatta circuit supplying sails for Neil Pryde's Hi Fi – winner of many races on the Asian circuit, Bill Wild's Wedge Tail and Geoff Boecher's Secret Men's Business 3.5 among others.

Doyle has kept ahead of the market with the development of Stratis as it recognises the increasing importance of composite technology in sail making.

Doyle New Zealand managing director Chris McMaster comments, 'Investment in production has been an important part of our success and the reason for our rapid growth in New Zealand. The days when anyone could set up a sail loft in their garage and cut sails from a roll of cloth are gone; nowadays to produce sails that are going to win races or keep their shape for a considerable time you need to be looking at laminates. We have invested heavily in plant to produce laminated sails to the point where we can now produce them for a similar price to traditionally built panel sails. When you compare the two products it is like comparing a 1970's car engine with a modern, computer controlled, fuel injected engine: the 1970's version did its job and was good in its day but technology has moved on and you probably wouldn't dream of putting a 1970's engine in a modern car'.

Sailors in New Zealand have recognised the benefits of using Stratis and consequently Doyle Sails now has a significant share of the NZ cruising and racing markets as well as internationally in the superyacht market. The strategic partnership means that sailors in Sydney will be able to benefit from the knowledge and experience of Doyle's internationally recognised sail design team and the technology that has been put into building Stratis sails

The expansion in Sydney will benefit local sailors providing them with access to state of the art, custom built racing and cruising sails that will perform better and keep their shape longer at a competitive price.

Doyle's Sydney loft, close to the CYC in Rushcutters Bay has re-opened to allow the team at Doyle Sails Sydney to offer a high level of service for the area's cruisers and racers as well as for visiting yachts.

Loft address: 6 Neild Avenue
Rushcutters Bay
Sydney
NSW 2001
Australia
Tel: +61 2 9361 4836
Stratis website: www.doylestratis.com