North Sails Wins Sailing World's DuPont Sailmaker Challenge Competitive debut of 3DLx sails

by Veronica Brown, North Sails Marketing on 19 Oct 2000 Annapolis, MD, (October 17, 2000) – A four-man team representing North Sails has won the seventh annual DuPont Sailmaker Challenge, sailed over October 6-8 at the US Sailboat Show in Annapolis, MD.

The event is organized annually by Sailing World magazine and pits competitive sailmakers against one another for three days of racing in Melges 24's. At this event, class rules are amended to allow entries to use any material in their sails, provided they are fabricated from materials manufactured by DuPont.
The North Sails team was led by skipper Scott Nixon with tactical help from Matt Reynolds. North Sails Chesapeake employees Aaron Serinis (trimmer) and John Moran (bowman) rounded out the team. North took and maintained a narrow lead throughout the series, which consisted of 12 races inside the Spa Creek anchorage adjacent to the Boat Show, and nine windward-leeward races held on courses set in the Severn River. The inside races were worth a single point, whereas the outside races were worth five points. Conditions ranged from very light and fluky on the first day to blustery on the last day of the series.

North used the event to debut sails made from DuPont's Mylar and Kevlar Edge products, arranged in a new sail design type known as 3DLx(TM). Fiber layouts in the mainsail and jib radiate along load paths which are markedly different from those seen in 3DL(TM).

"These sails were extremely light, and I think we had a bit of an edge in speed in the light air early in the series," said Nixon. The team was also adept at the complex boat handling and tactical skills necessary to get around the difficult courses in the crowded anchorage.

Besides allowing sailmakers an opportunity to showcase their products, the event also featured such innovations as on-water umpiring, similar to that used in match race sailing, and an announcer at the Show broadcasting live commentary on all the racing action. The North team pushed hard throughout the series, earning their share of penalties but recovering to win the series by just a few points.