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by . on 16 Aug 2011

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Inside North Sails North Sails repair service Audi Hamilton Island Race Week

For the fifth year, North Sails will be operating the popular special regatta sail repair service. Once again, we will be operating out of the Endeavour Room on Hamilton Island at Catseye Beach, located next to Toucan Tango restaurant between the evenings of Saturday 20th August and Friday 27th August 2011.

North Sails Australia takes great pride in delivering quality service to all boat owners with a commitment to help maximise your sails’ performance. Our expert team of sailmakers will be located on the island to handle all your sail repair requirements.

Drop-off and pick-up of sail repairs will be at the Endeavour Room on Hamilton Island. Service costs are chargeable by credit card only. MasterCard, Visa and AMEX will be accepted. For further information on this great service provided to you by North Sails Australia, please contact Alby Pratt on 0407 499 548 or via email at alby@au.northsails.com

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Inside North Sails North Sails speed to victory in Etchells

The first eight boats at 2011 Etchells Worlds in San Diego and the last five winners of the World Championship used North Sails. Concurrently, and in very different conditions in the Southern Hemisphere, North's took the top three spots at Mooloolaba.

13 teams from Australia travelled across the Pacific to do battle against the world’s best. The 2011 World Title was won by Bill Hardesty and his team, who proved to be a level above the rest of the fleet achieving four first places and only once being outside the top ten. North Sails were well represented with Australia’s Noel Drennan, sailing very consistently to finish second with fellow North veteran Vince Brun finishing close behind in third place overall. Of note was Australian Michael Hiatt, of the Farr 55 Living Doll fame, competing in his first Etchells worlds, finishing a creditable seventh place overall.

Meanwhile in the Southern Hemisphere the Australasian Mid-Winters were held out of Mooloolaba on the Sunshine Coast over the June long weekend. Tom King took out the title with Mark Tonner-Joyce and Damian King following closely in second and third places.

Noel 'Nitro' Drennan, who has recently re-joined North Sails Australia and will be managing all of our Melbourne operations said this of the impressive results, 'North's current win ratio has a lot to do with the sail makers from the various North lofts around the globe, all of whom are long-term Etchells sailors. In addition to myself, in Australia we also have Michael Coxon, Mark Bradford and Vaughan Prentice. In the USA, there is Vince Brun, Chris Snow, Jeff Madrigali, Chad Hough and Ched Proctor, with Simon Fry in the UK. Whilst it may look like a lot of people on paper, I think it's a good thing, as you get a broad view on how an Etchells sail should look and perform.'

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Inside North Sails One Design News: Optimist Nationals and Junior sailors the key to sail development

The 2011/2012 Optimist National Championships this year are set to have over 200 boats competing up the RQYS in Brisbane. In preparation North Sails dinghy expert David O’Connor will be conducting class specific Optimist coaching camps around Australia in association with the affiliated clubs and yachting organisations to help support junior sailors. This includes Sydney, Brisbane, Hobart and Perth. David will also be present at all the lead up regattas in Sydney and at the Nationals in Brisbane providing both on and off the water support to all the junior sailors with North Sails. Click here to check out our recent Optimist camp training day in Sydney with special guest, 49er Olympic World Champion, Iain Jensen.

Over the past three months David and three of Australia’s top junior Optimist sailors from Sydney including Shaun Connor, Jim Colley and Chris Phillips, have been working hard and testing some of the latest Optimist sail designs from North Sails.

The sailors were proven to be one of the key elements throughout the testing with their contribution and information on feel, trim and helm, building the core part of the detailed analysis of each sail. The level of knowledge and understanding shown by the sailors was remarkable to see and their interest and desire to achieve maximum performance out of their boat was relentless.

The models tested included North Sails two North American cross cut design the D–Zero 6 and C–Zero 5 and Japanese Radial models, the P4 and P5.

The testing was conducted in a range of different conditions from flat water, to bumpy and from heavy air to light air, where the sailors were able to identify the strengths and weaknesses and what crew weight suited each sail. Draft stripes were applied for photo and video analysis and the Sail Scan software showed the kids how each sail was working when sailing.

This information was collected and used to produce a detailed report and tuning guide which was shared with the group and the North Sails Optimist class leaders around the world to build on the sail development program.

This opportunity for Australia’s junior sailors to be involved with a sail testing program was a great way to learn the key elements of sail and rig set up and how to maximise boat performance.

All this information is available to all junior sailors. To get involved or to find out more about North Sails latest Optimist designs, tuning guides or any else about Optimist sailing, contact Dave O’Connor at dave@au.northsails.com or at 02 9998 8500.

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Inside North Sails North Sails and Sydney Gold Coast race

Michael Hiatt commented after his Sydney Gold Coast win 'Living Doll goes really well in light air so the conditions were in our favour.

'In light air reaching, our new North Sails fractional zero with a genoa staysail, worked really well and we were constantly fast and above targets. That was really important.

'We had Will Oxley, a very focussed navigator and Steve Cotton doing tactics and strategy, taking Will's information and then processing it to make sure we had the right sails up and going in the right direction.

'The combination of a really good team and the boat really well set up with good preparation, were the keys to our success in the race.'

Michael Coxon was the tactician aboard Anthony Bell’s super-maxi Investec Loyal in the Sydney to Gold Coast race.

'We were very pleased with her performance. Our strategy before the race was to stick with Wild Oats XI to use them as benchmark, while we were learning how to sail her, trying high and low modes. We were documenting all the while because we just haven’t enjoyed the benefit of being able to sail against other boats with her.

'We did sail for a long time in fairly close quarters with Wild Oats XI. We thought we were competitive in light conditions. I think we surprised ourselves. We feel we have got a lot of room to develop.

'The boats did stay close. For much of the race, we were around two miles apart on average, but at one stage we parked and she sailed away to an eight mile lead but then we closed the gap right back up and she beat us by less than two miles.

‘We now need to sail in a little bit more pressure to see how we are against her in that and I am sure we will get that opportunity in Hamilton Island.’

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Inside North Sails North Sail Scan new Ipad & Iphone App available for download now off the app store

When communicating about your sail's flying shape, a picture is better than a thousand words. North Sails Scan digitally analyzes photos of sails, providing fast and accurate measurements of critical sail shape characteristics such as chord depth, draft position and twist. If your sail was made by North Sails, your consultant can digitally compare your sail's flying shape with its originally designed shape.

From there, your consultant can recommend the best way to maintain your sail's peak performance over a longer period of time, whether it involves trim adjustments, rig adjustments or re-cutting the sail.

Features:
Manage Boats
Here you can set up one or more boats, edit boat and owner details and add or edit the boat's sails.
There are eight North Sails sail categories (Main, Jib, Genoa, etc ...) and different types for each category (Light, Medium, Heavy, etc ...).

The Current Boat setting determines which boat's scans are displayed in the Scan Library and which boat's sails are displayed in Sail Hours.

Scan Sail
You can use the device's camera to take pictures of your sail or import pictures from the Photo Library.
In the Scan Library you can edit, send and delete the scans you have created.

Weather
You can set the weather data that will be saved together with the scan data.
All new scans you create will use the settings you entered here.
This data is important for your North Sails consultant to evaluate the flying shape of your sail. Try to send every scan with the weather data that was current for the point in time when you took the picture.
You can change the weather data in the individual scans without affecting the general weather settings.

Sail Hours
This setting helps you to keep track of your sail usage.
Try to keep it up to date to enable your North Sails consultant to provide you with the best way to maintain your sail's peak performance over a longer period of time.

Email
You can mail the scan results and all relevant data directly to your North Sails consultant, practice partners or team members.

Swipe Delete
To delete any item (Boats, Sails or Scans), swipe across the list entry from left to right (as when unlocking your device). Tap the delete button. Deleting an item cannot be undone.

For more information contact email: office@au.northsails.com ph: 02 9998 8500 www.northsails.com.au

For further information on the Hamilton Island Race Week Sail repair service provided by North Sails Australia please contact Alby Pratt on 02 9998 8500 or via email at North Sails Australia website