New Zealand Facilities
The North Sails loft in Auckland measures more than 2000 square metres and produces sails for some of the world’s most famous racing teams. The main floor of the loft measures 55m long by 26 m wide providing a vast area to accommodate big sails, like those for the new 52m (170ft) ketch Mondango. To match this massive work area there is a team of around 60 sailmakers who are skilled and enthusiastic at providing the quality and on going development of sail construction needed to stay at the forefront of the ever demanding competitive environment that we thrive in.
Loft Map
North Sails’ designers gain insights into the exact nature of the flow of air over a sail by testing designs for key projects at the
University of Auckland's Twisted Flow Wind Tunnel, a facility developed in 1987 as a joint effort between North Sails, Team New Zealand and the University, with funding from Sir Michael Fay. Used as a testing environment for race boats, it is also a study lab for many of those who have now become the world’s top designers, including Burns Fallow, head of sail design for Emirates Team New Zealand and part of the North Sails team.
With each sail produced for a grand prix race boat valued in the tens of thousands of dollars, accurate testing is imperative.
“The Twisted Flow Wind Tunnel at the University of Auckland’s Yacht Research Unit is the only reliable way of sail testing downwind sails accurately and efficiently,” says North Sails Designer Gautier Sergent, who worked closely with Brasil 1 during the last Volvo Ocean Race.
“It is a large part of our sail development process and we can spend several days working in the tunnel with a boat’s trimmers and designer, making sure that we get the package right.”
The facility, which is the only commercial wind tunnel specifically designed for testing yacht sails, is housed within a large warehouse and consists of giant 3m fans which force air through a 15m tunnel to create a true, consistent breeze.
Within the tunnel, controlled turbulence is added, and twisting vanes help replicate the shearing effect, ensuring that the breeze experienced at the top of the mast comes from a different angle and is of a different strength to that closer to water level, just as it would in the real world.
Then a model, 2m in height, of the proposed hull, rig and sail inventory is placed inside within the tunnel
Data extracted from initial tests is used by designers to produce a sail inventory and a refined fabric sail that is installed on the model, for more precise testing by the team of trimmers and sail designers, who analyse the sail’s performance in all foreseeable wind angles and directions.
Once satisfied, cameras capture the final sail shape, which is further perfected using computer analysis, matching sail shape with hull and rig data, to obtain the perfect working boat.
Once the design is perfected in the virtual environment, files are sent to the North Sails factories lofts for production..
Testament to its success is North Sails’ impeccable track record: boats with sails by North Sails New Zealand won all but two legs of last year’s 30,000 nautical mile Volvo Ocean Race, and the New Zealand loft is heavily involved with a number of America’s Cup syndicates, including both Emirates Team New Zealand and Oracle BMW Racing. Its sails are used by offshore campaigners around the world, including maxi boats and luxury superyachts, and even on a local level the company’s commitment to excellence shines through: eight out of the top ten boats in the recent Young 88 National Championships, arguably the country’s most competitive keelboat fleet, were North Sails customers.
“Sail design is a matter of continuous, tiny improvements,” says Gautier Sergent. “While we are producing sails for a top of the line raceboat, no stone is left unturned in the research process, and that knowledge and innovation filters down for the benefit of all of our customers.”
(c) North Sails NZ