3Di Raw Sails Win Rolex Farr 40 Worlds

It’s the North Sails way to let our products prove themselves on the racecourse, and the new Farr 40 3Di® RAW sails have powered John Demourkas and his Groovederci crew to the 2015 Rolex Farr 40 World Championship title. Demourkas bested a competitive fleet to pull off what he considered an unexpected win.

“We did surprise ourselves,” said Demourkas. “We put all our effort into winning and the team’s never-give-up mentality made first place at the World’s possible. It’s now a few days post-event, and this is all still sinking in. An unexpected victory is that much sweeter.”

Demourkas and his team worked with North Sails as one of the testing programs for the 3Di RAW development through the 2015 season. “The decision to introduce 3Di RAW sails into the Farr 40 class came after we were disappointed by our sail inventory performance during the 2014 Farr 40 season,” explained Paul Westlake, Global Head of Sales. “Developing RAW was a risk as our design and engineering teams were developing something completely new rather than tweaking the benchmark 3DL® product,” Westlake continued. “It a classic case of taking a high risk for a high reward. Groovederci’s win is an example of North research and innovation at its best.”

Sail development and design was led by Burns Fallow, Giovanni Cassinari, and Per Andersson. North Sails Farr 40 Class experts Chris Larson, Marchino Capintani, Grant Spanhake and Dave Scott worked directly with Groovederci and Enfant Terrible as the on-the-water trial horses. The tireless dedication to providing on and off the water feedback to the design team and support for all North Sails customers proved to be one of the edges, once the competition heated up.

“I strongly believe in the North Sails technology. We knew working with the North team on the evolution of 3Di RAW would result in a superior product,” explained Demourkas. “We went through three mainsails before arriving at the latest generation that helped us win the World’s. Our final set of sails North delivered before the event were on spec and impressive. The sail shapes are flatter giving us power with the least amount of drag, and the removal of the 3Di outer skins saved significant weight,” Demourkas continued. “We spent the final days leading up to the World’s working with Per Andersson on little tweaks to fine-tune our performance. North Sails has supported the Groovederci program for the past 15 years, and I am proud to be a part and support their development of 3Di RAW.”

“The mainsail development for Grooverderci started in January during the North Sails Pro Summit in Minden, Nevada. Four of the crew attended the summit and met with Burns Fallow and his design team. After listening to the crew’s request it was clear that there had been a big change in the way sails were trimmed since the 2014 season, a similar trend recently seen in the TP52 class. The first 3Di RAW Farr 40 test mainsails had luff curve alterations. Feedback from the team was incorporated into the second set of sails and from there it was minor tweaks to final inventory that went onto win the Worlds.”

“The mainsail we developed is on the flatter side and really seemed to hit its stride over eleven knots,” said Fallow. “Other features on the main were a shift in both the vertical and horizontal distribution of curvature.”

“Our job is not done, it’s just begun” added Westlake. “Three days after the final World Championships we are well into debriefing the flying shapes and performance ranges of each sail to set a baseline for the 2016 inventory. The performance advantages of 3Di RAW structure, coupled with the successful flying shape and tuning matrix evolution from this seasons Farr 40 circuit and Worlds success provides the base required to finalize flying shapes in time for the 2016 Worlds in Sydney Australia.”

Sydney is a unique venue where playing the waves has a significant impact on race strategy. The weight savings and stability of RAW in waves will prove successful in helping teams power through the local conditions. North Sails Farr 40 inventory tweaks will be released next week in time for teams to optimize their 2015/2016 sail button allocation.

Contact North Sails Farr 40 class leaders Chris Larson and Richie Allanson for more information on Farr 40 sails.
Class Leader Contacts:

Chris Larson
chris.larson@northsails.com
+1 443 994 4000

Richie Allanson
richie.allanson@northsails.com
+61 2 9998 8500