In the original North Sails loft in San Diego, Lowell North initiated in-house testing of sail cloth and design shape. With a focus on the Star class, it was in… Read More

The North Atlantic has never been a cake-walk for ocean racers, who historically encounter everything from 40-knot winds and high seas to the occasional floating container in the Bay of… Read More

North Sails has a long history with the America’s Cup, supplying every America’s Cup Defender and Challenger since 1988. Our shared story is one of innovation, often resulting in breakthrough… Read More

One of the most dramatic events in modern sailing occurred in 1983. Australia II, with its famous winged keel, defeated US defender Liberty and took the America’s Cup abroad for… Read More

Winning the Star Class World Championship is the holy grail of one-design keelboat racing. The classic 23-foot one-design class was launched in 1911, and has since attracted generations of highly… Read More

April 27, 2017

1986 – 12 Metre Worlds

In early 1986, a series of races were held off of Fremantle as a precursor to the 1987 America’s Cup. Dubbed the 12 Metre World Championship, a dozen syndicates competed… Read More

In 1997, North Sails designers and software engineers were given a mandate: to create a package that could model the forces of sailing, specifically those above the deck. What ensued… Read More

Among the tools most commonly used by North Sails designers are the Membrain and Flow modules, which apply wind pressure to a sail’s surface and calculate the load forces created…. Read More

Lowell North diverged from the traditional, artistic approach to sailmaking by closing his eyes. Lowell listened to the numbers. Historically, sailmaking depended on the eye of the craftsman, who drew… Read More

That’s what Lowell North asked his friend John Shoemaker, one afternoon in 1957, while seated at the bar of San Diego Yacht Club. John replied, „Yes, I would,“ which surprised… Read More

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