The news of North Sails’ first-ever range of foul weather gear for performance sailing and long-distance cruising immediately created a stir in the industry. Nevertheless, given the company has successfully diversified well beyond its core business over the past decade, creating a line of technical clothing intended to set a new bench-mark for foul weather gear was a logical move. The North Technology Group now also includes the production of carbon spars, composite rigging and next generation ultra-thin pre-preg materials for composite structures. All are underpinned by North’s phenomenal record of innovation and success. One of many examples is that the company has made sails for every America’s Cup winner since 1987, including this year’s victor in Auckland, Emirates Team New Zealand. At the same time North has continued to prioritise the many thousands of leisure sailors, both cruising and racing, that it has served across the world for more than 60 years. These directly benefit from the research and development funded by the high-profile campaigns that has led to innovative products such as North’s fully recyclable and long lasting 3Di Nordac polyester sailcloth. The same rigorous approach has now been applied to foul weather gear. Starting from scratch, albeit with a considerable depth of industry knowledge, has allowed unconstrained thinking that has resulted in the best possible combination of new materials and garment design. Nigel Musto worked with North’s team of talented engineering and technology PhDs with the aim of creating the world’s best marine clothing bar none. The result is four ranges of technically advanced clothing that’s lightweight, hardwearing and offers unrivalled performance. All are made using North’s new TightWeave™ face fabrics, which have a smaller weave than standard fabrics that automatically reduces water absorption and penetration. The material also includes a GORE-TEX® PRO membrane for superior durable waterproof and breathable characteristics. An important innovation for the Offshore and Ocean specification gear, as well as the Inshore Race Trousers, is the lack of traditional heavy reinforcing patches in areas of high wear such as the seat and knee. Instead, these are laminated within the four-layer fabric itself in a process analogous to that developed for North’s 3Di sail fabric. These feature reinforcements for reef points, batten pockets and so on as an integral part of the structure of the sail – they are not add-ons that are stitched in place in the later stage of manufacture. This approach also offers many benefits for lighter and more flexible foul weather gear that doesn’t restrict movement. Eliminating conventional reinforcing patches has two further benefits. It eliminates the tendency to hold water, thus avoiding the all too familiar damp bum, and there’s no associated stitching that may fail and let in water as the garment ages. The Ocean line encompasses North’s most breathable, waterproof and durable smocks and salopettes. It has already been thoroughly tested in the harshest possible conditions by Vendée Globe and Ocean Race sailors. Those who compete in the classic 600 mile offshore races or cruise serious distances …Continue reading »
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North Sails Performance… making history by looking ahead
