The green Mylar genoa makes its debut appearance on the 12 Metre Enterprise (above left) in Newport in 1977. Nicknamed the ‘garbage bag’, this first sail was not a particular success, less because of the material than because of the short foot and consequent loss of area versus the regular configuration. The Two-Tonner Evergreen was always quickly on top of any new technology (right)


as a physics professor from Germany teaching at San Diego State University in the early ’70s realised there must be a com- putational method to describe fast shapes; he and Lowell spent many, many hours testing Soling jibs and other sails… with only ever a notional idea on which ones were ‘fast’. Meldner also quickly realised that there is an innate bias to believe that whatever is new must be fast, so some objective methods were urgently needed… A year later Meldner returned, and with only photographs and sail dimensions was able to determine the correct order of speed produced by four tested sail shapes. This amazed everyone, and Lowell quickly saw the tremendous potential this had for sail- making. He put Meldner on a retainer with a contract written on an envelope: ‘As long as Heiner gets $1,200 per month from North Sails he can’t work for anyone else.’ Meldner’s secret was having used an early flow code developed at aerospace firm McDonnell Douglas and ‘available’ via NASA, the first step in North’s journey into a computational approach to sailmak- ing that would produce fast shapes faster than traditional methods.


North’s embrace of computer-based shaping tools thus predated widespread use of the PC by nearly a decade. Lowell also signed another talented physicist soon thereafter to help transform the fast shapes the computer generated into two-dimensional panels that when assembled could achieve these fast shapes. Tom Schnackenberg became North’s first Kiwi Tiger when he appeared in San Diego in the mid-1970s, having spent time working for Paul Miller at North in Canada. When working alongside Meldner and after a trip to General Motors in Michigan to see some software used to make curved shapes for cars, Schnack saw how to break up sail shapes into computa- tional triangles – this provided the key


30 SEAHORSE


needed to finally make the link between two and three-dimensional shapes. It was with these tools that Schnack allowed North to start building sails of varying panel orientations to optimise use of low-stretch warp-oriented sailcloth, first with vertical leech-cut sails and then later with tri-radial panels in jibs and mains. This orientation pattern had emerged from the work of another Technology Tiger, whose determination of the load paths in sails allowed more optimal use of the sailcloth to achieve both lighter weight and better shape retention. Quite handily, a 12 Metre using these sails also won the 1983 America’s Cup… Australia II. (It is worth adding here that many informed observers of that 1983 match believe that Australia II’s speed advantage came as much from Schnackenberg’s innovative sail designs as from her famous wing keel.) This latest new Technology Tiger was Michael Richelsen, who as a Danish grad- uate student in solid mechanics became interested in what Meldner and Schnack- enberg were doing and wrote Lowell a letter saying he was interested in studying how sails would change shape under load. North said this sounded interesting, and after meeting Lowell in Newport during the 1977 America’s Cup, Richelsen was sent to New Zealand to work with Schnack. The timing was perfect, and their collaboration productive, creating North’s Membrane program used to determine sail loads, and eventually numerous other computer programs that North uses in the design and fabrication of sails.


The acquisition of this technological talent was a key element to North’s success, and formed an important philosophical backbone to the company as it grew. Lowell would always favour new and innovative ideas to achieve success and efficiency, and early on cultivated the image of being guided by science rather than art in sailmaking.


More than just sails


When McLaughlin had completed his university studies, for a while he thought he would open his own loft and become one of the 104 sailmakers he counted who were now in business between Santa Barbara and San Diego. But reason pre- vailed, and both he and top skipper Gary Weisman signed on to sell sails for Lowell in the boom times of the 1970s and ’80s. Weisman and McLaughlin were young, energetic, personable, talented and passionate about sailing (they’re still at it, just no longer so young…). They sailed with customers constantly to help them get better results, starting what at the time was a controversial trend that more traditional sailmakers would not adopt: work all week then sail at weekends with customers. This total immersion of sailmakers in all aspects of the customer’s sailing experi- ence became common in the North net- work, where there were even magazine ads that promised a sailmaker in the bag along with your new sail. Lowell encouraged this, and it helped build sales, especially in the year-round So Cal market, but increas- ingly back east and overseas as well. ‘We would get a letter, or a fax or a telex, to have sails built for some One Tonner somewhere in the world, and then be asked to bring those sails and help them set them up and use them in some regatta,’ said Weisman. ‘In my 20s I was flying all over the world, it was wild.’ Wild it may have been, but this intense approach helped build a strong and loyal customer base, exemplified recently when Bella Mente owner and Quantum client Hap Fauth asked McLaughlin to race onboard his Maxi 72 in Key West alongside Quantum ambassador Terry Hutchinson. Weisman recently retired as president of North Sails having reinforced the role Lowell gave technology in the success of the company. ‘Lowell seemed always to have his


ALL PHOTOS DAN NERNEY


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