Technology
Built without barriers However big you build it, Doyle Sails can design and deliver a tailor-made
package of high-performance sails What do more than 80 per cent of Southern Wind yachts have in common? Their sails are designed, supplied and serviced by Doyle Sails. ‘The synergy is strong because so many of our values align,’ says Mario Giattino, superyacht sails coordinator at Doyle Sails Italy, ‘each of us are working extremely hard to be the best in our field.’ A Doyle Sails veteran with more
than 26 years of experience, Giattino has been with the company for longer than anyone other than its founder, Robbie Doyle. Giattino, who works alongside business partner Salvo d’Amico, worked closely with Robbie Doyle to support the sailmaker’s superyacht division from its beginnings in the 1990s. Doyle Sails Italy, when their primary facility in Palermo, Sicily began finishing and servicing sails for Perini Navi, and is now widely acknowledged as a world-class facility for all superyachts in Europe. ‘Soon after I joined Doyle Sails
in 1997, we decided to open the first superyacht sail loft in Italy,’ Giattino recalls. ‘Before then, even a 50-footer was considered a big yacht. We opened our doors in 2005 and started making sails for Perinis
60 SEAHORSE
and the dimensions of the boats and sails increased quickly; we worked very hard to remain a production loft as well as a service loft, which has meant we have expanded three times.’ Today their main production facility has three loft floors, each about 1,000sqm in area. ‘At Doyle Sails, we always make
sails from scratch rather than just finishing sails that are made elsewhere by a subcontractor,’ he says. ‘We offer a custom service for our clients. For owners, captains and shipyards there is a great value in the way we work in close collaboration with each project team from the inception of design work, when the yacht is under construction, sail fitting and sea trials and then follow it onwards from there.’ Southern Wind’s latest launch,
the 96ft Nyumba, is a good example of the value Doyle Sails can add to a project by getting involved in the design loop early on. In this case, the owner wanted to use a square top mainsail for cruising, and Doyle Sails provided the validation that this was indeed a viable and practical solution. ‘We did many calculations with Hall Spars, with the shipyard, with Farr Yacht Design and with the
Above: as with the latest Southern Wind 96 Nyumba, in the case of her super- successful predecessor Morgana (above) Doyle Sails was involved in the design loop from the very start of the project – a more
integrated approach which is paying increasing dividends as the
performance of the latest generation of superyachts continues to ramp up
client,’ Giattino says. ‘We simulated all the configurations, and we showed, for example that with the second reef, Nyumba can sail without utilising the runners, so a small crew can easily manage the square top on a delivery passage.’ For superyacht projects, the Doyle
Sails core team is the same group of renowned sail designers who have earned the brand its stellar reputation in grand pix yacht racing, combined with the deep experience of Giattino and his Palermo-based colleagues on the superyacht side. The scope of a superyacht sail
design project can go beyond a client’s initial brief – the owner might only want a main and a couple of headsails at first, but from Doyle’s perspective it’s about ensuring their ability to offer a fully comprehensive service in the longer term. ‘If the next owner of Nyumba wants to race, we have to be ready to offer a complete package of racing sails,’ Giattino explains. ‘From the beginning, we study the positions of all the blocks; on a cruising boat we might also study the dimensions of potential racing sails. The load calculations and the crossover charts are always done.
ORIOL ESTEVE/PHOTONAUTIC
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