Traditional sails

Driven by a long lasting passion for excellence North Sails s.r.l. hasbeen involved for quite some time with testing , designing and buldingsails for traditional and classic vessels.

Well impressed with  this growing fleet and blossoming of regatta venues, we have been happy to
put our's experience - born 50 years ago with Lowell North - to gooduse and help our customers to create the best suit of sails for theyvintage yachts .

It was so long ago that some of the most prominent characters of ourcompany saw the unforgettable revolution that brought Dacron to be thetecnological answer to old dilemma with  choosing among natural fiberssuch as linen, cotton or silk to build sails that would never keeptheir shapes.

That was the time when we took advantage of our methodical approach tosail shaping and designing to become the sailmaking manufacturingcompany leader in the world.


Autenticity
It was not until 2002, when the Yacht Club of Monacocommissioned a few sails for its pride and joy TUIGA, a gaff riggedcutter designed by William Fife in 1909, offering us to show the rightattitude and skills necessary to keep alive the spirit of one of themost rappresentative yacht of her class.
Drawing sail shapes that would allow her to express her best potential,we put special care in an authentic style of finishing with hand sewedeyelets, hemp spliced ropes and chromed leather protective patches.

Then, in 2005, we  took another impressive task providing a completesuit of sail for ELEONORA, an exact replica of 52 m.Gaff RiggedSchooner design by N. G. Herreshoff, helping to make her faster andeven more enjoyable .

Tradition
Our designers are happy to choose among the best classicDacron and Nylons and to create - complemented by a first handexperience and trial session - a customized wardrobe of sails for anyvintage yachts . Moreover they can trust in our expert sail makers toget an authentic style of finishing. Classic Tan custom bags are thenprovided to assure easy handling on deck.

Passion
At North Sails we look forward to helping with any enquiriesregarding repairs, quotes and anything else would allow us to beactively involved in this fascinating and passionate part of theYachting Industry.
This project of traditional sails wanted by the managers of North Sails Mediterranee goes back a long way. Before, starting the sail, several trials were necessary ti understand all the different strenghts, to study the tuning of each yacht, deformations, researching the vintage finishing techniques and how they would apply to each sail. In fact, to gather together all the parameters in order to obtain an identical result as the products made by North Sails. In this way, the managers sailed on several traditional yachts as Veronique", "Altair", "Kentra" and "Puritan" to understand the different rigs; "Antonisa", Candida" were there to increase their knowledge. One of the first interest, to launch this kind of project, is to work with a yacht whose all the elements tally in one goal: the Classical Sailing Yacht.

Till today, all the projects were not exactly in this version: either the cloth stretch characteristics were not important, either the final aspect of the sail wasn't totally traditional. The association between "High Technology" and "Tradition" is became possible with "Tuiga", the Yacht Club of Monaco's Admiral Ship. What the best example this combination with the yacht the most representative of Traditional Sailing. TUIGA: Designed by William FIFE in 1909 commissioned by the Duke of Medinacelli, a friend of King Alphonse XIII, "Tuiga" is a copycat image of "Hispania" an other 15 MJI, He called her "Tuiga" following a household tradition: it was the name of all Medinacelli's racing yachts. The construction of the yacht took only six months. "Tuiga" collected a succession of "2nd places" often behind the Spanish Royal Yacht. From these results and their architectural similarities, these two yachts raised many questions. Rumors abounded that the ship-owner preferred to curb his yacht, never wishing to defeat his Kind, a situation which obviously would have put him in an awkward situation. After having been meticulously restored in the "Fairlie Restorations" ship yard, in England, under the care of specialist Duncan WALKER, in 1993, "Tuiga" is today moored at the pontoon of her new owner since 1995, the Yacht Club of Monaco.



"Lady Anne" is the principal opponent of "Tuiga". Since this date / Till today, "Tuiga" often finished in the middle of the vintage fleet-clearly something was lacking for the yacht to express her full potential. NORTH SAILS MEDITERRANEE AND TUIGA: The story between North Sails Mediterranee and "Tuiga" has begun in 2002. The first difficulty was than North Sails has not done yet some sails for this kind of ship. In order to obtain a perfect result, some simulations were necessary. Thanks to our sails designers, a lot of work with our design and rigging software was done. An other detail was important: the cloth, a DacronÆ, with the right color and strength. We were looking for a cloth corresponding of the working notebook. The cream color was imperative; the mechanical qualities couldn't falsify by the color. In May 2002, we deliver two Flying Jib (a light and an heavy) just before the "Voiles d'Antibes". The result is fantastic: "Tuiga" is faster than before and the bet to associate "High technology" and "Tradition" is beyond than our whishes. A Jib and a Staysail are delivered for the "Regates Royales". One more time, it's a big success! All the rings are hand sewed with some kind of points "double or quadruple eyelet" for the biggest. All the points - clew board, halyard, tack and yard- are spliced in hemp. The chafing protections are in chromed leather which guarantee longer life and a more traditional look in order not to have humidity and prevent the seams from chafing. The tallowed yarn has the same mechanical characteristic than a standard yarn but it looks like better.