North Sails signs up as official Race Partner for Global Ocean Race

11:51 PM Thu 26 Nov 2009 GMT

North Sails today confirmed that they have agreed to become an official Race Partner for the Global Ocean Race 2011-12. With a global network of sail lofts and unrivalled experience in the design and construction of short-handed offshore racing sails, North Sails will be offering race entries great pricing for new sails and an excellent sail servicing arrangement in each of the race stopovers.

In an innovative move, North Sails will also be designing a new generation of downwind sails that will be specifically for the Global Ocean Race - the GOR Code 5 and the GOR Code 3. The Global Ocean Race NOR (Notice of Race) permits entries to carry up to ten sails, of which four can be constructed in an exotic material. This is a higher allowance than normal Class40 regulations and allows for some advances in sail design tailored for the event.

North Sails

For Josh Hall, Race Director of the Global Ocean Race, this development represents a major gain for the teams. 'With our policy on sails we believe that our entries will benefit from a speed and reliability standpoint which in fact translates into a safety benefit as well,' says Hall. 'We expect very close racing at high speeds and breaking sails will only slow an entry down, perhaps dropping behind the rest of the fleet and therefore becoming exposed,' he continues. 'We also think that for an around the world race a greater depth of sail choice and sail overlap is required and it is fantastic that North Sails will be designing some exciting new downwind sails specifically for the race.'

Details of these new GOR sails will be available in due course, but North Sails are committed to designing the GOR Code 5 and GOR Code 3 based on round the world weather modelling and their high level of knowledge in making fast, reliable sails for round the world racing yachts.

by Global Ocean Sailing Ventures Media