News releases

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Sailing Club and School Sails

Neil Pryde Sails is committed to developing, designing, and manufacturing the very best, long lasting sails at an O.E.M. level pricing structure for the sailing school/club market. These sails are less expensive and much more durable than conventional sails in the marketplace.

The design emphasis comes from years of providing charter companies such as Sunsail, The Moorings, and other charter companies with products designed for hostile working environments…and the school/club market is every bit as demanding in this regard. Over the last 20 years we have built sails for universities, sailing schools, camps and yacht clubs. Working with the Mission Bay Aquatic Center, we have taken their broad "hands on" experience with the rigors of club use and devised a set of construction parameters that exceed every industry standard when it comes to sails of this type. This program is NOT static. We continually work to improve the sails in terms of construction and fabric types to ensure that we are building the product that best suits this rugged use. For more information contact: admin@neilprydesails.com
  spitfire head profile. The traditional look and feel of polyester lends itself nicely to the vision of the traditional yacht, while at the same time providing sails that are rugged and not prone some of the issues associated with laminated goods.

The spinnaker is designed to be a multi-purpose sail and one that is easily handled with the integrated furler. This sail adds a lively kick in light air reaching and makes down wind sailing a breeze.

For more information visit the Scandinavian Cruisers website here.

June-2009

 

Charleston Spars Changes Name to Sparcraft US

For the last 35 years Neil Pryde Sails has worked with Sparcraft/Charleston Spars and for the last 40 years the name Sparcraft has symbolized excellence in mast manufacturing and sailing equipment.  Founded in 1962 in Costa Mesa, California, Sparcraft quickly became the leader in performance mast manufacturing by creating tapered aluminum spars for 12 Meters, Maxi yachts, and 50 footers that are still sailing today.
Charleston Spar was founded in 1996 and moved into the Isomat mast manufacturing facility in Charlotte, NC the following year.  Boat builders have been ordering masts from this facility since 1984 and we have the most complete database of replacement mast drawings including those from Sparcraft, Isomat and Kenyon.  We maintain seventy foot long anodizing tanks and an electrostatic powder coating process that can be applied over the anodizing; the toughest aluminum finishing process on the market.
Neil Pryde continues to work with Sparcraft and our common relationships to boat builders as well as custom yacht projects and replacement sails and rigging, utilizing their professionalism, attention to detail and great masts and hardware such as the Facnor line of furling systems.

Contact them for more information at:
sales@sparcraft-us.com
Tel: 704-597-1502
Fax: 704-597-0961
www.sparcraft-us.com

 

DANISH BOAT SHOW
Neil Pryde agents for Denmark, Peter Havn and Søren Andersen (seated at left) report brisk traffic and sales during the opening weekend of the show with a lot of interest on our new Vectrix Membrane racing sails

For more information about the show visit:www.boatshow.dk

And be sure to check out the updated website for Neil Pryde Sails Denmark.

And catch up with all that's new in service, lazybags, sail repair and new sails!

 

Scandinavian Cruisers Splash The New SC-20

This exciting new boat combines some of the very best aesthetic values of traditional yachts with contemporary build and design technologies. Neil Pryde Sails is please to have been selected as sailmaker and consultants
in this project.

As the R&D stage for sails and rig wound down this month, the sailplan and carbon spars were refined and we are about to see the first 5 boats shipping world-wide over the next month!

The main and jib on this project utilize the new Challenge Sailcloth Warp-Drive polyester. This completely new product allows us utilize the very strong and un-crimped warp direction of the fabric in a tri-radial panel configuration, much like current laminated goods. The benefits of this are immediate: a stronger and more stretch resistant membrane that allows the fabric to maintain it's shape AND support the broad boat. This affordable ($45,500.00) boat was tested recently by us and the builder on site in Xiamen, China. The boat
is a light displacement infusion constructed sport boat with a carbon rig (CST), Aramid main with Carbon
battens and Aramid jib and a whopping 800sqft / 75m2 spinnaker. Full specs can be seen here.

The sail plan includes a large 'fathead' or 'squaretop' profile for increased efficiency and area and is easy to handle as the carbon rig requires no standing backstay. The full battens in the mainsail add to the stability of
the sailplan and the Flex material and ultrabonded seams make for an very smooth and stable membrane. The headsail is of like construction and includes positive roach and one full batten. It hanks on for ease of handling. We worked in concert with Dimension/Polyant to create a custom version of their 'Flex' line of Aramid fabric for this project.

This recent picture taken during Key West Race week, illustrate the new Dimension-Polyant D4MP membrane technology sails. Check these pages for upcoming news on this exciting new sail technology.

CLASSIC YACHT

YANKEE, who survived falling of the ways onto the hard during the 1906 San Francisco earthquake, has lived on to win the First Annual San Francisco Schooner Race. She won the Gaff Division, beating her arch-rival BRIGADOON, by 40 minutes.

Working with our long time Neil Pryde agent, Jim Leech of Sausalito, we built these sails with an eye to traditional finishing, but incorporating modern construction techniques...the best of old and new worlds in this case. Jim has a tremendous sailing and sailmaking background and his help in these projects is invaluable.

As an example, the 'finger' style patches while structurally sound also lend a bit of the classic look. Contrast this to the seaming which is 3 rows of V-138 Triple Stitch on 45mm wide seams and you have a contemporary construction technique that is super strong and long lasting.

In many cases we work with owners to recreate the feel, look and finish of classic sails, incorporating such features as narrow panel widths, external 'hemp' boltropes and hand sewn rings. These features are dependent on the owners preferences and level of 'authenticity' that is desired.

For more information check out our Classic Sails Information or contact the NP Sails agent nearest you.

August  2008

 



 This Vectrix Membrane product comes in three versions, 1) All Aramid, 2) Technora/Aramid and 3) Carbon/Technora, all of which are designed for different levels of racing and yacht size.

Contact the agent nearest you for additional details and information.

 

 

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