Gary Weisman

President of North Sails and one of the most accomplished big boat sailors in the country, Gary Weisman has been involved in this sport for many years. As a long-time North employee, his savvy, experience and flat-out ability have propelled to the top of the biggest sailmaking business in the world. We've competed against Gary in business and on the water, and have truly enjoyed every encounter. He's a class act and simply one of the good guys of the sport.

SA:
Gary, you've been a part of this business and sport for far longer than most people. What have been the three biggest positive changes in the sport over the last 20 years?

GW:
Limited pros, owner-driver rules, Offshore One Designs. I doubt that without these changes the sport would be very healthy today. Even 20 years ago, I sometimes wondered what many of the owners were really getting out of the sport when they would build a new boat and then have someone like you or I sail it for them all the time. This happens only on a very limited basis now and the people that want to participate at this level fully understand what they are doing.

SA:
How about the most negative?

GW:
No measurement rule to which everyone subscribes internationally. High cost of a "serious" campaign. Many less new people entering the sport.

SA:
Much has been made over the Sobstad lawsuit, in which they essentially have challenged and won on the grounds of patent infringement. Can you give us the latest on this case?

GW:

Well, we continue to work on our appeal of the original ruling while exploring alternative solutions. I guess the one thing we continue to learn from the experience is that anything can happen in a court of law and that the laws are capable of being interpreted in many ways.

SA:
Realistically, how badly will North suffer if you lose?

GW:
Depends how we "lose". Worst case scenario is a complete shutdown of all 3DL operations and sales in countries where the Sobstad patents are in force, and a very sizeable judgement against us. That would be pretty painful!

SA:
There was a time when Sobstad was a legitimate challenger for the title of supreme sailmaker. Due primarily, if not exclusively, to Peter Conrad's bizarre maneuverings and a woefully inconsistent Genesis product, Sobstad imploded and is now an ineffectual and fractured organization at best. We maintain that even if Conrad were to win, despite any damage it may do to North, it would do nothing to re-establish Sobstad's former presence in the market. Agree or disagree?

GW:
Over time, I think it's fair to say that Sobstad has become much less of a player in the market. Peter has very limited distribution now, so building up that part of his business would be tough. I know that one of my hardest jobs is to find good new sales staff.

SA:
Clearly, North Sails has established and maintained its presence as the world's dominant sailmaker. It seemed like even when the product was marginal (i.e. true radial spinnakers, vertical cut and c-cut genoas), the marketing arm of North managed to keep the company strong. Now that the product is as good as it is (i.e. 3DL), and the marketing remains top-notch, is there any sailmaker who can challenge you guys on any real scale?

GW:

In retrospect, it may be very easy to say that past leading-edge products from North were not all that they were cracked up to be. That is no doubt true for any top company in any field. Marketing and product development have to go hand in hand to be successful. I think our clients have always been smart enough to smell whether we were lacking on the product side of the business and merely covering this deficit with slick marketing. The fact remains that in a relatively no growth market we've continued to gain marketshare. Today, there are many competitors but no one that jumps out and screams for our attention. The problem is that different competitors focus (and sometimes quite well) on certain parts of the business. With our size, we manage to be competitive in most parts of the business and use our resources to cross-pollinate whenever possible.

SA:
Let's talk America's Cup. If there is an arena that gets the headlines and the attention of virtually every sailor with a pulse it is here. Despite the great advertising and PR exposure, how much does the AC mean in terms of business?

GW:
The pure business side of it is substantial. Partly for that reason, but also because we have so many people in the company that live for this type of involvement that we spend so much energy on that particular venue.

SA:
Let's say SailingAnarchy (with the funding of various terrorist organizations) decides to mount an AC effort, and with our ill-begotten funds (i.e. drug trafficking, prostitution and Iraq oil money), we want to buy some sails from you. Break down the approximate costs for top of the line 3DL sails for our AC boat (which by the way, will be called "God Save the Queen" and be skippered by Johnny Rotten. Marilyn Manson on tactics if we can get her, er, him.)

GW:
I like the sound of your crew. Where do I sign up? Seriously, the sails are expensive, but technically are very complicated. Approx. Prices below dependent on yarns, films and lay-outs:

SA:
Materials wise, what goes into a top-of-the-line AC mainsail? Is it now necessarily carbon?

GW:
The primary fiber is carbon. Designers will specify different carbons (varying modulus) and frequently use a carbon/aramid blend. These choices are proprietary and I don't really even know what's being used this time around. After every AC, we hold a de-brief where the designers cough up their designs and this is where we get to learn the lessons for our core business.

SA:
I think there is still some misunderstanding about 3DL. Some people still think it is a one-piece, molded sail. Please explain what the sail is, how it is built and how shape is actually put into the sail.

GW:
I'd encourage you (and your readers ) to visit 3DL if you're skeptical about the process. I think you'd be impressed and for sure you'd then be able to discern the truth about all the claims for and against the product. Just for the record:

It is a painstakingly complicated process that has caused endless frustration and significant money to be spent in its development. However, it creates a wonderful product.

SA:
When you survey the landscape of handicap racing in this country, what do you see?

GW:
PHRF is pretty much all we have on a national basis. Small pockets of IMS exist (Great Lakes Sleds and LI Sound 40's), but this rule doesn't even exist out here, for example. There are many that would like to see consensus on a measurement rule because they fear the vagaries of PHRF are just too undefined to warrant the investment necessary to play the game.

SA:
It is quite obvious that PHRF is not satisfactory for accurate big boat handicapping. What are your feelings about Americap and can it work?

GW:
Never having raced Americap, I look forward to trying it this year in Long Beach and SF. My understanding is that it uses a simplified version of IMS and that's fine by me.

SA:
The hottest class in the big boat one design arena is the Farr 40. For those that have not sailed on them, tell us how you like sailing them, how tough are they to sail, and is it a reasonable boat for a guy looking to step into that type of a racing?

GW:
The Farr 40 is Offshore One Design racing at it's finest. The boats are fast and responsive. Results are usually very mixed and it's very tough competition. The boat is basically easy to sail but not easy to sail well, particularly in a strong breeze. The owner driver rule is quite interesting. You need the owner to either be a good helmsman already, a very willing learner, or somebody that will practice until they get it right. Probably best if they're all three of these things!

SA:
It is our understanding that there is 6-month delivery time on 3DL sails. Is that a result of a lot of sails on order?

GW:
Yes. Production is at record levels but we still seem to be unable to perfectly meet demand.

SA:
Pretty tough to tell a guy he has to wait that long. Do you then offer panel sails as an alternative?

GW:
We do what we can to accommodate every customer and sell as many sails as possible. This includes selling panel sails, obviously.

SA:
For years, it has always fallen on the sailmaker to help his customer go fast, yet it has often been assumed (except at the very top levels) that that type of service would always be "included" with the price of the sails. When one goes to buy a set of Callaway Golf Clubs, there is no pro included to show you how to use them. If you want that, it is $50.00 per hour from the local pro. Are we seeing that development in sailmaking?

GW:
It's been coming for many years now. Although we're considered pros by ISAF, sailmakers rarely sail for pay. At the top levels of the sport, the pro sailors now take our place and the guise of the service connected to the product has pretty much gone away

SA:
We're seeing some amazing new boats, from the TransPac 52's, to the Thompson 35's to the Schock 40's. Is it your opinion that boats will continue to be simple, light, sprit type of boats that are built to no rule, but rather, just to go fast?

GW:
I particularly like these boats that are designed to be fast. What's the point of purposely slowing a boat down just to get it to rate better when the rule will change anyway? Box rule boats will proliferate in my opinion because the technology to build way faster boats has remained relatively untapped.