I realize that Performance, Landy, and Glaser are the standard... but how have North Sails been fairing in Europe? I've been noticing them on Infusions in the Raid and Worlds... are they fast? Well built?

I think both the Cirrus and Shockwave cats sail with North.
The Shockwave has been very fast all year, although that probably says more about the crews than the sails.

I don't know of any North Sails on NACRAs in Germany. Behind the mentioned brands, I guess that the german importer's own brand, Kangaroo Sails, has the largest marketshare on NACRAs over here.

Is this question in reference to the discount they are offering on sails? I was a bit curious myself.

Norths are allright but seem to be slightly underbuilt at the patches.

Carl wasn't aware of a discount.... i'm a north dealer and could get my own discount. Not worth spending money on crappy sails though.

There was an add in this months Sailing World magazine advertising a discount 10 or 15% on North One Design sails. F-18 was listed as a class that the discount was being offerred on. Let me get this straight.....your a North rep, and you think they may be selling crappy sails???????

Didn't see the add.
Way to put words in my mouth!
I'm questioning at what stage the development of North F18 sails are.
Just like any other sailmaker in this class, they won't be fast if they don't continue their development!
Not a rep... i'm a dealer... as in I sell some of their other sails... not directly affiliated with north.

I didn't put any words in your mouth. I just used the ones that you did.

Don't forget about Ullman

Good sails comes for 2 factors. Firstly you need a skilful designer and someone providing constructive feed back that the designer can interpret to improve the design.

You really need to know who is developing the sails and who is providing the feedback. The best feedback is from the designer themselves if they sail the class at a high level. They then know, first hand, what is working and what is not.

Probably the most important thing to ask is, dose the designer understand how the whole rig works together? integrating the sail into the rig as a whole is something that takes time and experiance.

Remember 80% of a boats performance comes from the rig...

Goodall and Glaser are two good options.

Should be! They both regularly race F-18s.

I have just been reading the thread with interest on the North Sails.

Working with North on the F18 - I will endeavor to answer a few questions;

F18 Sails Background.
North Sails did a lot of work designing Tornado sails for the Games in 2008, using Americas Cup design and analysis software available to them.

From the lessons learnt, the mould shapes for the various F18s were developed. These sails have then been modified to fit the various F18s for dimensions and mast bends. These sails have been developed for the various classes through feedback from top sailors working closely with the designer. The designer has spent a considerable amount of time working with Tornados and following the F18s from the RIB.

Longevity of sails; Patching is a balance between weight and how long the product will last. The F18 sails are generally used for a longer amount of time to the Tornado sails. We have therfore bulked up the reinforcement in the head area. The head boards have also been changed on the Cirrus. With these alterations we have not had any problems.

2009 was a very good year for the North F18 Sails and we will continue to work hard on the sails. Details on the various classes can be seen on the One Design Europe website.

The sails have been going really well in a variety of classes. Downwind speed has been awesome in particular. Upwind round Texel we felt we had pretty good speed too.

All the best - and good sailing in 2010.

North F18 Sails results;
2nd World Championships 2009
1st Round Texel 2009
1st Round the Island 2009
1st Raid Irroise France 2009
1st Sandham Open 2009 – Nacra
1st Archipelago Raid 2009 – Nacra
1st Swedish Nats 2009 – Nacra
1st Norwegian Nationals - Nacra
1st/2nd UK Nationals 2008 (Shockwave/ Capricorn)
1st/3rd Belgian Nationals 2008 (Diam/ Cirrus)