On a personal level I'm a Kiwi sailmaker with many years of experience in both the trade and in racing yachts of all sizes and classes. I consider myself extremely competitive and love most sports that involve racing of one kind or another. I'm always looking to increase my knowledge in this sport or in any domain and so move forward, because of that I'm not one to dwell on past deeds or achievements, but for those that are interested in credentials my serious yachting started with a sailmaking apprenticeship in New Zealand under Chris Bouzaid who was a trail blazer in early keel boat achievements for NZ yachtsmen and really put us on the map internationally, starting with One Ton Cups etc. and knowing we could succeed at that level eventually lead us into the top end of the sport and America's Cup racing success. I'm very proud of what such a small nation as NZ has achieved over the past few years with very limited budgets.
Getting back to the personal stuff I raced most of the early Kiwi dingy classes including, Moths, both NZ and International, Z class, Cherubs, trailersailers, and most Keelboats. I was lucky enough to have starting racing these classes when you could still build them yourself and not have to buy plastic boats off the production line. I feel designing and building some of these small classes with your own hands gave you more feel for the sport and sailing in general. I was lucky enough to place in the top three Nationally in all the classes I sailed except the Cherub which I raced in the early days before becoming involved in sailmaking.
My apprenticeship was served with others the like of the late Jim Lidgard...A top dingy sailor and foreward hand of his day and perhaps better know for his involvement in the top class sailmaking firm of Halsey Lidgard Sails. With the help of Jim and Chris I had the good fortune to be involved in and try many sail and rig innovations including the first ever pocket luff sail fitted to a racing dingy in NZ. I opened my own sail loft after leaving Bouzaid Sails in the 70's which by then had changed it's name when taken over by Hood Sails.
More recently, since 1999 infact, my attention has been focused on the world of R/C racing and sailing. Although I have sailed several different R/C classes over the past few years most of my attention has been focused on the one metre class. I have spent much of my spare time racing and making sails for these small yachts, as well as working with other top skippers in the class developing and testing sails until I considered I had a product that was world class, and that a good sailor in any class could fit a suit of my sails to their yacht and if they did everything else right on the day could expect to win.
I have now reached that point in my development and feel I can offer to the world, top class sails at reasonable prices. Of course testing and development will continue but I now have a base line product that I feel is as good as any you can buy in the world. What I would like to do now is share with you some of the things I have found, not only after these intensive years of R&D on small sails, but also what I have discovered after years as a professional yachtsman, sailmaker.
Hopefully there will be something for everyone here, both expert and novice alike. I would also like to use this space to introduce the world of R/C yachting and yachts to those that are curious to what the sport is like and have not yet connected in full with it.
I hope you have some fun here reading about this exciting and inexpensive sport or hobby and maybe I'll see you out there on the lake enjoying yourself, till then good sailing. Alec Newald