The North Sails Service Loft in Palma
by Mark Jardine, Sail-World.com 21 Jun 2018 13:00 BST
North Sails Service Loft in Palma © Ian Roman / North Sails
The North Sails Service Loft in Palma, Mallorca is an impressive facility which needs to handle the repair, maintenance and storage of a huge quantity of sails. The recent acquisition of the former Doyle Palma team and facilities has created the world's largest dedicated service-only facility, comprising four separate sites around Palma. The integrated loft went live in April this year, so we spoke to North Sails Global Service Manager, Ben Fletcher to find out more.
The new, integrated loft needed to hit the ground running, with many boats finishing their winter refits and those returning from the Caribbean ready for a packed schedule of events in the Med this summer. The facility has already received a positive response from boat captains and owners, who have been very happy with the personal service and attention to detail shown by the team.
The facility is huge, and handles some massive sails as Ben explains:
"The main floor is 1500 square metres in size – nearly 60 metres long and 25 metres wide. We also have the original two-story loft at Lluchmajor, which is 45 metres by 22 metres. We have two 3.5 ton trucks with their own cranes to carry the sails from the yachts and can handle nearly any sail with those – it's only the Gigayachts such as Aquijo where the mainsails weigh about 2 tons each we have to bring in a big loader for. Once in the loft we can manoeuvre the sails around the loft with fork-lifts. Just to fold the sails for Aquijo takes fifteen people!"
3Di has been a game-changer for the longevity of sails, but there are still key areas of the sails which will always need care and attention to keep them in top shape:
"The fact that 3Di is a composite structure, instead of a laminate, means the membrane of the sail will not delaminate and has enormous longevity - I was sailing on a yacht in the Caribbean recently with a seven year old mainsail that looks like it was new apart from the edge detailing. Our service concentrates on the edges: the luff tapes, the webbings on the clew, tack and head, and most of all UV-damage from the sun. Most sails now have UV protection down the leech and we have to replace that reasonably often. If you keep on top of all this then 3Di sails can have a very long lifespan."
There is much that yacht owners, sailors and boat captains can do to keep a sail in top condition, so we asked Ben what preventative steps they can take to avoid damage:
"Luff-tape damage. Making sure that the pre-feeders are aligned correctly when the sails are going up and down, making sure that there's no tension on the clew during the hoist – particularly on the mainsail. Checking the mast tracks and the foil tracks regularly, running a spare piece of luff tape up and down the tracks to see it all runs smoothly is time well spent. Also checking the batten end detailing, particularly on mainsails, checking for undue wear and tear. A little bit of time spent can save a whole lot of trouble.
"Going back to Aquijo, it takes ten of us a day to take the mainsail off the boat with a crane and a lot of dock-space. It's not an easy job to get a Superyacht sail off the boat so the time spent checking the moving parts can maximise sailing time, and save a lot of hassle and money."
The throughput at the North Sails Service Loft in Palma is staggering, with on average 180 sails being serviced per month. "In February and March this can rise to 250 sails, varying from 35-40 foot charter yachts through to the 200 foot superyachts. We also keep around 1000 sails here in storage at any one time but come the end of the Med season when boats are hauled out we could have 1800 sails or more in the building."
North Sails are a truly global company, and many of the yachts they provide sails for and service are globe-trotting. This worldwide coverage provides a huge advantage for yacht owners and boat captains.
"It's a critical thing for us. With a North having a single ownership structure for the vast majority of worldwide lofts, information-sharing is paramount. The number one focus for us is absolutely looking after the client, wherever that client happens to be, irrespective of which loft sold the sails."
During major events, when a boat comes in with sail damage the team will want the repair done yesterday. This is a challenge that Ben and the team are well used to handling:
"We run a Regatta Service Program, not just here in Palma but for multiple regatta sites around the world. In Saint Barths we have a mobile loft, where we take our own flooring and build it there; in Porto Cervo and Saint Tropez we do the same thing to provide an overnight service.
"Many of our sailmakers look forward to it as it's something a little bit different. In Palma we do an overnight service, so we structure our day during PalmaVela or the Copa del Rey so we have a smaller number of day staff on shift and we have an evening staff which come in at around 6pm; we run the trucks back and forth from the regatta site and work through the night until the jobs are done.
"With some of the team out on yachts, we are aware of the requirements during an event and we prepare for whatever is coming our way and do our best to turn around a sail overnight and have it back on the yacht the next day."
The North Sails team go the extra miles and put in the extra hours to ensure that their owners and sailors are looked after at all the events they attend. This attention to detail is why they are the world's foremost sailmaker.
Find out more at northsails.com/sailing/en