Company founders help North Sails celebrate opening of new loft

by Richard Gladwell, Sail-World.com NZL on 17 Jul 2016 North Sails NZ celebrated the opening of their new loft on Auckland's North Shore on Friday evening. The move is the fourth for one of New Zealand's top sailmakers, who opened their doors in Parnell's Bradford and Earl Streets in 1978, before moving to Grey Lynn, and then Packenham Street adjacent to Auckland's Viaduct harbour.

Redevelopment of the downtown Auckland area prompted the move to the new facility at 217 Archer's Road in the Wairau Valley industrial zone.

Tom Schnackenberg told how he started the New Zealand arm of what was to become the North Sails empire after he returned to New Zealand having worked with North Sails in San Diego.

'There were just four of us when we started - his sister Lizzie, Ross Blackman, Kent Luxton and Tom.

'When we had finished the loft he had our first Friday night party which became something of a six monthly tradition.'

At the time Schnackenberg was working with the Auckland loft, as well as for North Sails Inc, and was also part of the Alan Bond America's Cup program in 1980 and 1983.

'Ross pretty well ran it. He was the only one there when they walked in the door!'

'We went for several years like this.'

They were the years when New Zealand was subject to import controls, and North Sails had to buy their luff tapes through John Street of Fosters - who had the license. 'We weren't allowed to bring them into the country. He would never stock anything, so he would have to order it, and we would take delivery, and then be able to finish the sail.'

Muldoon was the Prime Minister at the time and imposed a 25% Boat Tax, which slowed the industry, but on the other side, exporters would receive an 11% Government subsidy. 'It was crazy. Then there was 40% duty on computers!'

Others such as Dave Schmidt, John Clinton, and Brad Butterworth joined before going off to do their own thing with Sobstadt Sails.

'Tom and Richard Dodson came on board about ten years after we started, and we started a new loft North Sails NZ in Mackelvie Street in Grey Lynn. Then the loft really took off.'

'That was a big step for us,' explained Tom Dodson, taking up the story. 'Earl and Bradford was a loft that had been successful for the company for a long time, he said. But the same as has been done with this new loft, you have to think of future-proofing the company, and we have now made four moves. Five if you include the Kumeu loft where we built a lot of sails for the Maxis, the round the world boats and America's Cup including the K-Boat, which is down on Auckland's waterfront.'

'Whenever I travel around the world, and I often get asked why Kiwis punch above their weight in NZ - you've got to ship your sails a long way and with a world-wide customer base. My response has always been-been that in other countries if you are a high achiever you want to go into the automotive industry or engineering or something like that. But in New Zealand, the top people in schools want to come into the marine industry.'

'A lot of those people come to North Sails,' he added.

'We are also fortunate in New Zealand that there is plenty of wind, and our customers like to use their boats and wear their sails out. We've been blessed with good people working for us and good customers.'

'Packenham Street was a great site for us,' explained Burns Fallow. 'It was a bold move to build a loft that size at the time. But it paid big dividends.'

'A year ago it became obvious we couldn't stay there with all the development that was taking place in the Wynyard Quarter - so we pulled the trigger and left the Council know we would be moving out. Three weeks later the wrecking ball descended - we timed our exit well!'

'This new loft has been a massive project - much bigger than I imagined it would be when we signed up the lease about a year ago.'

'Today we have one of the best sail lofts in the world. I'm proud of it, and everyone who works here is proud of it,' he added.

The official opening, by cutting a ribbon stretched across the loft floor was performed by Sally, North Sails' longest serving employee and founder Tom Schnackenberg.

North Sails have maintained a presence in downtown Auckland with a sales and pick-up office in Westhaven Drive.